It doesn't look much from outside, but Psarakos Brothers Vege Barn is a little bastion of all…read morethings fruit and vegetable in the inner north. Stretching over a couple of football fields' worth of real estate, the place is chocked full with produce ranging from your run of the mill 'Australian'-style spuds and onions, to a wide range of Asian varieties and further regional obscurities. The stuff here is pretty much non-organic, but is usually in pretty good shape at least for a week after purchase. The big difference here are the price-points. Psarakos provide their veges in bulk, so it pays to sift through the bins, but the prices match and even often better those seen at Preston or Victoria markets. Plus there is very little hassle-factor in shopping here, with ample parking and a very relaxed overall vibe about the place. A downside is the opening hours which are limited and Saturdays can be a little hectic. But if you hate the market rush and chow through a couple of bags of greens a week, you can walk out of here with two bags full of groceries for under forty bucks.

I rang Psarakos to enquire about a special on wine & the male who answered was very rude & abrupt…read more He told me to get my facts straight & hung up on me! The worst customer service ever!! I will be going to Dan Murphy's from now on!!

Of all the cluster of speciality stores in the Psarakos complex, these chicken ladies and dudes are…read moremy second favourite. I'll get this straight though: I ain't a big chicken eater, so won't even suggest I have the foggiest idea what all those bits of birds are under the glass. Sure, there's the breasts and legs and stuff, I'm not stupid, but I'd be buggered if I knew what to do with them. There's another reason I rate these chicken folk so highly, and it's not my relationship with the granddaughter of a chicken farmer either. The reason I love (that's right, love) these folk is the eggs. I love eggs! Who doesn't? And if you love eggs, you gotta love free-range eggs. They're yellower in the yolk and they hold together so, so much better in the pot. The good folk at J & N Poultry know eggs. Off course they do, it's their job right? Right. But they take a lot of pride in their eggs. They take so much care, in fact, that they'll personally check the well being of every egg in the dozen they sell you. And you just don't get that kind of service anywhere these days.

Wonderful cheese selection in the cheese cave that is downstairs with a knowledgeable cheese…read moremonger. I went to cheese stores all through Melbourne and around Brisbane and this was where I found the greatest selection of cheese made in Australia. Upstairs has a variety of boutique products from granola to chocolate. Also, there is a gelato counter and espresso bar as you enter the store.

This place looks like nothing more than a gelato shop from the front, so you'd be forgiven for not…read morerealising there's a whole specialty grocery inside -- and they also do delicious made-to-order artisan sandwiches to take away. To get a sandwich, bypass the gelato out front and go inside, then bypass the groceries and head straight to the back. There's a cashier here who will take your order and bring your sandwich out to you after about a 10-15 minute wait. I love this place because of their four vegan sandwich options: a tofu salad open sandwich with sesame and lime dressing; a bagel sandwich with a tofu and corn fritter and curried cashews, cucumber, and coriander; a tempeh burger on focaccia with kimchi and ABC sauce; and an eggplant, pumpkin, spinach, white bean, and basil pesto on focaccia. If these descriptions don't have you drooling right now, I don't know what's wrong with you. All vegan sandwiches are $11.50 and come with potato chips. This is a fair price for a delicious and rather filling lunch. Their non-vegan sandwiches aren't much more expensive either. My favorite is the tempeh burger with ABC sauce -- it's like an Indonesian sweet soy sauce -- oh man. Just the right mix of unusual but awesome flavours. There's no seating here -- it's take-away only, unless you're out front having a gelato. While you wait for your sandwich, you can peruse the specialty grocery items. They have a small but impressive collection of hard-to-find and locally-made items, such as La Tortilleria tortillas, local hand-made chocolates, jars of refrigerated kimchi, and chips made from all manner of non-potato things -- kale chips, bean chips, turnip chips.... Just be prepared for some sticker shock. These specialty groceries don't come cheap. (One of the chocolate bars was $14!!! It better be chocolate CRACK, at that price.) All in all, a great place to come for an awesome take-away sandwich with fresh and often unusual ingredients at lunchtime, and a fun place to peruse if you like your exotic, organic, hand-made/hand-dipped/hand-chopped/hand-crafted/hand-tooled/hand-whatever fancy-pants specialty grocery items. You know who you are. (Note the sandwiches are a Monday-Friday lunchtime thing only. I came once on the weekend and they weren't making sandwiches. The gelato is available all the time, but I admit I haven't sampled it yet.)

Elika is one of these new fangled la-di-da kinda butcher shops. Fittingly, the cuts are…read morelip-smackingly fine, but the prices are a bit hip-smackening high. They're the kind of butcher with a range of sausages that bring in flavour cobinations from around the world. And given that the sausages are about the only thing in the refrigerated glass cabinet that this browser can afford, that's what I'll invariably carry away down Normanby Avenue for an impromptu Sunday afternoon barbecue at mine. No, not right now, I'm working. On the occasion you feel like splashing out - birthdays, Christmas and the like - you could pretty much wave your hand over the chiller blindfolded and land on some sumptuous lamb chop of delicious cut of steak or pork chop. Mmm... Pork chops. More than this, it's a necessary part of the Normanby collective of speciality stores. Only trouble is, there are three other butchers withing a hundred metres... And they've all got bangers.

I love that scene in The Simpsons where Otto walks out of a shop called Stoners Pot Palace and says…read moresomething along the lines of, 'that's a flagrant case of false advertising'. Hilarious. Naturally On High conjures images of those shops in NZ where you can get 'party pills' over the counter and they get you high in a sick kind of way for about 20 minutes, then you come down for five days and it's worse than any actual drugs you've ever taken. Reality is, they only sell organic dry goods, grains, nuts and produce here. Boring. But not really. They also do bread and it's pretty good, though you never seem to be able to get the same one twice, which kinda sucks. And they do all these sweets but then you get them home and you realise the chocolate's actually carob so you try and pass 'em off to you stupid nieces but they're wise to it and turn their spoilt brat noses up at them. But this place does do great healthy stuff. And they do know their shit. But you gotta put up with some pretty flaky service and narrow aisles and shit. I'm on the fence about this one...

Bulk goods and organic products are the calling card of Naturally on High, despite the inevitable…read moreassociations its' name conjures up. Not everything is totally organic and there's some gelatine based lollies down the front end, but all the bases seem to be covered from skin care through to dried fruit and nuts. The prices are very reasonable and there are some interesting brands on offer. However, the place is always ridiculously busy, so you end up spending a longer amount of time in a queue than you would at most other places, and the service can be a bit impersonal and spacey at times. It's also a very cramped store that's difficult to navigate if you're carrying a lot of stuff, but it's not too impossible a quest.

I have been growing to Frederick since I moved to Richmond about eight months ago. They have tons…read moreof healthy produce in products that will never make you feel guilty about eating them. On top of that they are huge supporters of local businesses and small businesses which have a special place in my heart and to be honest is the main reason why I keep going back to this place. The workers are also very genuine and I always have a lovely chat with them when I come in to buy something.