Jaz: 00:10

Hey there, and welcome to this episode of My Mate In... This podcast is a good vibes only recommendation of nice places to get something to eat or to have a drink, and it gives me an excuse to catch up with good value folks I haven't actually had a chance to speak to in a while, I am absolutely thrilled to be able to be here with my mate, Don, from Canberra. Hey there, Don.

Don: 00:38

Hello. How's it going?

Jaz: 00:40

It's going good. Do you know that it's crazy that we were at each other's sixteenth birthday parties?

Don: 00:46

I forgot that fact. That's crazy. Actually, maybe I do remember it now.

Don: 00:54

It's going back to me now. Yes.

Jaz: 00:59

So so pleased to have an excuse to have a chat with you and and to hear about a place that, you know, means a lot to you or that you really like in Canberra. I believe it's at the Southside Markets. Set the scene for us.

Don: 01:14

Yeah. So at the Southside Farmers Markets in Canberra near Phillip, there's a Salvadorian food stand that sells pupusas, which are these cornbread based pancakey things with beans and cheese in them, covered in a beautiful chilli sauce involving coriander. It's kind of like the closest thing we have to religion because we go there almost every Sunday to eat them and have been doing that for about sixteen years. And yeah, it all goes back to when we first moved to Canberra in 2008. There was something called the Gorman House Market, which was in Braddon on the North Side near the main city area.

Don: 01:56

And that's where the food stall was back then, way back when, which is seventeen years ago. There's this old man there, I don't even know his name, and his wife. And they make these beautiful cheese and bean pupusas, which are just amazingly delicious. Yeah, on this old barbecue that's two metres wide and it's the same barbecue, it's been the same barbecue all these years. Nothing has changed about it in the last seventeen years.

Don: 02:20

Actually, they've been making them for longer than that. They've been making them for, I think, twenty six years, he said. The only thing that's changed is they've moved from the Gorman House markets in the North to the South Side Markets in the South. I think there are probably thousands of Cambarians who know and love pupusas from the Salvadorian food stall. And yeah, we're just some of those people, but everyone should try them.

Don: 02:41

They're amazing.

Jaz: 02:42

So quite an institution for Canberra, but also, it sounds like, for you.

Don: 02:47

Yeah.

Jaz: 02:47

How did you originally find them? Did you just kind of stumble across? Or...

Don: 02:52

Yeah. There was just, you know, it was like a very humble little market, and there was like a gozleme stand and like a taco stand or whatever, like just various food stalls, we just kind of tried them. And they were yum. And we were like, yum, that's so good. And then we just kind of kept going back to them.

Don: 03:06

And they're just really, really good. I can't really... It's also the simplicity of it, I think. Like, it's just this, I think there are two things on the menu. You can either get a pupusa or a tamale. I've never actually tried the tamales.

Don: 03:17

Just I started with the pupusas and have had them for seventeen years. Yeah. Anyway, so I probably had, I don't know, I could do the maths on it, but at least a thousand of them over my life. So yeah, very good.

Jaz: 03:34

So when you order the pupusa, is it like the kind of food market kind of stall situation where it's like, this is how it comes, or is there customization? Do you have any recommendations of how people should order?

Don: 03:52

Yeah. So I think you can get cheese and bean ones, and you can get spinach and cheese. I think that's the only two options. There might be other ones. You sort of just get in this very long line of people because there's always a long line of people who want them.

Don: 04:06

And then you just basically just say "cheese and beans", and then he just knows what you mean. Then at this stage, I just say "two cheese and beans", and then I just transfer him because I know his bank details now because it's like cash only, but he's he's given me his bank details, so I just do a transfer now. It's like intravenous pupusa, just like set up. I always ask for extra chilli sauce and the chilli sauce has coriander and it's got this beautiful fresh tomatoey chilli coriander, beautiful spiciness. They're about 15 centimeters in diameter and they're very crispy.

Don: 04:48

There's like burnt cheese dripping out of the edges of it. And they're very crispy and it's like kind of crispied up cheesy bean corn pancake with, like, little pockets of cheese and bean throughout it. They got melted and then covered in, like, this beautiful chili sauce, it's just, yeah, ineffable. Yeah.

Jaz: 05:09

Sounds amazing. Especially in winter. Real comfort, warm food.

Don: 05:14

Yeah. But also summer, I feel, because it's like a summery vibe as well. Any fun time really.

Jaz: 05:19

The freshness is the coriander and stuff?

Don: 05:21

Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. They're definitely an institution. There would be thousands of Canberrans who know and love pupusas and the family who run it.

Don: 05:30

I think they're getting a bit on, they're getting older. I feel like they deserve a statue, and eventually just like a statue of him holding a spatula and a pupusa. I feel like that would be warranted, such is the extent of their awesomeness in the community. You know? Like, half the like, quarter century of, like, providing this amazing food.

Don: 05:48

That's what I think.

Jaz: 05:49

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's awesome. It's part of what I love about doing this podcast is food is so important, and it's an important in-family thing, but it also connects us. Even if you don't know the other people standing in line, you have this shared appreciation and ritual, and that creates a sense of community.

Jaz: 06:10

It's actually really beautiful.

Don: 06:12

Yeah. I guess the constancy of it over so many decades, just like nothing has changed about it. Like, it's the same spatula, it's the same barbecue, it's the exact same food item, and they just churn them out and everyone loves them and nothing's changed about it. I think that's, there's something nice about, in such a quick, ever changing world, to have something that's so consistent and nostalgic and yummy and heartwarming is nice.

Jaz: 06:39

Agreed.

Don: 06:40

It's like some kind of grounding thing. Yeah.

Jaz: 06:42

Oh, I love that. I'm gonna try.

Don: 06:44

Excellent. Do it.

Jaz: 06:45

I'm gonna try and hopefully I can make it there... It's like I'm getting this sense where you're you know, the thing that you're sharing with listeners is like, it's been there for a long time. It's awesome, but it's not always gonna be there. So go and support it and try it.

Don: 06:59

Yeah. And they might be passing it down a generation or something because I think the kids are there helping them sometimes. For anyone listening, it's the Southside Farmers Market in Canberra, and the stand is called I think the stand's name is just El Salvador, and then they've got this picture of a Tropical Volcano Island or whatever. And then they just have this big barbecue and they're selling pupusas and tamales.

Jaz: 07:24

Amazing. Anything else you want to say before we round out?

Don: 07:29

Yeah, I recommend ordering extra chilli sauce on the pupusa. And yeah, the cheese and bean option is my favorite. Yeah, cash only, unless you have his bank details. If we can put in the show notes maybe, no? I probably wouldn't do that actually.

Jaz: 07:50

But it's a good mention. I'll do... I I'm not sure if this place in particular will have an online presence, but if they do, I'll make sure I link it in the show notes.

Don: 08:00

Yeah. I think the farmer's market event has a Facebook page.

Jaz: 08:05

Beautiful.

Don: 08:06

That's pretty much all there is to be said. I think the rest is just up to people to go there and try them.

Jaz: 08:10

I love that. Thanks so much, Don. Absolute pleasure to to have chat with you and to hear all about these delicious pupusa.

Don: 08:18

My pleasure. Great to talk.