Sunshine after the rain at Taste of Sydney

It was three days of sunshine, some of it quite intense, after the Wednesday and Thursday rains that prevented the opening night of Taste of Sydney in Centennial Park. And what glorious sunshine it was that dried out the grounds and showed what a Sydney outdoor festival should be.

Taste of Sydney 2012, Centennial Park, Sydney

For the fourth year in a row, on Sunday I headed towards the white-tented city that smelt like a mouth-watering combination of char smoke and fat; appetite and plenty of dollars for Crowns (the currency of Taste) with me.

There were definitely more large stands in the middle of the park set-up, offering seating and respite from the hot sun, as well as the cute idea that was the Lilydale picnic area with entertainment from Argyle Bar.

Lengths of marshmallow at Patisse

There was also a noticeable concentration of stalls dishing out alcoholic and sweet products, and a sad lack of stalls offering cheese; something that was quite abundant in years past.

The Cho-mobile handing out loads of free Chobani Greek style yoghurt

Blood plum vanilla ripple ice pop by Pure Pops

The heat of the day called for an early icy refreshment, which we found in the 100% natural and colourful Pure Pops. The deep red of the blood plum, with a swirl of presumably vanilla ice cream towards the paddle pop stick, was refreshing yet pulpy like proper fruit.

Stretching ice cream by hand at the Booza stall

One of the most impressive sights of the day had to be the hand-stretched ice cream at the Booza stall. A labourious alternative to machine churning, this display was not actually how Booza make their petit fours and pots of ice cream, but showcased a dated art that creates ice cream of very unique texture.

Chalie & Co. stall

It wasn’t long after some nuts and za’atar tastings that we hit up the caravan/ truck-like outlet of Justin North’s Charlie & Co. While I think it was just an aesthetic style, it raises the prospect of a Charlie & Co. burger or hot dog truck of the likes we’ve never seen before.

The Dog - Mini artisan frankfurter chilli dog from Charlie & Co.

The hot dog blitzed the mini wagyu burger in the presentation stakes, so it was an easy choice. The chips were impressive – at least twice-cooked and crunchy yet still properly fluffy on the inside.

A well-bronzed hot dog bun encased a quality-tasting white meat sausage, all covered in a flurry of not-particularly-spicy chilli mix, green sauce and thin, patient zig-zags of American mustard.

Ketel One stand, hosted by Eau de Vie

We spied the Ketel One stand by the Eau de Vie team towards the back of the park set-up, decked out with shelves of bottles of Ketel One vodka and hints of the Eau de Vie aesthetic.

Yuzu Mule (left) and Bloody Mary (right) from Eau de Vie

With the slick Eau de Vie boys in action, the Yuzu Mule was my pick with the promise of a sour hit from yuzu curd along with honey, orange, ginger beer and of course, Ketel One vodka.

The Bloody Mary wasn't even on the menu and was oddly not as cold as it really should have been, but downed nonetheless.

Spencer gulf prawns, avocado, lime, chilli, royal black quinoa,
tomato, basil & coriander from Agape Restaurant

The Sustainability area of the festival had just a whiff of hippie-ness but in the case of the Sustainability Pop-Up restaurant on Sunday, Agape Restaurant smelt nothing but delicious.

With some seriously appetising and fresh looking dishes on offer, we went with the grilled Spencer Gulf prawns piled high with a salad of black quinoa grains, tomato, basil and alfalfa sprouts - a beautifully fresh plate that sang of summer.

Crispy pork belly, pickled daikon and chilli jam in a sweet roll by Longrain

Not far away, the Longrain bar was pumping tunes and cocktails to the happy masses. Definitely a contender for my favourite of the day was Martin Boetz's crispy pork bun, jam-packed with thick, succulent slices of pork with crackling. The picked vegetables were the ideal foil for the rich pork while there was also a taste of seafood in a light smearing of sauce.

Casareccia al ragu from A Tavola

I found my favourite pasta type at Eugenio Maiale's A Tavola: house made casareccia with a ragu of slow cooked veal, pork and chicken and dusted with parmesan cheese. The al dente pasta was ridiculously perfect for something served in a paper bowl in a park, but made even better with the red sauce of so much depth and sweet meatiness.

Miriam McLachlan of Sake Restaurant and Bar in the Sake Masterclass

It might have been just a touch early in our day to have been faced with  four tasting glasses of sake, but we took it in our stride as we meandered into one of the Gourmet Traveller Wine masterclasses.

It was only a few minutes into wine and sake sommelier Miriam McLachlan's talk before we were throwing around words like daiginjo (sake made from rice that's been milled down so a maximum of 50% of the grain remains) and junmai (sake made with only rice, water, yeast and koji mould; that is, without the addition of distilled alcohol).

Sake tasting glasses in the Sake Masterclass

My favourite was the Kozaemon Tokubetsu Jikagumi Origarimi which is an exclusive brew that captures the carbon dioxide from the first fermentation in the bottle.

The Kozaemon 3 Year Aged Sake is a trend-driven product that smelt like those smelly Chinese dried shitake mushrooms but tasted like a heavy chardonnay.

Prawns served with okra sambal by Flying Fish

There was a serious need for food after the unexpected generous serves of sake in the tastings. Having somewhat studied the restaurant menu before attending the festival, the prawns with okra sambal by Peter Kuruvita's Flying Fish was something I was very keen to have.

What we received was nothing like what I'd imagined, with plenty of prawn but very little okra. Indeed, I'm pretty sure I didn't manage to taste any okra in the prawn skewers I shared, though there was a enough of the orange, creamy coconut sauce for flavour.

Traditional charcoal BBQ lamb and veal kebab, smoked eggplant and
Chobani Greek yoghurt from Efendy

For the first time, Taste brought in an award for the best dish of the festival - and this was the winner, belonging to Somer Sivrioglu of Efendy. I was very keen on this version of an adana kebab, award or not, for the smoky charcoal cooked meat and soft-cooked eggplant.

And I could easily see why it was a winning dish: spicy, packed with flavours from the meat and smoke and contrasting well with the softening yoghurt and eggplant flavours.

Hiramasa kingfish ceviche from Sake Restaurant and Bar

Going to the complete other end of the food scale, Shaun Presland of Sake Restaurant and Bar's ceviche of raw kingfish slices, tomato, Spanish onion and chilli was a bowl of freshness, though it could have done with more lime juice and seasoning.

Prawn, capsicum, chilli, salsa verde pizza by Hugo's

Ever reliable pizza also made a show with at the Hugo's bar stand, and they were certainly the real deal too. The crunchy, thin bases held a generous topping of prawns, capsicum and a squiggle of salsa verde and came out fresh from the oven.

Pear cider (or perry) by Sunshack Cider

Sunshack Cider made an appearance among a surprising amount of stalls featuring cider; at least three hailing all the way from Sweden. Sunshack's pear cider is the most perfect drink on a hot and sweaty day, especially when you're watching a pig on a spit.

(Potentially disturbing image below).

Suckling pig on the spit by Four in Hand

The petrified gaze of the rotating suckling pig on the spit was almost enough to turn a few people off their pork. But Four in Hand's pig on the spit made for a great spectator sport, all the while sipping on cider and hoping that the chef slicing it might hand over a bit of crackling.

Roast suckling pig, coleslaw, onion ring and hot sauce by Four in Hand

Colin Fassnidge wasn't around but it wasn't hard to join the queue after watching the pig do a few loops. We were justly rewarded with a fair-sized plate of tender and moist meat, two crunchy and quite oily onion rings, and a strange kind of coleslaw that comprised two huge shavings of carrot.

Ragu di pollo affiumicato from Otto Ristorante

We thought we finished up with the savoury dishes on another pasta dish from Richard Ptacnik of Otto Ristorante. It was a very different ragu of smoked Lilydale chicken that had the unfortunate texture of tinned tuna, but the strong smoky flavours were actually quite impressive.

Lamb and eggplant mini burgers by the City Tattersalls Club stall

But it wasn't quite the end with the perennial free stuff on offer from the City Tattersalls Club stall. This time I managed a battered and fried prawn of some sort and a mini lamb burger, while their panna cotta certainly looked the goods, as did their cocktail samples.

Chouxmacas from Adriano Zumbo Patisserie

Dessert was no simple matter with the number of offerings from both the restaurants and the stalls. There was relatively little fanfare at Adriano Zumbo's first Taste stall, where the 'Chouxmaca' puffs proved too tempting.

The creamy filling in the choux puffs was a little lacking in the chocolate macaron shell topped one, while the pâté sable a choux would have been my favourite part of these miniature works of art.

Wild berry and chocolate flake Foxy Premium Frozen Yoghurt

Between three people, we also did the clever thing of sharing a tub of Foxy Premium Frozen Yoghurt, though there might have been a scoop of lemon cheesecake gelato later in the afternoon too.

With some cute branding and flavour names, the frozen yoghurt was a little on the icy side so that standard plastic spoons struggled, but the flavour was spot on.

Pepe Saya buttermilk and vanilla panna cotta with poached fruits from
The Montpellier Public House

The day was certainly getting on when we heard the call of "2 Crowns" for panna cotta as Matt Kemp's The Montpellier Publich House emptied its kitchen. Quite a fair crowd turned up for cheap desserts, which was a very sweet mix of unidentified poached fruit, burying some very fine vanilla panna cotta.

This was definitely the bargain of the day although I also bought my favourite Gingerbread Folk men and bunnies, free Chobani yoghurts, Sunshack Ciders, a selection of Huon salmon products, and spicy twiggy sticks from Jim's Jerky.

So it was heavy bags and stomachs that we left Taste of Sydney for another year; hot, sweaty and happy in the sunshine. See more pictures at my Facebook page (and Like me while you're there!).

Food, booze and shoes attended Taste of Sydney as a guest, with thanks to Stellar Concepts. All food and Crowns were paid for separately.

Taste of Sydney pre drinks: Mesha by Eau de Vie

Edit: The Thursday night session of Taste of Sydney is not going ahead due to weather conditions. The organisers are anticipating to open as planned for the 12.00pm Friday session. Regular updates on Twitter.

It's fantastically exciting that it's Taste of Sydney time again, despite the miserable Sydney weather and forecasts for a prolonged month, at least, of further miserable weather. Nontheless, I'll be there with gumboots and a poncho as Taste of Sydney hits its fourth year at Centennial Park.

This year brings a bunch of new event features and a restaurant line-up that has a lot of familiar faces but new names to the fold. One stall of which I'm particularly excited to see is the Eau de Vie crew presented by Ketel One vodka.

Mesha by Eau de Vie
(Image courtesy of Behind Bars)

The stand will be manned by the Eau de Vie team, including Ketel One's National Brand Ambassador, David Beatty. The stall will feature five of Eau de Vie's signature cocktails featuring Ketel One vodka, including their best seller, the Mesha - see recipe below.

See you at Taste of Sydney - rain, hail or shine with a cocktail in hand. Get your tickets and Crowns (1 Crown = $1) at the door or here.

Mesha (by Eau de Vie)
Ingredients:
50ml Ketel One Citroen® vodka
20ml fresh pineapple juice
20ml fresh lime juice
15ml triple sec
15ml Falernum
5 fresh raspberries

Cinnamon Sugar Rim:
Combine equal parts of white sugar and cinnamon powder. Use a lime quarter to moisten the rim of the glass so the mixture sticks.

Method:
Muddle the fresh raspberries in your shaker, then add all ingredients with ice. Shake vigorously and double strain in a chilled cocktail glass, ready with the cinnamon sugar rim.

Licking the plates clean at Jimmy Liks

There is something utterly intimate about sharing an umbrella – protecting someone or being protected; both getting wet by rain or just one getting very wet; or snuggling close under a too-small fold-up one that’s bound to overturn at the slightest gust of wind.

East Side Peach cocktail at Eau De Vie, Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst

That intimacy continued on a quiet night at Eau de Vie – in from the rain and cold, and cuddling up to the impressive menu of cocktails and spirits.

My East Side Peach cocktail featured Ketel One Citroen vodka with the main selling point: poached peaches; shaken with bruised mint, pink grapefruit and lime juices.

Peaches were undeniably the starring ingredient in the dainty coupe glass, making the cocktail a little too easy to drink.

Gin on ice ball at Eau de Vie

Spirit enthusiasts will love the bottle-crammed shelves and thorough knowledge of the bartenders. In this instance gin, served over an ice sphere.

The shared umbrella came out again when hungry stomachs beckoned for food, resulting in a trudge through the heavy shower up Victoria Street to Jimmy Liks. And boy, I’m not sure if I’ve ever come across a more intimate restaurant.

One side is the narrow bar; while the other side is the slightly less narrow dining area of several communal tables. The space is dark and moody with plenty of glam touches amid the bench seats.

Smoked eel betel leaf with shrimp galangal and chilli (left) and chicken betel leaf
with smoked eggplant chilli and eschalot relish (right) at Jimmy Liks,
Victoria Street, Darlinghurst

Pleasantly, I think we took longer to decide our selections than it took for the first dish to arrive. There were two options for the irresistible betel leaves.

Chicken was (I now realise) not the right protein as its slightly rough texture detracted somewhat from the experience. The chilli hit was also bigger than expected.

The smoked eel on the other hand was spot on: smooth and sweet, mingling well with the sour and spice hits of the other ingredients.

Blue eye cod and coriander dumplings in garlic chive and ginger broth

Another must-order in my eyes, an entrée special of fish-filled dumplings. The dumpling filling was firm, not mushy like some minced fish can be, with my favourite style of slightly chewy (or al dente) dumpling skins.

The broth was magical – sweet and full of body with soy and ginger notes dominating. In fact, I’m still a little undecided as to which was better – the dumpling or the broth.

Chilli salted school prawns with Thai basil and red nahm jim

With another special of school prawns – I’ll say it again – it’s hard to go wrong with whole fried school prawns. These have a pale complexion and are freckled with chilli, but are hot (in heat), crunchy and entirely moreish with the sour nahm jim dipping sauce.

Mussaman curry of veal shank with peanut, betel leaf and ar-jard dipping sauce

A gigantic serve, making me very glad to have only ordered one main between two of us. Hunks of fall-apart veal snuggled up next to big chunks of potato which had probably been absorbing flavours of the curry for hours.

Whole spices were also abundant – a cinnamon quill, star anise, coriander seeds – adding to the fragrance as well as visual appeal. And there, with the curry main  mostly cleaned up, we declared desserts impossible even though the banana fritters had been calling us from the very start of the meal.

Rotund after the meal and heading back out to the rain, the small umbrella was admittedly even more intimate than before - but not all in a bad way.

Feeling a bit Parched this March?

We’ve all heard of Dry July (going without alcohol in the month of my birthday? I don’t think so), but have you heard of Parched March?

Parched March launch party at The Argyle, The Rocks, Sydney

Another event named after a rhyming month, but the goal here is – rather than abstinence – to hit 30 bars in 30 days, promoting the fun and responsible enjoyment of bars and drinks.

That’d be my kind of challenge if I had the time, money and ability to rock up to work with a hangover every day for a month.

Parched March ambassadors Simon McGoram and Amy Cooper at The Argyle
(photo courtesy of The Cru Media)

But it is exactly what Amy Cooper and Simon McGoram are doing for the month of March, all in the name of charity. Their goal is to hit up a bar a day, somewhere in the glorious city of bars that is Sydney in a celebration of the city’s thriving and dynamic bar culture. And they're encouraging people and groups to join them.

Says Cooper: “While we commend the charitable motivation of fasting campaigns (Dry July etc), we’d like to see promotion of a healthy attitude to alcohol, rather than complete bans and scare stories, which can serve to encourage binge drinking.

“We aim to show by example that for the average person, drinking moderately is part of a rich and varied social life, not a destructive pursuit.”

Chef Miguel Maestre at the Parched March launch

Launched at a suitably boozy do at The Argyle, catered with a range of gorgeous tapas canapes from Argyle Bazar, Parched March conveniently offers you options for your support - nice.

Albondigas - meat balls canape by Argyle Bazar

Valencian bread salad canape by Argyle Bazar

Ceviche canape by Argyle Bazar

You can raise money for charities by visiting participating venues (Eau de Vie, The Argyle, Grasshopper and Bavarian Bier Cafe to name some) and choosing their Parched March specials.

Or you can sponsor the teams taking part in the drinking odyssey, or indeed start your own team and get sponsored for inflicting your liver.

Patron tequila Manzanero by The Argyle

Considering you’ll possibly be out and about for a drink sometime during March anyway (surely yes?), why not make it charitable and down one or two for Parched March. Cheers to that!

Eau de Vie, where art thou?

Before dinner at Tomislav late last year, I decided to take the girls to nearby uber cool bar, Eau de Vie. I'd been to Eau de Vie once in their very early stages of opening and found it without trouble at the very back of the street level in the Kirketon Hotel.

Let's just say it wasn't quite as easy the second time, with the hotel's own bar in operation this weekday early evening.

Melbourne- or even New York-esque hidden entries aside, Eau de Vie was Gourmet Traveller's Bar of the Year most recently and favourite of many a serious booze connoisseur.

The Hendricks Tea Party at Eau de Vie, Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst

Eau de Vie is styled as a modern speakeasy but a serious drinker's place. Not that you can't have fun here - and indeed lots of it. While The Hendricks Tea Party looks like a scene out of the Mad Hatter's soiree, it's not really a drink for little Alice despite the adorable teacup cocktail 'glass'.

I'm rather partial to gin these days as I move away from my vodka-spiked youth, so this Hendricks gin infusion of cucumber and rose petal is right up my alley.

Shaken with another infusion of berry with tea and topped up with fresh orange and mint, I recall that the dominant flavour was that of orange - which was an ideal shield for quite a hefty pour, it seems, of gin.

Ha Ni Gi (Daisy) by the Road Side

My pick of the night is bartender Elle Wormald's signature (it seems each bartender has a signature cocktail listed in the extensive menu).

Tanqueray No. 10 is the gin of choice, shaken with another tea of juniper, camomille and lemongrass. and then poured over lots and lots of crushed ice with white grapefruit juce and lemongrass syrup.

The lemongrass flavour is distinct, while the tea gives the icy, citrussy drink a fair bit of depth. I adore the tin cannister the drink is served in, even if it's so cold my fingers stick to it.

Mesha

And finally, the signature drink of charming bar manager Barry Chalmers - a vodka cocktail at that.

Zubrowka vodka, lime juice and raspberry - so far, so good. Falernum syrup - huh? Apple and crushed pineapple round out the ingredients to complete the sweetie, which wouldn't look at of place coming from a barista or a pastry chef.

But really, Eau de Vie is not just about the drinks - and if you can find it, I think you'll know exactly what I mean.