Taste of Sydney Festival 2012

It had been a pretty crappy few months in terms of the weather in Sydney but fortunately the sun decided to come back and give us a fantastic time at the Taste of Sydney Festival. My hubby and I were at the Sat 11am-4pm session and were able to thoroughly enjoy the food and the sunshine :)

Walking around, we were drawn by the fantastic aromas in the air and the crowds of people surrounding various tents. My hubby was being super nice for the day and let me make most of the choices on what foods to get :) One of the first tents we got to was the one for 'The Montepellier Public House' (Chef: Matt Kemp). They had also offered lamb and panna cotta but I opted for the beef brisket. The beef brisket was served as golden brown crispy sticks but the pasture fed beef inside was soft enough to just fall apart at the fork. What more was the creamed wild mushroom sauce. It was soooooo shroomy in flavour and so deliciously creamy! It went very well with the crunchy stringy tender beef.

Crisp brisket of pasture fed beef with creamed wild mushrooms - 10 crowns

The next tent we stopped at was for Sake Restaurant & Bar (Chef: Shaun Presland). They offered an awesome looking pan seared ocean barramundi, a hiramasa kingfish 'double crunch' sushi roll and a hiramasa kingfish ceviche. I could not go past the ceviche. We got chunks of kingfish coated well with citrusy, chilli ish sauce and tossed with onion, cucumber, tomato amongst other herbs (coriander I think?) It was quite tasty but maybe would have been better if it was a touch more delicate in the flavours.

hiramasa kingfish ceviche - 8 crowns

Quarter Twenty One (Chef: Justin North) won my heart with their slow cooked caramelised short rib with bone marrow persillade. It was OMG so tender and so flavoursome and so smooth and so silky and so everything! Absolutely melt-in-your-mouth moment, not to mention the smooth rich mash that came with it. How did beef taste so good?

Slow cooked and caramelised short rib with bone marrow persillade - 12 crowns

I had to atleast let my hubby pick one dish - and he went for the pork belly skewers from L'etoile (Chef: Manu Feildel). Manu was actually at the tent when we were there and a massive crown gathered as he took photos with people and did a bit of a 'happy dance' with his staff at the tent. The pork belly was tender and juicy but really quite fatty. I think more than half the cube might have been pork fat - which makes for a fantastic flavour but also sets alight the guilt-trip in my mind going ' this is going to kill me'. The pork cubes were separated with prunes and served with a small portion of char-grilled silver beet.

'murray valley pork belly' with prunes and char-grilled silver beet - 12 crowns

In my mind, the smoked salmon, chorizo and mozzarella croquette from Four in Hand (Chef: Colin Fassnidge) sounded delicious but my hubby was eyeing their roast suckling pig plate. Hence, I was nice enough to opt for the pig instead. I was not disappointed - stringy yet tasty pull-apart suckling pig was served with super tasty coleslaw and a puffy onion ring. The 'hot sauce' on top of the pork wasn't really hot, but it added a good flavour to the pork.

roast suckling pig, coleslaw, onion rings and hot sauce - 12 crowns

As we were walking around, we saw people with burgers and hot dogs everywhere. And so I couldn't resist either the chilli dog or the classic wagyu beef and cheese slider from Charlie & Co Diner. Hubby decided on the burger over the dog. Compared to previous years, the burger was less succulent and more 'meaty' in texture. I preferred previous burgers but hubby liked this one. The bun was super soft and somewhat sweet tasting, making it just dissolve in your mouth. The chips were quite impressive. Golden brown sticks of potato which were perfectly crunchy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. YUM!

Charlie wagyu beef and cheese slider - 10 crowns

Last but not least, dessert time! I was hunting for my favourite icecream that I get to eat once a year from the New Zealand tent (Kohu Road Ice cream) only to find that it wasn't exhibiting this year!!! Full of dissappointment, I had to hunt down a substitute. I settled for Duccio Gelato (Five Dock) - coffee flavour and that was nice and all that... but I still missed my Kohu Road!

Duccio Gelato - 4 crowns

All up, Taste of Sydney Festival was a pleasant experience (as always), full of wonderous foods and yummy freebie taste tests offered by lots of exhibiting stores of wine and juice and salmon and bread and olive oil etc etc. If you are a HSBC customer, you also get free access to their lounge where you're treated to a free drink, live music and unlimited complimentary water :)

Taste of Sydney 2011

As I was purchasing tickets for the Taste of Sydney festival this year, I realised something horrendous... I haven't blogged about last year's Taste of Sydney festival - reason being, I had put my partner in charge of photo taking... and he still hasn't given them to me.

So this year, I was determined to take my own photos. Again, heading for the evening session on the Saturday, we were met with quite a large crowd of fellow hungry food forages. We tasted many a things - from wine to sauces to dips to salmon to icecream - and all were pretty awesome! But in terms of things we used our crowns (the official currency of the festival) for, it was the following:

From memory, I think we had like 4 different wagyu beef dishes last year... this year, fish (salmon and trout varieties) seemed like the new black. Our first pick was from Berowra Waters Inn. I have to say, we smelt this in the cooking from outside the festival gates... and hence we just HAD to have it. They had a seeminly awesome selection of oyster beignets, slow cooked ocean trout, and cheese. I have to say, both the oysters and the trout looked amazing... but we opted for the trout (12 crowns). And trout did not disappoint. It was simply falling off my fork and melting in my mouth. AMAZING texture, amazing flavour - especially when dipped in the french onion soup puree. Accompanying the simply gorgeous (I can eat millions of) trout was a peppered oxtail 'croustillant' which was really, just a fancy juicy beefy spring roll type thing - and that was pretty awesome to... but in my mind, it was the trout which stood out.


We walked past Croquembouche Patisserie and initially, was enticed by the eiffel tower look-a-like thing. After a second of checking the place out, it was their selection of tarts, macaroons and petit fours which enticed me. Even though I had pretty much not eaten anything substantial yet, my stomach was telling me - "dessert time". And so I was coerced into picking a chocolate fondant (2 crowns) and it was simply decadent! Smooth, super rich cocoa mass denseness with a substantially good contrasted biscuity-cakey type base. Topped with just rich chocolate ganache... Mmm... Goes straight to the top of my cravings list :)



Now onto more main meals. I saw this super colourful arrangement from Otto and decided I had to have it. A Regal King salmon carpaccio (10 crowns) with orange bits, shaved fennel, salmon roe, baby herbs and crispy salmon skin, doused in a citrus and chardonnay vinegar dressing... it looked a million dollars. Tasted interesting too. Fresh. Yet the crispy salmon skin was like eating intensely salmon-flavoured chips - slightly hectic. The salmon itself was rather delicious :)



However, I have to say, Regal king salmon - which has a much more intense flavour compared to atlantic salmon - tastes better when cooked (or lightly seared). According to our later watching of Matthew Kemp (Restaurant Balzac) demonstrating his cooking of his seared regal king salmon with pomegrante, mint and feta salad (10 crowns), this is due the the fatty content that is in the New Zealand origin fish. All I can say is that when the fat is melted just a bit, it gives off ZOMG AMAZING flavours (or maybe it's because they cook it well?). These king salmon skewers were pretty damn delicious!


To me, it was dessert time again. I remember tasting absolutely amazingly creamy and rich icecream from the New Zealand tent last year, and surely enough - they were here this year again! Kohu Road icecream is apparently purchasable at any grocery store in NZ... but in Sydney, it's slightly harder to locate. We were given free sample tastings... vanilla (super rich, you can even taste the vanilla beans) was one of my partner's favourites, my friends liked the golden syrup, I thought that cookies and cream was pretty awesome... but after a very long deliberation, I decided to have a scoop of espresso and a scoop of dark chocolate. Both flavours were intense. Intense in a good way. Due to it's melting nature, I gobbled it up in no time and went hunting for the next lot of food with my partner :P




Wagyu beef burger (originally from Becasse store back in the day), currently offered from Charlie & Co is something I think we ordered all 3 taste of sydney festival's we've been to (12 crowns, 10 if you're a HSBCer). I have to say, the very first time I had this thing - it was gorgeously juicy, novel and eye-opening. The second time was good too. This time - I think I've had too much exposure to awesomely juicy beef burgers (maybe just a tad spoilt) and this burger, still amazingly juicy and tasty and yum, lacked a bit of creativity. The weird thing is, I didn't even pick to order this this time - it was my partner (and he was unimpressed with it the first time around). Men are weird. ish.
My partner's last dish of the night was from Four in Hand - the confit pork belly, squid, chorizo and chickpea (10 crowns). The pork belly was deep fried, yet kind of tender. Lots of tomatoey stuff and bits of chorizo, squid and chickpea just kind of swimming. My partner seemed to like this... I didn't enjoy it was much. I don't think I like my pork belly deep fried... or maybe if they deep fry it, it has to be thicker? I'm not sure, but it was a bit too crispy and dry for my liking, even though it was swimming in the choriza chickpea mixture.


So there you have it, our taste of sydney festival experience. I have to say, being a HSBCer, getting a free drink and a free chill out area was pretty cool - you get to enjoy the VIP area without paying VIP. The food and the exhibitors this year was also pretty good - and yes, I think this is the year of Regal King Salmon (can't get enough of that stuff LOL)

Taste of Sydney Festival - Centennial Park

Driving to Centennial park, I was super excited at the day's activity - going to the Taste festival and eating lots of yummy yummy food!!!

The festival ran from the 12th - 15th of March and entry costs $30 (or $25 if you pre-bought them online). There's also the premium tickets which cost $50 (they include entry and 30 crowns). As $1 = 1 crown, the premium tix were a bargain (well... kind of).

I was in awe when I first lay eyes on all the stalls. Food glorious food!!! and icecream!!! and hatted restaurants!!! The aromas filled the air, my stomach was grumbling, and to the Wagyu beef burger we headed!

Becasse (or rather, Plan B) was offering Gundooee organic grass fed wagyu beef burger (12 crowns). The bun was fresh and crisp. And the beef patty? OMGosH - it was soooo super juicy and tastey and really, words cannot describe it! It was truelly awesome. I think I could have eaten like, 5 of these things! My partner, however, didn't really enjoy the burger because it was too juicey and rich for his likings (however, in retrospect, he did mention that it was one of the best things he had that day).

Wagyu beef burger - 12 crowns

The next on our eating agenda were the rock oysters from Assiette (10 crowns). On top of each of these babies were crispy shallot and baby coriander, dowsed in Viet dressing. Mmm... they were fresh and smooth and creamy and really yum. If only there were more!

Oysters with viet dressing, crispy shallot and baby coriander - 10 crowns

For a little discovery, I could not resist but to zoom right to the chocolate tasting store. The lovely man from zokoko patiently described the ins and outs of his stores chocolate making process. They slowly roast their own cocoa and they experiment with different types of sugars. The result? Heavenly tasting chocolate that smoothly melts in your mouth, leaving a sweet sweet taste. The man said that their store was opening the following Monday - and he didn't have any stock for me to buy!!! How could he do that??? Expose me to chocolate which is on par with Godiva and not have any there for me to take home!!! >.< Anyway... his store is now open (as it is past Monday) and the tasting bar is situated in Emu Heights. Must must must go there!

Zokoko - chocolate tasting

More chocolate- this time, tea-flavoured from iTea. Their shop is situated in Bondi Junction. Again, lots of free chocolate tasting like ginger chocolate, coconut green tea, chai etc etc. Interesting and yummy - but compared to Zokoko? You can probably guess who wins hands down~

chocolate from iTea

Now to an equally delicious store - Serendipity Icecream! I was so excited about my Chocolate Fudge and Peanut Butter Disaster double scoop (6 crowns) that I actually finished the icecream before the notion of "needing to take a photo" even popped into my mind. The conclusion? I must move closer to Marrickville so that I can ship home all the flavours without the tubs melting (or buy one of those freezer trucks)!

Serendipity Icecream

Now back to some proper foods from our featured hatted restaurants. Pilu at Freshwater (a 2 hatted Sardinian restaurant) offered mussels and vongole with fregola (10 crowns). We were also lucky enough to see Mr Pilu make this dish live at the Taste Kitchen! These mussels were cooked just right. Not too tough yet soft and tender with all the juices soaked up inside of them.

Mussels and vongole with fregola - 10 crowns

Taste Kitchen - cooking demos!

Mr Pilu tellin us to never eat fastfood takeaway again >.<

We also saw Thomas Schnetzler from Lindt teaching us how to make chocolate mousse and choc caramel tart.

Mr Lindt dude

After the demonstrations, it was food time again. This time, our noses took us to Restaurant Balzac for the suckling pig with crackling and baby garden peas (12 crowns). The suckling pig was sooooo tender and full of porky flavour. The crackling was also super crunchy. I have to admit, although the richness and aroma of the fat filled the meat and really made this dish, I did feel a tad guilty about eating pork fat by the mouthful! But, all the adverse health effects are probably worth it!

Suckling pig with crackling - 12 crowns

Being out of crowns, we didn't gtet the wagyu beef bourguignonne with truffled cauliflwoer and onion rings (10 crowns), but they sure smelt nice!!!

Wagyu beef Bourguignonne - 10 crowns

To finish off - more sweet stuff. This time, from Sublime Gelato (award winning gelato). We got the roche flavour (4 crowns). This was nice... but no where near as sublime as Serendipity :P

Sublime Gelato

Just like that, we said our goodbyes to the Taste food festival - until next year that is!

Taste of Sydney
12-15 March, 2009
Centennial Park