Three's a charm at Taste of Sydney

Taste of Sydney 2013, Centennial Park, Sydney

Another year, another filling weekend spent at Taste of Sydney. Blessed by the weather gods this year, I was particularly looking forward to the four days at Centennial Park following a preview 'Taste safari' trip with the organisers and PR firm the week prior.

The chefs of Taste of Sydney 2013

On arrival at the Miele VIP lounge on a cloud-threatened Thursday evening, it was Laurent Perrier champagne and canapés all round as we readied for the Best in Taste awards announcement as part of the opening night gala event - a little 'Oscars' of Taste.

It was chock-a-block in the Miele tent as Kitchen by Mike was awarded the best front of house display. Popolo won third place in the Best in Taste with its pasta offering while Longrain took out second place for its rice noodle dish.

It was full attention for the announcement of the Best in Taste award which went to Taste first-timer Porteño for its wagyu beef brisket, cooked in an American style barbeque which was shipped over especially from the US.

Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate from Porteño

Post the awards announcement and a quick bubbles top-up, we made a beeline for the Porteño restaurant stall, which turned out to be a very good idea as they queues quickly grew and stayed that way for most the rest of the festival.

It was all hands on deck with maitre'd Sarah Doyle in charge of distributing plate upon plate of barbecued goodness from the hands of Elvis Abrahanowicz and Ben Milgate.

BBQ wagyu beef brisket with BBQ sauce and pickle from Porteño

The best dish of the festival as deemed by the judges, Porteño BBQ wagyu brisket comprised a few slices of fat-streaked beef, smoked to a point of redness and fall-apart tenderness.

The rich meat was set off perfectly with a subtly smokey BBQ sauce and a pickle, while the crisp and creamy coleslaw mound beneath was a total highlight for me.

Chorizo with chimmichurri from Porteño

I couldn't resist Porteño's chorizo dish either; something I had in mind to try on my next visit to the Surry Hills restaurant.

The chubby and chunky pork sausage burst with flavour and spiced juiciness, and was served a with fresh and herbaceous chimmichurri that was a meat-eater's match.

Jackie M and Poh Ling Yeow at Malaysia Kitchen stall

We scurried towards the unmistakeable spice smells of Malaysia Kitchen feature, where Jackie M, Poh Ling Yeow and a Malaysia Tourism official launched their first year of participation in Taste of Sydney.

A demo kitchen was set up aside stalls selling Malaysian sauces, pastes and snacks, while a different pop-up restaurant was featured every day.

Poh Ling Yeow demonstrates Hokkien noodles in the Malaysia Kitchen feature

Poh did a quick demonstration of Hokkien noodles in a dark soy sauce, which had the tent area salivating at the aromas and queuing for the subsequent samples.

Dilmah tea lounge

Dilmah had quite the luxurious tea lounge on site where free cups of tea were offered alongside a high tea experience.

Biota Dining chef James Viles in the Dilmah Chef's Skillery tent

Also a new feature of Taste was the Dilmah Chef's Skillery which was presenting chefs in a number of up-close sessions demonstrating a particular skill, with a few tea leaves thrown in, of course.

Bowral's Biota Dining chef and director James Viles was good fun to watch as he torched tea leaves to make a smoked tea butter, churned with a KitchenAid and 45% fat content cream from his local dairy farmer, and strained through a (brand new) blue Chux wipe and served on a river stone.

Croquette - Southern crayfish with paleta and Biota garden onions

Biota had a restaurant stall popping-up as part of the Destination Dining feature which this year featured three regional NSW restaurants.

Viles' passion for his sustainable practices, and a few pre-event tweets, had me excited for his croquette offering. The crunchiest golden crumb you ever did see, or hear, held fluffy potato-ey innards with sea-sweet Southern crayfish flesh.

And while it was the crayfish I was most excited to try, I was blown away by the creamy white onion purée served beneath the three croquettes which had sweetness and heat in equally thrilling parts.

Roast Murray Valley prok salad, crisp rice, mint, chilli and peanuts from Longrain

We shuffled next door to the Taste-seasoned Longrain guys whose Thai salads are a never-fail. The topping of triangles of pork crackling bode well for the roast pork salad, with the amazing crackling balanced with fresh flavours of mint, lime and a fair whack of fresh chilli.

Chia seeds with a Nudie crushie

Pasta from Pasta Gallery

Chocolate, yuzu curd, miso butterscotch from Three Blue Ducks

While there was a suitable amount of tasting to be done across the exhibiting stalls, not even including the dozens of wine stalls, we found room for dessert from Three Blue Ducks, drawn in by the promise of yuzu curd.

It was a surprisingly harmonious combination of rather diverse ingredients with just the right amount of richness: chocolate ganache, curd, cake bits, citrus segments lightening the whole lot and even honeycomb from memory.

Taste of Sydney weekend

Weekend crowds at Taste of Sydney

I returned to Taste on the weekend, where a it seems a great proportion of Sydney decided to spend a rare sunny weekend. The stiflingly hot Saturday was somewhat better than the windy Sunday, but in all, it was great outdoor festival weather, and Sydney was loving it.

Cointreau Strawberry and Mint Fizz

Having being introduced to the Cointreau Fizz recently (with Dita Von Teese), it was hard to resist an icy, freshly mixed drink in the heat.

Most irresistible was the plastic Cointreau conical flasks the drinks were served in, with strawberry and mint or cucumber and lime or a number of other flavour combination, and Cointreau and soda water as a base. I'll be able to make my own fizz in a flask at home now too.

Jackie M char kway teo demonstration at the Malaysia Kitchen feature

Over the whole festival, Jackie M and Poh were alternating demonstrations in the Malaysia Kitchen feature. I caught Jackie M doing char kway two with chicken, which she told the audience wasn't exactly traditional but "whatever" - totally my attitude to cooking.

Martin Boetz (soon to be ex Longrain) in Dilmah Chef's Skillery

I also managed to catch Martin Boetz in the Dilmah Chef's Skillery, putting together a smoking mix for a hunk of kingfish. Green tea, various fresh and dried spices, rice and citrus peel made their way into the mix, which Boetz would normally smoke in a wok.

His departure from the Longrain kitchen after 14 years (last day is 30 June) is bittersweet as he moves on to focus on his Cook's Co-op farm: a couple of hectares of land up Hawkesbury way where Boetz is growing produce for Sydney restaurants in an attempt to reconnect chefs to the land, to where food really comes from.

BBQ ocean trout with tangy Mexican street salad from Peter Kuruvita's Seafood Barbeque

Just over at Peter Kuruvita's self-named restaurant stall, the grill burners were pumping out gorgeously fresh dishes of seafood.

The barbequed Petuna ocean trout was cooked beautifully and barring a few bones, it was an excellent match to the 'Mexican street salad' which could also have been named a tropical fruit salad given it comprised paw paw, dragon fruit and grilled pineapple.

Fregola alla zafferano con ragu di Maialino - Saffron infused toasted fregola pasta,
suckling pig ragu

I made a point of trying out Popolo as it's somewhere I've wanted to visit since the restaurant opened last year. Its fregola pasta dish also achieved second place in the Best in Taste awards, probably solely for the mouthwateringly rich suckling pig ragu.

The little pasta is much like Israeli couscous, like nubbins of a thick round noodle, and perfectly textured for the meaty sauce.

Slow braised pork cheek with black fungus relish roll from Claude's

The feasting continued at Claude's where the pork jowl rolls we sampled at the preview were going like hot cakes.

Slow cooked, fatty slices of pork cheek will do that, especially when it's on a scoffable little bun with a relish of black woodear fungus to cut through the fat.

Head chef and owner Chui Lee Luk of Claude's

Twice baked cheese souffle from Claude's

There's none of Claude's chef and owner Chui Lee Luk's Malaysian heritage in the Icon Dish of a cheese soufflé though. It's pure French decadence as we attack the hot, cheesy mound, made to order on site. It's almost an unfair advantage, but it might well have been the best dish I tried at Taste this year.

Chef Mike McEnearney of Kitchen by Mike

The Kitchen by Mike stall was also doing a roaring trade in its fairground themed offerings of sweet corn on a stick and Pluto pups.

Mike's pluto pup (front) and sweet corn with jalapeno salsa (back) from Kitchen by Mike

It was definitely my first battered sausage on a stick in a very long time, and I have a feeling fairground ones aren't this good with a smokey sausage inside golden batter, and a house made to tomato and capsicum sauce - an easy dish to love despite its apparent simplicity.

Cha Begendy - Scotch fillet cha kebap on charcoal spit, eggplant and kashar puree

It was meat central at Efendy's stall, with a couple of charcoal spits fired up over the four days for lamb, beef, eggplants and capsicums.

, The Scotch fillet cha kebap was the easy choice with thin slices of the tender, fully cooked beef laid atop of a smokey eggplant purée I could have eaten by the bowl.

Deboned and roasted sheep's head with local garlic and cherry tomatoes tandir

I wasn't game or too keen on the sheep's head offering which was served deboned - although I had a funny if not ghoulish vision of sheep's skulls doing the rounds at Taste.

By all accounts, there was meat to be had in the head, in addition to plenty of roasted sheep's brain. Eyes were not mentioned.

Mussels and suckling pig on at Four in Hand / 4Fourteen

Wagyu brisket coming out of the barbeque from Porteño



Cheese plate from Salt Meats Cheese

Inside out pizza boxes from Salt Meats Cheese were the accessory of the festival, highlighting the popularity of grazing at reasonable prices.

The generous 'plate' of three cheeses came with copious amounts of thin, Sardinian style crisp bread; and while the super stinky soft cheese polarised some, the hard (parmeggiano or pecorino) was a definite winner.

The Sommelier's Natural Environment session at the Plumm Taste Wine Theatre

We spied some free seats at the Plumm Taste Wine Theatre just in time to join GT Wines' Nick Stock and a panel of sommeliers going through five wines and potential food matches.

It was a very entertaining session with some interesting new tastes and tidbits learnt. The Between Five Bells rose was a fruity, summery highlight I'll need to seek out again.

Chocolate dipped pistachio mastic ice cream from Booza

I finished at Taste with the guys at Booza who were making plenty of friends over the hot weekend weather with their unique mastic ice cream. The authentic Middle Eastern flavours were made modern with a Zokoko chocolate dip and popped on a stick; just perfect for festival strolling and scoffing.

The sesame-based halva flavour was superb although I still can't decide whether I like the rose Turkish delight or pistachio flavours more.

Taste crowds on hot and windy Sunday

As Taste continues to grow and mature, I once again departed the white tented stalls in Centennial Park pretty stuffed, wallet pretty emptied but pretty happy with the state of food and wine in Sydney and beyond.

See more photos from Taste of Sydney 2013 on my Facebook page.

The big pink Taste fork at the entrance

Food, booze and shoes attended Taste of Sydney 2013 as a media guest, with thanks to Stellar Concepts. Food and Crowns were paid for independently.

Reality bites Sydney Food & Wine Fair

It’s the end of another year for the Crave Sydney International Food Festival and the month of October is fatter and less cashed up for it. Unfortunately though, as the festival gets bigger and stronger every year, one of my favoured events – the Sydney Food & Wine Fair in Hyde Park – seems to be getting smaller and smaller.

It’s a real shame as it used to be one of the biggest days in the year for food and fundraising alike. With so many other events now for marketing to the masses or mini empires to run or indeed, financial troubles, perhaps restaurants just can’t spare the day, staff and 500 donated portions of food.

Sydney Food & Wine Fair, Hyde Park, Sydney

Nonetheless the mostly rain free, insanely humid day was pleasant, and well done to all those restaurants involved (see list at the bottom of this post). The noon mugginess meant it was impossible to walk by the James Squire stall and not stop in for the One Fifty Lashes Pale Ale – a relatively light drinking beer, subtle, fruity and just perfect for the day’s heat.

Confit Berkshire Black Pork belly, Chinese cabbage salad, citrus
sesame dressing from Restaurant Atelier

Drool-worthy smells were emanating from the nearby Restaurant Atelier stall where ever-popular confit pork belly was served with a refreshing and crunchy cabbage salad with touches of sesame oil. The pork was stunning, tender, not noticeably fatty and with a pleasurable slight crunch to the burnished skin.

Mushroom arancini and tomato arancini by Danny Russo at the Alfa One stand

The theme was Italian at the Alfa One stand where chef Danny Russo was pumping out squid and arancini skewers – both dishes cooked with the rice bran oil (every dish also came with a 500ml bottle of the oil).

I was pretty happy to have scored three of the mushroom arancini which were heady with earthy mushrooms and cheese, while the tomato one featured a subtle cheese that really paled in comparison to the former.

Pane Casereccio from Brasserie Bread

Passing by the Brasserie Bread stalls I spotted Matt Brock from the bread making class I was lucky enough to attend not long ago and stopped in for a chat. They had on offer festive-looking pane casereccio which I’m told is commonly eaten after big parties and gatherings in Italy where leftover bits, like olives or baked vegies, are baked into bread.

Thanks to Matt for the complimentary dish, it was such a pretty bread to eat with each mouthful yielding a different taste. Indeed there was almost more fillings than bread, and this was enjoyed very much with a glass of sauvignon blanc from the Giesen stall.

Ribs, lamb cutlet and potato salad from Outback Steakhouse

Most popular stall/dish of the day had to be the one at Outback Steakhouse. It was definitely the biggest dish going and the one I could smell a mile away, such was that magnetic aroma of ribs on the grill.

Presumably beef ribs for their Flinstones size, they were incredibly tender and doused in a barbeque sauce that was equally sweet and smokey (which some other places could really learn a thing or two from).

The charred lamb cutlet was also cooked nicely (medium-well is always safer at these types of settings) while the tangy potato salad rounded out the filling dish.

Cured ocean trout with tapioca pearls, salmon roe and microherbs from Selah

Most beautiful dish of the day had to be that at Selah, which also impressed at last year’s Fair. It was a gorgeous treasure trove of tapioca pearls and salmon roe with a hunk of jewel-hued cured ocean trout featuring beneath microherbs and bready bits.

And not only did it have looks to die for, the flavours and textures were spot on: the soft tapioca with pops of salty salmon roe, and the strong flavoured ocean trout having a party with the herbs and more subtle tapioca. Congratulations to Selah for yet another ‘wow’ dish.

Ice cream petit fours from Booza

With precious few vouchers left for desserts, it was great to see the Booza stall selling their wares for a mere voucher each. Recently making headlines for their new take on a traditional dessert (and residing in the same factory as Pepe Saya butter), these two balls of ice cream were each covered in Middle Eastern additions.

The pistachio praline was crunchy and rich with a burnt caramel toffee, while the halva had an interesting texture and sweet sesame flavours. And it’s hard not to adore the Persian fairy floss that was intensely nutty and just the perfect finishing tuft on the dessert.

Aside from a couple fat drops of rain that threatened, the skies remained clear and the entertainment pushed on, including an impressive cheerleading routine with flips, pyramids and all.

I’ve got my fingers crossed that the Aids Trust fundraiser will pick up next year: with peak interest in all things food and restaurants at the moment, I’m hoping the empires will consider participating in what is truly a fun, fantastic day out for a good cause.

Burgers from Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay

Participating stalls at this year’s Sydney Food & Wine Fair were: 1945, Alfa One, Alio, Allpress Espresso, Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay, Booza, Brasserie Bread, Brown Brothers, Brown Sugar, Café Sydney, Catalina Restaurant, Cracka Wines, Eat Fit Food, Exchange Café, Flying Fish Restaurant, Forsyth Tea and Coffee, Gastronomy, Giesen Wines, QVB Tea Rooms, Guillaume at Bennelong, Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, Jamaica Blue, Jimmy Liks, La Mint, Le Pelican, Lisa McGuigan Wines, Longrain, Malt Shovel Brewery, Mezzaluna Ristorante Italiano, Tom Kime Fish & Co, Negociants Australia, New Zealand Wine Growers, New Zealand Wine Online, Nilgiri’s, Outback Steakhouse, Packed Lunch, Red Ribbon Prizes, Restaurant Atelier, Ryde TAFE, Scarborough Wine Co, Selah, Stonewall Hotel, Tempus Two Wines and Yellowtail Wines.