Yesterday I made my first trip down to the South Melbourne markets with Alana. She had been before and suggested we go potter around there and get the famous "South Melbourne Market Dim Sims" for lunch.

Theses guys have been making dim sims for 60 years, and I've heard LOADS of people rave on about them, so I wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Every time we walked past there seemed to be a line of people queuing. Every where we walked around, there was someone eating a dim sim. I got one fried, one steamed, Alana got 2 fried as you can see below:

As you can see by Alana's lovely hand modeling yet again, these babies are HUGE!! If you like your dim sims from the fish and chip shop, you will most definitely like these. They took me back to my high school days of buying dim sims from the canteen for lunch, except they were at least 3 times the size! I'd have to say I preferred the steamed version to the fried version. It's a little more healthier and makes me feel like I'm having yum cha on the go... well maybe just a little.

Opposite the dim sim stall is a man in a marque cooking paella! And my goodness it looked and smelt so good. Think I'll have to go back one day to try it. He saw me taking photos and sprinkled some parsley over to make it look even better. Thanks Mr. Paella Man!

You can get heaps of stuff at the market, and all cheaper than the supermarket. I managed to score 2 gourmet tomato sauces for $2! Mind you, they are a bit closer to expiry than the supermarket would sell them for, but that doesn't matter.

Giant strawberries (although they don't look that big in the photo), and lots of ingredients you usually have to go to speciality delis for, are freely available at the markets.

As well as these amazing looking cakes!
Walking around seeing all the fresh produce made me want to buy it all and make a delicious vegetable soup! Next time I will have to go with my little nanna trolley so I don't get sore arms from carrying everything.

It's worth a look around. I got half price Bonds undies, Alana got heavily discounted hair care products, and we both walked away with fresh fruit.
My only tip is bring lots of cash! There is an ATM on site, but most stalls only accept cash as payment. The markets are undercover, so you can go on a terrible winter day like we did.
I can't wait to visit the Prahran market and revist the Queen Victoria market!