By ANNA USHER

The Northside Produce Market returns to North Sydney this Saturday, with dozens of stalls setting up across Ted Mack Civic Park. Spring is close now, and the first of the season’s produce is arriving with it.

The surest sign of the season is John Zavaglia, back at his stall after time recovering from ill health. The Glenorie farmer’s sweet, shelling garden peas are one of the first signs a new season is near, and regulars have missed him as much as them.

Winter is not done yet, and Taj Mahal Fine Food has the warm-up covered, ladling out Durban veg curry with butter beans and potato, Cape Malay chicken and lamb rogan josh. Order at the counter and snack on one of Dhiren’s samosas, fried fresh while you wait.

La Bastide has the grill going, with Jean-Marc’s best-selling Toulouse hot on a stick beside the spicy, earthy Merguez. That lamb-and-spice sausage came out of North Africa and took hold in France through the 1960s and 1970s with the arrival of Algerian immigrants.

Be quick on the Mandarincello. Finders Distillery assistant distiller Alex ran off a small batch and only a few bottles are left. Mandarins carry more oil than lemons, and that oil is where the flavour hides.

Free bike tune-up this Saturday

Wheel the bike down and the Check In and Tune Up stall will service it free, a 10 to 15 minute once-over from brakes to bells by a proper mechanic.

North Sydney Council foots the bill, so there is no charge and no booking. It runs first come, first served, one bike each, with the last check-in at 11.45am. Treat it as a top-up, not a replacement for your local bike shop.

A free Spring Spectacular is coming

Mark 19 September in your diary. The market’s free Spring Spectacular that day brings live music from The Wormticklers, fronted by John Lemon and Roy Aubergine, to get the crowd grooving and growing.

The Northside Produce Market runs at Ted Mack Civic Park, 200 Miller Street, North Sydney, on the first and third Saturday of the month, 8am to 12pm, rain, hail or shine. Dogs welcome, and there is free parking in the Ridge St car park.