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.

A tasty bit of Taste of Sydney 2011

Taste of Sydney 2011, Centennial Parklands, Sydney

For the third year in a row, I headed to the Taste of Sydney festival in Centennial Park on a Sunday afternoon, immediately desperate for a cool drink in the dizzyingly hot weather.

The well-stocked Kronenbourg stand

The sun blared as we skipped from shaded stall to shaded stall with beer in hand, checking out the wares on offer this year. Many stallholders returned from last year, and as always, there was a plethora of wine and harder booze to taste, try and buy.

Lots of fun at the Sagatiba stall

Whisky Galore stall

Cocktail fountain at the Green Fairy stall

Patron Tequila stall

Bob the buffalo at the Buffalo Trace stall

Angostura - clever with the cold, non-alcoholic drinks

Food samples were abundant too; though there were noticeably fewer cheese stalls this year.

The winner in my books had to be Craig Cooks Prime Quality Meats for their mouthwatering, smell-from-a-mile-away barbequed meats, especially a bit of very tender, juicy and flavoursome sirloin I tried.

Craig Cooks Prime Quality Meats stall

The City Tattersalls Club stall – at it again with freebies

Gorgeous marshmallows at the Sweetness The Patisserie stall

Frozen pearl meat at the Paspaley stall

Particularly unique this year was the Paspaley stall. Synonymous with high class pearl jewellery, imagine my surprise when they were dishing out cold starters of marinated pearl meat.

Thin slices, rather like very tender abalone meat in a tangy, dill-spiked dressing, this was one delicacy that seemed to polarise tasters – I, for one, loved it.

Whisky tasting at the Johnnie Walker stand

Most heavy hitting session of the day was definitely the Johnnie Walker whisky tasting, especially for a non-whisky drinker (to me it tastes like leather, on fire).

The sample of a whisky-based cocktail was manageable, followed by three tasters of Johnnie Walker Black, Green and Gold that weren’t so, even with a few drops of water to “open up the whisky”.

Tasting partners of vanilla, dried apricot, orange peel and dark chocolate were supposed to help enhance the flavours though for me, were more like tools to kill the taste of all the blended whiskies.

Taste of Sydney crowds

I didn’t make it to a Sensology cocktail class though I desperately wanted to learn the art of a proper Piña Colada (there were only classes for Cosmopolitans left); and the Planet Cake stall had packed up by the time I got around to it.

I saw Jared Ingersoll of Cotton Duck and Danks Street Depot briefly at the GT Chef’s Table though didn’t manage any Taste Kitchen sessions – reminding me how much planning and scheduling is really necessary to make the most of a Taste day.

Chef Jared Ingersoll at the Cotton Duck/Danks Street Depot stall

In fact, chef spotting was one of the most entertaining activities of the day with Jared Ingersoll, Dietmar Sawyere, Warren Turnbull, Colin Fassnidge, Tony Bilson, Miguel Maestre, Richard Ptacnik, Alessandro Pavoni, Eugene Maiale, Peter Kuruvita and Manu Feildel, all spotted cooking, plating, serving or socialising at some point during the day.

Day's most popular use of the complimentary HSBC hessian bags

HSBC hessian bag hat #2

Respite from the heat and floating dry grass was found momentarily in the HSBC customers VIP tent, where air conditioning and some seating gave rest to our hot, weary selves and cool drinks were on offer amid the resort-themed decorations.

Inside the HSBC VIP tent

We brought in food from a couple of stalls, but it wasn’t long before we had to head out again, in search of more food, tasting bits and the moving about that is an outdoor festival.

Slow cooked fillet of ocean trout, 'French onion soup' puree, peppered
oxtail 'croustillant' from Berowra Waters Inn/Ad Lib Bistro

We started at a momentarily short queue at Berowra Waters Inn/Ad Lib Bistro and nabbed their seafood dish of slow cooked (sous vide?) ocean trout with an unidentified and rather flavourless foam with chives on top.

The white foam was in stark contrast to the intense flavour of the French onion soup puree, which was caramelly sweet and savoury, pairing well with the subtle but so beaitufully textured fish that nearly melted on the tongue.

The golden-skinned ‘crisp’ roll filled with fall-apart oxtail meat was small but punched above its weight with rich, beefy flavour – almost too much with the puree but harmonious with the ocean trout.

Black pepper and curry leaf prawn skewers with lime and fresh coconut
from Flying Fish

Looking like one of the best value dishes of the day, two skewers of prawns were obtained from the Flying Fish stall, adorned with flavours and garnishes that tempted us and passersby.

The small tail-on prawns were just cooked, and fresh-tasting for it, with fresh coconut shavings and lime giving the dish a tropical air while the garlicky sauce couldn't quite hold on to the crisply fried curry leaves which blew away in the wind.

Spicy French sausage on sourdough with relish from Victor Churchill Meats

Not one of the restaurants but feeding the masses anyway was Victor Churchill Meats, which had sadly sold out of their charcuterie plates by the time we got there. But the barbeque was smoking and we waited patiently as the sausages sizzled.

Rather miniaturised in a small, crunch white sourdough roll, the thin sausage was shrouded in a deep red relish of onions. The French sausage was substantially meaty, with what seemed like chunks within rather than a processed texture. And it was certainly spicy.

Paella a la Maestre from Aperitif

The unmissable Miguel Maestre was spotted in the Aperitif stall eating paella – it must have been good, so we followed suit. The plate of saffron-yellowed rice we received was abundant not with the squid/mussel combination I had expected, but pieces of flaked salmon chunks.

Its slight dryness was helped along by a squeeze of the lemon wedge all over, which added a sweet, tart note to the filling dish.

Stracci with smoked veal ragout , eschallot puree, bresaola and parmesan
from Otto Ristorante

My favourite savoury dish of the day was the pasta at Otto Ristorante, where chef Richard Ptacnik was calling out something melodic every time a dessert was ordered. A boring old pasta dish this wasn’t.

The stracci pasta (translates as ‘rags’ in Italian) were beautifully thick and wide pasta pieces with a cute ruffled edge. How the kitchen maintained a state of al dente for such mass cooking is a wonder.

Paired with the only lightly smoked minced veal ragu and topped with slivers of bresaola and grated parmesan, the flavours and textures were comforting as too the great value, well sized dish.

Dark chocolate Snickers from Four in Hand

With precious few Crowns left, I had to forgo the desired lamb shoulder at Four in Hand in favour of the even more desired Snickers dessert. I didn’t know what to expect other than peanuts, caramel and chocolate.

The dessert delivered these ingredients and more. The centre scoop of ice cream was a little overwhelmed by the other flavours, so I’m not even sure what flavour it was. A mousse-y chocolate moat hid caramel peanut halves (I think – I dunno, it was all covered in chocolate).

We devoured this one quickly, scoffing spork-fuls that had a bit of everything, especially the unknown flavour ice cream. The plastic spork made it a bit difficult to scrape the emptied bowl of all the chocolate and caramel.

Hazelnut, peach and nougat, and yoghurt and berries gelato from Gelato Messina

After Four in Hand’s take on the Snickers, the heat made more ice cream a must, although I couldn’t handle any more nutty richness in the peanut butter and chocolate gelato.

With free scoop at the Gelato Messina stall thanks to HSBC, we instead go a little fruity with peach and nougat, yoghurt and berries, and my ever-favourite hazelnut gelato.

Lolling about on the dry grass with an empty gelato cup, I faintly heard the announcement that Taste was coming to an end – though much clearer when told by the security guard.

Waddling out the gates, I admit I had to have another sit/lie-down before heading home, just to let the all the food and drinks settle somewhat.

Dinner post Taste of Sydney including Milawa Cheese Company Cow’s Milk
Camembert, Huon Hot Smoked Salmon and water crackers
scored from Huon Aquaculture

Getting home at about 6pm, dinner was the last thing on our minds but as the night rolled on (after a post heat/feasting nap), I could swear that the cheeses we’d bought from the Tourism Victoria stand were calling me.

The Milawa chevre was a taste sensation, sampled at the stand and sitting in the fridge currently. But for dinner, we polished off half the cow’s milk camembert along with half a fillet of hot smoked salmon (which is cooked in the smoking process, unlike cold smoked salmon) and other bits from the fridge.

The salmon was a revelation – savoury, dry-ish pale orange flesh that flakes at the touch; full of salt and smoke goodness, and divine in a pasta dish. And to think it was cheaper, and quite possibly more versatile, than the cold smoked stuff.

Taste of Sydney 2011 comes to an end

So that’s Taste of Sydney for another year. The organisers have to be happy with themselves – it really is an event that is getting bigger (literally) and somewhat better as a result.

One can only wait till next year to see what new restaurants, sessions, exhibitors and innovations that Taste of Sydney will bring to Centennial Park.

Thanks to Stellar* Concepts for the general admission tickets to Taste of Sydney 2011 - and the opportunity to spend so many dollars/Crowns on a great day out!