Le Dîner en Blanc Sydney: A white night in Centennial Park

Le Dîner en Blanc Sydney, 29 November 2014, McKay Field, Centennial Park

When it's behaving, summer in Sydney is hard to beat - blue skies, sun shining and people out and about, enjoying life and cheeky drinks in the sun.

We managed to celebrate both the end of spring and start of summer at Dîner en Blanc over the weekend - the third annual Sydney event of the Parisian guerilla picnic phenomenon that's popped up all over the world.

A sea of white in McKay Field

I'd been lucky enough to attend the inaugural Sydney event two years ago, which remains high on my list of all-time most fabulous event experiences. For the third year in a row, the event's been blessed with an evening of clear skies, despite our increasingly volatile Sydney weather.

Dîner en Blanc has grown substantially since landing in Australia, with the wait list for an invite ballooning after the first year. This year's Sydney outing, at the secret location of McKay Field in Centennial Park, hosted 4,000 picnickers all dressed in elegant white as is the DeB tradition.

Guests arriving to the secret location

Boarding a bus near Town Hall with other excited guests of this year's wine sponsor Seppelt Wines, guesses of the secret location came thick and fast as we headed east, out of the city.

We entered the Randwick gates of Centennial Park and saw glimpses of our eventual destination, which was reached on foot through a picturesque tunnel of paper bark trees.

I didn't know McKay Field, our picnic location, even existed till this weekend. Somewhat closed off on three sides by rows of trees, it forms a rather secluded, sheltered meadow of Centennial Park not far from the Duck Pond. For DeB, the space was encircled by five huge, white illuminated rabbit sculptures which also made an appearance at this year's Vivid Sydney festival.

Seppelt Wines table, dressed in white and ready to go

It was here, in our own little piece of Centennial Park, that we and thousands of others would set up for a pop-up picnic of epically sophisticated proportions.

The Seppelt Wines table was set with a white tablecloth, mismatched chairs and fresh white flowers in jars - and of course, plenty of chilled Jaluka Chardonnay and Great Western Riesling (and Piper Heidsieck bubbles to start).

Other diners setting up their tables

It was great fun to watch all the other tables go about setting up their own tables for the night. With foldable chairs and tables in tow, matching their all-white outifts, diners unfolded and decorated tables with great flair and enthusiasm.

I spotted lanterns and baby's breath flowers galore, as well as helium balloons and even live white goldfish - and of course the DeB-essential white cloth napkins at every spot.

Seppelt Wines table

As we sat down to our tables, it was white on white on white - just bliss with the sun shining and champagne in hand. Suffice to say, plenty of photos were taken: of people, outfits, table settings and the gorgeous surroundings.

White on white on white

Catered picnic options are available for those who don't want to carry food along with their furniture, with boxed hampers by Kitchen Catering available for pre-order and collection on site. We scored the Premium Hamper which was a huge box of delicious goodies for a very hungry two (or even three).

(clockwise) Rosemary and chilli focaccia, pickled vegetable and dips&

We started with triangles of Sonoma's rosemary and chilli focaccia, served with Pepe Saya butter and an array of dips: pureed beetroot with yogurt; a super-smokey eggplant dip with tahini and a deliciously spicy hommous with pine nuts and parsley.

Tartly pickled cucumber, carrot and crunchy cauliflower completed the picnic-friendly grazing quartet of plastic tubs.

Potted shrimp and antipasti

I was a bit excited to open up the cardboard tubs to find, essentially, a prawn cocktail salad. With loads of small, creamily dressed prawns set on top of shredded iceberg lettuce, it was a classic if not retro combination that will always taste amazingly of summer for the fresh crustaceans.

Antipasti

The first of the cardboard boxes held more picnic favourites of antipasti and grissini bread sticks. Salami and a spice-edged pastrami joined marinated artichoke and zucchini, juicy flavour-bombs of semi dried tomato pieces and olives.

Seppelt Jaluka Chardonnay

Seppelt's white wine to start and match was the highly drinkable Jaluka Chardonnay which matched the scene and the sun-setting vibe to a tee.

Pasta salad with prosciutto and char grilled lamb on burghul salad

While I could have happily stopped at dips, antipasti and wine, two filled-to-the-brim boxes of cold salad mains awaited.

The first was a farfalle pasta salad with parsley and green beans, topped with three folded ribbons of prosciutto that were divine to devour on their own.

The other was a vibrant burghul salad with kale, pumpkin and red capsicum that was particularly moreish, topped with cold slices of tender, char grilled lamb backstrap.

Seppelt St Peters Grampians Shiraz

Following tastings of the refreshingly dry, clean Great Western Riesling, we had a taste of Seppelt's flagship St Peters shiraz, which was as smooth as it gets with both boldness and fruit very, very restrained - quite the opposite of a big, fruity shiraz.

Cheeses and candied walnuts

Having eaten too much of the generously sized picnic - not even counting the desserts of fig pannacotta or the chocolate mousse that was initially mistaken for pate - I actually struggled to polish off the cheese.

A very good brie and corner of Red Leicester were served with lavosh crackers and a pile of fabulous candied walnuts.

Jake Meadows performing on the harp

There was music throughout the evening but when the live-looped harp performance from singer and musician Jake Meadows came on, the wide-ranging audience was captivated. He made way for more partying and dance tunes as the night went on.

Dîner en Blanc Sydney

Waving napkins, signalling the beginning of DeB festivities

As is DeB tradition, during the night the official 'waving of the napkins' is meant to signify the beginning of the night's festivities.

Given the satellite-style layout of the tables outwards from the centre stage and DJ in McKay Field, we could see the Mexican wave-like, ripple effect of the napkin-waving as they got picked up around the spread out tables and flung around in the air.

Sparklers come out, signalling the time to mingle and dance
Photo by Shayben Moussa, courtesy of Burson-Marsteller

Later in the night post dinner, sparklers are handed out to guests to light in unison and wave about, signalling the time to get social and boogie on the dancefloor - and try to make as many new friends as possible in the process.

Even later, when the last dance has been danced, DeB guests pack up their tables, chairs and rubbish and leave the space without a trace of the evening's proceedings.

An organisational and logistical feat, the white night in Centennial Park that was Dîner en Blanc capped off another successful year and event for the lucky 4,000 guests - and it's promised to be bigger and better yet again in 2015. See more photos on my Facebook page.

Food, Booze & Shoes attended Dîner en Blanc Sydney as a guest of Seppelt Wines.

A familiar Taste of Sydney

Taste of Sydney, 13-16 March 2014, Centennial Park, Sydney

For its sixth year in Sydney's Centennial Park, Taste of Sydney once again battled with the weather gods to mostly prevail as one of our city's favourite outdoor restaurant and wine festivals.

The parklands were abuzz with stalls on the opening Thursday night with a host of familiar faces and a few new, with the Best in Taste Awards again hosted in the Taste VIP tent.

G.H. Mumm champagne in the Taste VIP tent

With bubbles on pour all night, it was a jovial forum to see the Best in Taste judging panel - including Gourmet Traveller's Pat Nourse, television cook Lyndey Milan, Time Out's Myffy Rigby and Broadsheet Sydney's Sophie McComas - award their picks of the festival.

The Best Dressed stall was deemed to be Rojo Rocket from the rotating Destination Dining restaurants; with the award accepted gleefully by the Taste first-timers. Another festival newbie, Aki's Indian Restaurant, took out third in the Best in Taste, with their poori offering.

Perennial favourites Porteño placed second with their charcoal grilled wagyu skirt steak, and the Best in Taste award went to old-but-new Taste participant Chow Bar & Eating House, with ex-Claudes' owner and chef Chui Lee Luk's 'Beggar's Chicken'.

Taste of Sydney - opening night

While I managed to taste two out of three of the judges' Best in Taste, my Sunday plans for Taste round two were scuppered by a pretty epic storm that's becoming all to common in Sydney town these days.

Porteño's tent kitchen charcoal grill

Luckily we got to crowd-favourite Porteño on the first night; unmissable with all the "faces of" and a huge, open kitchen tent stall that sent charcoal smoke signals direct to Taste's hungry stomachs.

Charcoal grilled entrana - wagyu skirt steak with BBQ peppers and chimichurri from Porteño

Grabbing silver in the judge's awards, Porteño's charcoal grilled wagyu skirt steak was a smoky-flavoured and tender delight of a cut of beef, sliced and topped with a zingy chimichurri herb sauce and settled upon soft cooked red capsicum.

Charcoal grilled lamb rib with marinated eggplant, anchovy
and rosemary pound from Porteño

But it was the charcoal grilled lamb rib, with crunchy pieces of skin and smoky fat covering soft lamb flesh, that had my attention; perfectly spiced and served with meltingly soft eggplant and creamy squiggles of a sauce of anchovy and rosemary.

Porteño's woodfired asado

The beauty of the Porteño approach is that they bring the restaurant to Taste, not just a festival-friendly sample. Four asado woodfire grills were set up around a pit next to the main tent, just like they have at the Surry Hills restaurant, except all lambs splayed for Taste.

Woodfired lamb from the asado with potato salad and chimchurri from Porteño

Having not tried Porteño's woodfired lamb from the asado before, it was the perfect opportunity to have their Taste Icon Dish, served atop a creamy potato salad with the same chimichurri sauce.

The succulent cuts of lamb (leg?) were tender if not a bit one-dimensional, although I did spy various other cuts of the Icon Dish, as it is in the restaurant, that offered more colour and varied texture.

Crispy pork belly with chilli caramel, aioli and mint slaw from Chur Burger

Over at 'Taste veteran but in a new guise' Warren Turnbull's Chur Burger stall, it was a range of miniaturised burgers, also ubiquitously known as sliders.

The pork belly was a winning combination of a crisp hunk of roasted belly with crackling, cabbage and mint slaw, aioli and a sticky chilli caramel; somehow all balanced within a cute, little burger bun.

Kinkawooka mussel fritter with spiced remoulade and dill pickled cucumber
from Chur Burger

The same buns also held two unique-sounding Kinkawooka mussel fritters; a little pikelet-like and floury but lifted by ribbons of dill-scented pickled cucumber and creamy remoulade as a sauce.

Crispy king prawns, green chilli, lime from Longrain

We moved on to Taste (and festivals generally) long-timer Longrain and their irresistible whole fried king prawns, dressed with a refreshing lime and mild green chilli sauce.

With very well-trimmed heads (no dangerous, sharp bits), it was much like eating whole fried school prawns but better, with a crisp, well-seasoned flour coating and that fabulous, firm texture of large crustaceans.

Hay smoked chicken legs - cured and smoked chicken, corn and local garlic creme
from Biota Dining

We continued on the large, fried things path with Biota Dining's cured and hay smoked chicken drumstick.

It was an impressively large chicken specimen with a crunchy crumb coating and soft yellow cream of corn and garlic that's right up there as one of the most expensive chicken drumsticks I've ever had.

Dahi sel poori - crispy wheat pockets with spiced potato and yoghurt from Aki's Indian Restaurant

I knew I wanted to try the podium-winning dish from Aki's Indian Restaurant: dahi sel poori hollow fried wheat pockets, filled with a mix of fragrantly spiced potato and natural yoghurt, garnished with coriander.

Eaten in one or two mouthfuls, the poori was an intriguing sensation of warm and cold, soft and crisp, spice and sourness that was gone all too quickly.

Ceci e tria alla Pugliese - pasta strips cooked two ways, chickpeas, pecorino mousse
from Popolo

The only pasta offering at Taste this year was Popolo's ceci pasta strips, served as a crisp wafer with sharp pecorino mousse, and more classically with a creamy, not-necessarily-photogenic chickpea sauce.

Taco de Cochinito - pulled pork taco, corn puree, salad and salsa rojo from Rojo Rocket

The Avalon-based Rojo Rocket put up tacos, including a pulled pork one that didn't quite look like all the other ones around town.

With a puree of corn, watercress leaves and tasty namesake salsa rojo, the tortilla didn't get a chance to go soggy, scoffed within a minute or so.

Suckling pig on the spit at 4Fourteen / Four in Hand

Otto Ristorante's head chef Richard Ptacnik in the Taste Kitchen

Country Kitchen seating area

The usual Taste features - Taste Kitchen, chefs' talks, wine masterclasses, cocktail classes - were all present as too a few cooking class demonstrations and the new Icon Park restaurant/bar crowdfunding concept, making it an increasingly familiar Taste, with an annual twist. See more photos on my Facebook page.

Food, booze and shoes attended Taste of Sydney as a guest. All food and Crowns were paid for independently.

Polo in the City featuring Kirin Lounge and a zebra

A 'zebra' at Paspaley Polo in the City, 16 November 2013, Centennial Park, Sydney

I had to look three times. There was a zebra prancing around the middle of a polo field in Sydney's Centennial Park.

It seemed about the same size as the polo horses and galloped about the same way, but those black and white stripes were strikingly unmissable (it was actually a pony painted in stripes by The Classic Safari Company).

Kirin Lounge at Polo in the City

I was at the Paspaley Polo in the City event in Sydney - my very first polo match - thanks to the Kirin Lounge.

As part of this year's annual event, the cloud-threatened day in Sydney featured the Kirin Lounge - an area for the general public - in addition to corporate and VIP sponsor marquees; another step in making the sport of media tycoons more accessible and approachable.

While the day's weather forecast wreaked havoc with planned wardrobes, the dress style was a leisurely, understated, ultra-classy smart-casual with footwear appropriate for grass, and soggy grass at that.

Polo match in play

Admittedly, the game of polo takes a bit of getting one's head around, with horses thundering towards a small ball flying up and down the field, with mallets whacking it into the air - hopefully between two posts.

And like the races, there were inordinate amounts of time spent drinking, socialising and posing for photos, and somewhat less time spent on watching the game of men on horseback with white pants, helmets and long mallets.

Kirin Lounge

In its first year of event sponsorship, Kirin hosted the largest space, open to public admission with a popular cash bar and food by Fresh Catering.

A little classier than General Admission at the races, there were plenty of tables and chairs beneath large umbrellas, with the front row, prime viewing seats gone in a hurry and the umbrellas proving useful for both sun exposure and varying levels of rain.

Kirin Cider

The recently-launched range of Kirin Ciders was made available at the Kirin Lounge. The range of ciders is made under licence in Australia and exclusively available in Australia, going some way to demonstrate our market for cider.

Based on Fuji apples - one of my favourite varieties due to their crispness and tartness - there are four flavours of Kirin Cider: Fuji apple, Fuji apple and mikan mandarin, Fuji apple and ume Japanese apricot/ plum, and Fuji apple and ginger.

Kirin Cider range
(Image courtesy of Lion)

What I like most about the Kirin Cider range, aside from the gorgeous hand-illustrated label imagery, is that they are not overly sweet. The Fuji apple has a nice dry finish with a tart kick; while the Fuji apple and mikan has a citrus bitterness - in a good, not too artificial way.

The Fuji apple and ginger has quite a strong flavour of the spicy rhizome so it's closer to an alcoholic ginger beer than a fruity cider, while the Fuji apple and ume was my favourite with a well-rounded sweetness.

Quinoa salad by Fresh Catering at the Kirin Lounge

Food in the Kirin Lounge was done by specialty event caterers Fresh Catering, with great cold options like a hearty quinoa salad, brimming with colourful tomatoes, cucumber, beetroot, chickpeas and sauces of pesto and perhaps Greek yoghurt.

Antipasto platter by Fresh Catering at the Kirin Lounge

I was all over the antipasti plate before remembering to take a photo (cured meats have that effect on me).

With crackers and breadsticks packed separately, this generous and varied platter featured salami and prosciutto alongside roasted capsicum strips, marinated artichoke, mixed olives, cornichons, roasted almonds, a little tub of hummus and a handful of rocket leaves - perfect daytime grazing food, if you ask me.

Beef burger sliders by Fresh Catering at the Kirin Lounge

The pack of sliders was perfect for sharing, being four cute little buns sandwiching a particularly chunky beef pattie. The super coarse mince was a nice testural surprise within the slider, with melted cheese and pickles making it a very satisfying few mouthfuls.

Chroizo roll by Fresh Catering at the Kirin Lounge

The chorizo roll was undoubtedly my favourite of the lot, served on a white bread roll with rocket and aioli of sorts. The red-hued sausage was perfection; perhaps not the most graceful for eating but so tasty with spices and a great coarse texture but no kick of heat.

The first divot stomp

I'm sure all the ladies had Pretty Woman in mind when the first divot stomp was announced; a polo tradition where the audience are asked to help return clumps of the torn up turf to its rightful position.

There's a graceful art to it, especially in damp weather conditions, stilettos, and differentiating between what is turf and what isn't.

Women's dash 

With two polo matches on for the day, there was plenty of time for activities in between, including of course, a divot stomp or two.

Most amusing would have been the dash for prizes, on the polo field for both ladies and gentlemen. Best achieved bare foot, the dash was essentially a sprint on the grass field with sponsor prizes up for grabs for the speediest.

Women's dash  - go!

There was no mercy in the dash, and perhaps just the tiniest lack of grace, all building a case for bringing polo to the people - or at least the ladies who weren't wearing pantyhose.

Men's dash  - ready, set, go!

The men's dash was just as entertaining, with a few pairs of light-coloured pants ruined for the afternoon.

Men's dash

Guests at Paspaley Polo in the City

The day's intermittent rain didn't spoil too much: with my first day at the polo under my belt, being thoroughly introduced to the Kirin Cider range and a near zebra sighting, I'd call that a pretty decent chukka.

See more photos of Paspaley Polo in the City, Sydney, on 16 November 2013 on my Facebook page.

Food, booze and shoes attended Polo in the City as a guest of Kirin Cider and Lion.