Monday 30 January 2012

REFRESHING SHOPPING EXPERIENCE AT LA MANNA DIRECT



La Manna Direct.
Photo: From La Manna Website
http://www.lamannadirect.com.au/index.php










On Saturday morning as TM slept like a baby,
Elise and I tip-toed out of the house on a girl's
mission to investigate a recently opened new-
concept supermarket near the airport. It's
called LA MANNA Direct and its located
in Essendon Fields,which was quite a trip for
us, but actually well worth the experience.

It was a massive supermarket but nothing like
the standard supermarkets. I liked the black
and green colour scheme straight away and the
groovy green trolleys. It was more like a market
that an a supermarket. As you enter the store,
it stretches for miles ahead of you, a bit like the
American Cosco chain, but much more
aesthetically pleasing and interesting.
(The only reason I joined Cosco was to get my
hands on the massive King Crab legs they sell there.)

Large signs adorning the walls divide the store
into large sections including a massive area for
cheeses, small goods, fish and meat, veggies,
pastries and cakes, bread and then standard
supermarket items. It was all the fresh produce
that was of most interest to me though, so after
sharing a croissant and having a coffee in their
cafe, Elise and I hit the aisles.

All of the fresh produce is grown and purchased
locally orfrom within Australia, so prices were
noticably cheaper for all these items. There was
also a really amazing selection of different meats
and poultry including rabbits and quail.
I found some chicken hearts that I knew TM would
love, so they made their way into our trolley too!
If we lived closer I would definately be a regular,
but we still invested in quite a bit of meat, poultry
and fish which we have frozen and can use as we need.

I stumbled across some black truffle oil, which
automatically fell into my hands.We splashed
some of it over our homemade pizzas that night.

As you may have gathered by now, I am in
love with citrus.So I was also happy to stumble
across this Dilmah blend of tea infused with
mandarin.



Given the distance, this new shopping phenomenon
won't be on my weekly list of things to do,
but it will definately stay there for the occassion trip
when I want to get away for a weekend morning.

La Manna Direct
10 English Street
Essendon Fields Vic 3041