I visited anoter new-to-me farmer’s market in New Zealand: the Howick Village Market!
The Howick Village Market is another local market that takes place every Saturday morning. It’s not strictly a farmers’ market but it does offer produce (that seems to be the case with all the local markets).
It’s a lot bigger than the City Farmers’ Market at Britomart and had a lot more variety in stalls and a lot more people were there.
From the Howick website:
Every Saturday morning, the Howick Village Market offers the freshest of seasonal fruits, vegetables, preserves, cheeses, free range eggs, nuts, artisan breads, sweets, cakes and biscuits. Choose from smoked and fresh fish, deli meats, dips, sauces and salads. Peruse a seelction of arts and crafts from talented locals as well as a great range of garden and indoor plants.
Sounds cool, right? It was!
What I Liked About Howick Village Market
I really loved one of the first things we saw when we arrived: the tree outside the visitor’s center had these hanging for sale.
I loved the variety of food offered at the Howick market. There was a wide variety of foods being sold which was nice to browse. There was a range of vendors too – ranging from small and larger businesses to little old ladies selling baked goods.
The bacon we sampled from this booth (Luxury Meats) was amazing. We smelt this deliciousness before we saw it. We didn’t need bacon for the week but I was still tempted to buy some after a sample of the streaky bacon!
The sausages from Salash Delicatessen were amazing. The spicy chorizo I sampled tasted so good.
Everything they sold was 100% natural as well as preservative and gluten free. If you are going to eat sausages, this is the kind to eat. They seemed very popular as well, I couldn’t even get in to talk to them!
Another thing I loved: Vaniye Gourmet French Delicacies.
The two manning this booth were super friendly. They handed out samples of pistachio and caramel macarons which is exactly what we ended up getting! I had a caramel macaron that was…
Delightful!
Also amazing: Real Good Brownies.
Not sure if this guy has a website, but he does make real good brownies. I got a peanut butter brownie and it was so good I was tempted to go buy another.
YUM.
What I Didn’t Like About Howick Village Market
We got a chicken empanada to share from a Argentine food vendor but it wasn’t that great.
I’m not sure if it wasn’t good or if I just had my expectations too high. It might have been the last one, but it was still something I didn’t like.
One bad thing: no kale! Actually the fresh produce selection was rather lacking. They had tons of baked goods and quality meat selections, but there were only a few people selling fresh fruits and vegetables. It would have been nice to see more though this is barely a dislike since I did see some nice looking produce if not a ton of it.
One vendor selling prepacked food asked me to not take photos. It was pretty rude and almost ruined my whole day. I actually was planning to buy something from her but instead of ending up on my likes list she is on the dislike list. Oh well!
Thoughts About Howick Village Market
Other than that I didn’t have many dislikes. If I lived in Howick or close by I’d probably go more often to this market just because I liked so many of the things here. I’m already happily awaiting my next visit when I can get another taste of brownie.
It was a lovely market and I enjoyed the visit and almost everything we tasted was good! I highly recommend a visit to the Howick Village Market if you are in the area!
This trip has me really looking forward to visiting the other markets and farmers’ markets in Auckland!