IT may not be the biggest market in the country but tucked away behind the Glitter Strip you can get everything you need for a special dinner party or just stock up on deli-style pantry staples.

Iventure Orchards

AUTUMN is apple season and if you've been buying the supermarket varieties, try these for a sensory memory to transport you to childhood and how apples used to be. Picked straight off the trees and transported down from the Stanthorpe farm, these apples are rarely more than a couple of days old and are at their peak until the end of this month. Don't expect perfection though – unlike the supermarket versions, these apples come unwaxed, so they're not super-shiny and the odd blemish is normal. Pick up a bag of juicers for $3, some pink ladies, or the grower's personal favourite, the frosted granny, a granny smith apple that's left on the tree longer and exposed to frost, resulting in a big crisp apple with a beautiful balance of sweet and acid.

Mingara Seafoods

YOU can't get fresher than buying from the trawler. While his father, Peter, sells at the Gold Coast Fishermans co-op, Jakob Bain provides Bundall market-goers with seafood. Bain says that prawns are at their best this time of year as the trawlers fish for them in deep water so expect prawns that are really big and "crisp". Varieties include Eastern Blue Tail King, with the odd Tiger thrown in. Sweet-fleshed, they need little embellishment to make a fantastic meal. Bain is happy to provide ice and a double sealed bag, but it's tempting to just sit and feast straight away. If you can't wait, try asking an obliging fruit stall owner to sell and cut you a lemon and sit in the warm winter sun for a seafood picnic. All Bain's seafood is locally caught, often the night before on their own trawler, Mingara. Prawns come in large, medium or headless for the squeamish. There are also bugs and crabs, ready to go or ready to be cooked, spanner crab, cuttlefish, squid and octopus. There's usually some fish too, depending on what was caught, perhaps yellowfin or albacore.

Moroccan Cuisine

NOT only is it Moroccan but it's kosher Moroccan. Sarita Maoz and Eli Bohadana are Jewish, hailing from Israel but Eli's heritage is Moroccan, his parents originating from the famous city of Casablanca. You'll just as likely smell the exotic spices wafting before you see their stall, but it's worth following your nose to try their mufleta – fine, flat "pancakes", served rolled up with a Moroccan cheese made from yoghurt and sprinkled with z'attar. There's also frana, Moroccan bread cooked on a stone, while a couscousiere holds the fluffy grains on top while a rich vegetarian tagine, with chickpeas, vegetables and spices steams up from underneath. Typical spices include nutmeg and cinnamon and of course mint, served here as a warming glass of sweet mint tea. Or you can try a tamarind juice, said to lower the cholesterol. If you still have room, sample the baklava or take it home for later.

Simply Cupcakes

IT'S a hard-hearted person who can walk past a stall of cupcakes without a smile. Jill Browne's petite treats come in all flavours and colours. All are homemade and contain no preservatives. The cakes are light, delicious and so pretty it's almost a shame to eat them. They are certainly not for the dieter being buttercakes in flavours such as white chocolate and raspberry, coffee and chocolate, orange and poppyseed and more. Browne says bestsellers include the passionfruit and, of course, the delicate butterfly cakes, so beloved by little girls everywhere. Despite the name, there are also full-sized buttercakes, sponges and tea cakes as well as slices. And if you fancy hosting a morning tea without the hassle, they cater, supplying cupcakes, sandwiches, scones and tarts, even bringing the crockery and tablecloth.

Orgasmic Food

NO guarantees it will improve your sex life but the fresh vegetarian, gluten-free dairy-free preservative-free food will certainly satisfy your appetite. At this stall pick up take-home containers of homemade baba ganoush, tabouli, salsa and a range of dips in small or large sizes. An Israeli family-run venture, they also offer Israeli falafel and tahina and will make you up a Middle Eastern platter of a selection of dips, salads and falafels, with pita for those who are not gluten-intolerant. They have a lot of return customers, particularly for the light, appetising homemade falafel, soft inside, golden and crisp outside.

Eureka Hills Coffee

IF YOU rose early to get here you'll probably need a caffeine hit to sustain you. Eureka Hills coffee is grown and roasted in the Byron Bay hinterland by Gayle and Harry Kublis, a former secretary and teacher respectively. They've developed a large fan base for the coffee, sending it out mail order to many people who've been visiting the markets and tried it. There's a lot of attention to detail here – no herbicides or insecticides are used and Gayle handpicks through the green beans, removing imperfect ones before roasting.

Beans are roasted weekly, so are nice and fresh when they hit the markets. The resulting coffee is smooth, with a mellow, caramel finish. As well as by the cup, served generously as a double shot, you can buy beans in a medium and dark roast in 250g, 500g and kilo bags.

Pasta Fresca

IT'S hard to pass up proper handmade pasta – its rougher, imperfect textures allows sauces to cling in a way commercial pastas never do. With a pot boiling away and samples on offer you can try before you buy. Owners Dalisa and Riccardo Panseri hail from Brescia and make everything themselves with typical Italian good taste. There's always a selection of ravioli; chicken or pumpkin and ricotta, porcini and ricotta and others as well as fettuccini and lasagna in classic beef, vegetarian and chicken and mushroom with porcini.

Pick up a freshly made sauce from a selection, including Neapolitana and creamy mushroom. Alternatively, grab a pizza smeared with a little fresh tomato sauce and add your own buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto and basil for a real Italian style pizza.

They often sell out of some of the favourites, so get in early.

Innobake

WHETHER you're the proud owner of a bread machine or like the relaxation of kneading it yourself, you'll find all you need here to make yourself some great gourmet loaves. There is a huge range of bread mixes in packets from 500g to 25kg for professionals, from leckerbrot to dark rye, Dutch multigrain or cape seed as well as to Italian loaves such as ciabatta and parmigiano e l'erba. There are sweet loaves too, fruit bread and spiced apple bread, perfect for toasting in this autumnal weather. They also offer gluten-free spelt mixes and pizza mixes. If you really prefer to do the whole thing from scratch, they stock different types of baking flour from ordinary white and wholemeal to "bakers extra" that is high protein flour to make dough with a greater elasticity.

Black and White

OLIVE lovers will be overwhelmed by choice at this stall that offers 22 varieties in all colours and sizes. Stall owner Dave Thompson marinates them himself, as well as balsamic pickled onions, pickled garlic, pickled beetroot and more. There are baby black olives, butter olives, balsamic and rosemary marinated olives, both imported such as the bright green Sicilian and locals (mainly from South Australia). Thompson is happy to provide taste tests. Try the wild Australian olives, which are jumbo manzanillos simply found growing wild in South Australia and are perfect to graze on. Buy a few different varieties as part of an antipasto platter.

Malleea Cheese

THESE are made up the road in Yatala. Malleea cheesemaker Nigel Jackson is only in his 20s but is already dedicated to his craft. With a growing interest in cheese and wanting to value add to his parents' dairy, he applied for a Dairy Australia scholarship and spent time studying under award-winning cheesemakers. Today, at the dairy on his parents' farm he makes the boutique range sold here, including quark, a soft, mild cheese often used in cooking or as a spread, and a creamy and low-salt fetta, which comes in plain, garlic and chives and chilli flavours. There are also dips such as apricot and ginger and mini cheesecakes.

Bundall Markets: Gold Coast Turf Club, Bundall (7am-noon Sundays)