Shop of the Week - The Curry Tree

The Curry Tree isn't strictly a shop, but nor is it merely a market stall. It's a few bicycles with attitude and some passionate vegetarian curry makers. Paul customises the bicycles and tricycles (some are electric, some require pedal power) himself, adding trailers and trolleys and various cooking and serving attachments to them. A retired film caterer, he is now vehemently car-free and maintains his cooking passions with an exclusive market stall (he doesn't sell anywhere except the Addison Rd Markets). His partner Fiona, who works full time, and fourteen year old daughter Katlyn, work with him on Sundays.

Their little Jack Russell, Buster, waits patiently for things to start happening.

We tried their South Indian Banquet, for which the selection changes each week. Today they were serving a fresh chutney full of ginger and coconut, a gooey rich vegetable curry, a channa (chick pea) dhal and a nice dry potato masala with lots of curry leaves and mustard seeds, all topped with a superb yoghurt made here in Marrickville, some grilled roti and a handful of fresh rocket. This cost nine dollars and was heaps for me and Richard to share. We even accidentally dropped one quarter of the roti, which Sailor charmingly gobbled up, vomited, then re-ingested. This spectacle in no way put us off this beautiful meal.

Paul has osteo-arthritis and believes that keeping active is good for his health. He tells me that he serves "Rubies", not curries - this is English slang - Ruby Murray rhymes with curry - so if you feel like a curry you say "Anyone fancy a Ruby?"



You can also buy, for only six dollars, a paratha dosa - Indian bread topped with the channa dhal, the potato masala and a big dob of yoghurt - I dare you to compare that to any burger or kebab!

Shop of the Week - Mick Mazza Cycles

I went up to Mick Mazza's this morning to get a new basket and chain for my bike. He sold me a rather stylish black basket and a good long chain that'll go around both wheels and the frame, and he gave me a block of chocolate. I'm going to start riding in to UTS, partly to get fitter, and partly because I'm sick of the 423 bus and the train (last week on the 423 I witnessed someone having a really good pick at a scab on the back of her neck...)


Inside the 423 bus, 8.45am on a Thursday

Mazza has been running cycle shops in Marrickville for more than 30 years. I'll never forget when I went into his shop about 6 years ago, when Sailor was a pup. She pooped on the floor and I was mortified, looking around desperately for something to clean it up with. Mick just picked it up with some paper towel & said "What can I do for you love?"

He was a champion amateur cyclist for many years and turned professional in the early 1970s before returning to amateur status because "I had me shop to look after, you know." Mazza wears big thick glasses and still has a champion's muscled legs. There's no question he can't answer, no bike he can't fix. His shop is filled with cheap bikes (rejuventated as well as new) and piles of parts.



Mazza's businesses have been in Illawarra Rd and Marrickville Rd, and he's lived in Calvert St for 55 years. He is one of Marrickville's best known citizens and often donates bikes to charity. I asked him how business had changed over the years:

"It's got harder and harder with department stores. KMart, BigW, ToysRUs. They've killed the bike shops, love. The wholesalers are selling bikes to the big retailers at half the price. They're doing the dirty on the bike shops."



Still, it took me nearly half an hour to get this much information out of him as we were constantly interrupted by customers and phone calls. The shop seemed to be doing great business. This morning the customers included a bunch of local toughs, a couple of Maori women, numerous teenaged boys, and a little blonde girl.

Mazza is friends with the boxer Jeff Fenech, aka "The Marrickville Mauler". He helped raise the money for Fenech to attend the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles by raffling bikes at local pubs. A wall of fame in the shop is covered in framed certificates and photos, and one of Fenech's boxing gloves.

Mick Mazza's Cycles
255 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville
9564 5468

See more photos from this series on my flickr account.