Taste of Sydney 09

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The last day of the Taste of Sydney festival was marvelous... it was scorching hot. After a week of rain, it showcased Sydney's best weather, chefs, food and produce. This festival will definitely remain on every foodie's calender next year!


Here are some interesting stats of what was consumed over the 4 day festival:


  • 5,000 Gundooee organic grass fed wagyu beef burgers (Plan B)

  • 2,100 Dark chocolate tarts with end of season berries & mascarpone sabayon (Berowra Waters Inn)

  • 7,200 Sydney rock oysters with Vietnamese dressing, crispy shallot & baby coriander (Assiette)

  • 120kg of Braised beef cheek and roasted onion & Jerusalem artichoke pie; red wine jus (Bird Cow Fish)


As soon as the menu had been released, I had been circling my favourites including fallback options.

Thankfully I was there early and managed to devour everything according to plan (plus a little bit more):

Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - crowns currency
Crowns currency, $1 = 1 crown


I was really impressed that presentation and taste hadn't been compromised in mass production or been affected by the fact that they were cooked up in a portable kitchen and tents! These oysters were so creamy and delicious.

Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - Assiette's Sydney rock oysters with Vietnamese dressing, crispy shallot and baby coriander
Assiette's Sydney rock oysters with Vietnamese dressing, crispy shallot and baby coriander


This one wasn't on the plan but it looked too good to miss. I was slightly disappointed Centennial Parklands Dining had taken off their beetroot macaroons with foie gras which I had been teased with at the launch party, but the fragrance of the citrus oil and fresh texture of Kingfish was beautiful.

Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - Centennial Parklands Dining's Hiramasa Kingfish in citrus oil, fresh peas and creme fraiche
Centennial Parklands Dining's Hiramasa Kingfish in citrus oil, fresh peas and creme fraiche


The crackling on the suckling pig wasn't as crisp as I would have liked it to be and the piece I received had a greater proportion of fat than meat. The gorgeous homely flavours of pork and peas were still tantalising.

Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - Restaurant Balzac's saddle of sucking pig with crackling and baby garden peas
Restaurant Balzac's saddle of sucking pig with crackling and baby garden peas


I loved this dish. The scallop added a different dimension to the traditionally hearty mousakka.It was plump and juicy and seared to perfection. I was glad the eggplant wasn't too heavy either. Overall, a really enjoyable dish!

Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - Civic Dining's moussaka of eggplant, sea scallop and taramoslata
Civic Dining's moussaka of eggplant, sea scallop and taramoslata


And Jonah's dishes blew me away. They were so good I didn't even share. I've never had zucchini flowers which tasted this good. The tempura batter was light and uber crisp and the basil pesto sauce did wonders with these simple wonderful ingredients. The yellow fin tuna was seared with the aromas of sesame oil and then served with a crunchy Spring mix of radish and watercress. The fried onion rings added extra depth to the dish too, it was so tasty. I've never dined at Jonah's before but I've instantly become a fan.

Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - Jonah's at Whale Beach's tempura ricotta filled zucchini flowers with basil pesto sauce and sesame seared yellow fin tuna, crisp spring onion rings, red radish and watercress
Jonah's at Whale Beach's tempura ricotta filled zucchini flowers with basil pesto sauce and sesame seared yellow fin tuna, crisp spring onion rings, red radish and watercress


Later that afternoon, I satisfied my sweet tooth with these 2 delicious berry desserts from Becasse and Dank Street Depot and cooled down with Longrain's luscious Ping Pong cocktail and Fruit Soda's granny smith apple and fresh ginger soda.

Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - Becasse's eton mess with summer berries
Becasse's eton mess with summer berries


Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - Dank Street Depot's poached strawberries with a chocolate and hazelnut meringue with whipped cream
Dank Street Depot's poached strawberries with a chocolate and hazelnut meringue with whipped cream


Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - Fruit Soda's Granny Smith with fresh ginger drink
Fruit Soda's Granny Smith with fresh ginger drink


Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - Longrain Bar's Ping Pong cocktail - lychees and passionfruit muddled then shaken with 42 Below Passionfruit vodka, lychee and fresh lime juice
Longrain Bar's Ping Pong cocktail - lychees and passionfruit muddled then shaken with 42 Below Passionfruit vodka, lychee and fresh lime juice


Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - the best alfresco dining
The best alfresco fine-dining


Taste Of Sydney food festival 2009 - lying down at Centennial Park
Me lying down at Centennial Park


The best part of this festival was unquestionably the fact that it combined my love for alfresco dining with Sydney's best food. It was like a gourmet picnic which had been pre-planned for you.


Missed out? The Taste Festival will be at Melbourne in August! Find out more info here.

I'd also like to thank everyone who had entered my Taste Of Sydney double passes giveaway. One of the winners, Sam Lau, has thoughtfully sent me a MS Word doc of his deliciously fun time at the festival. I loved his effort, so with Sam's permission, read on for his review :)


Taste Of  Sydney

By Sam Lau, a winner of JENIUS' double entry passes giveaway

A combination of the best cuisine Sydney restaurants have to offer.
Held at Centennial Park last Saturday and Sunday 14th & 15 March.
 
Here are some of the photos of my experience and some of the food I tried

.


Me heading into Longrain on a mission with a doggy bag.

 


Beer: Always popular.


Randwick race course?…no, Centennial Park.


Chef Matthew Kemp of Balzac. He kept ducking in and out of the kitchen. Here he just looks like a duck.


Ducking back into the kitchen

Balzac were selling the suckling pig and wagyu bourguignonne (excuse my French!)


Balzac

Balzac -Saddle of suckling pig with crackling & baby garden peas


Balzac -Wagyu beef Bourguignonne with truffled cauliflower and onion rings. YUM.

Longrain Thai restaurant with Thai waitresses?

1 Crown = $1 . Master Card also use Crowns.

Chef Jared Ingersoll,Danks. Obviously not working in kitchen as uniform is too clean!


Danks-Poached strawberries, chocolate,hazelnut meringue &whipped cream. Delish.

Danks –Pastrami of kingfish with smoked Oysters & a cucumber & apple salad

Danks –Ham steamed in Hay & served with buttered suedes. Hay? Yes hay.

Danks. I said I was hungry!


Arancini of truffle risotto & buffalo mozzarella, spinach & fennel sauce.

Dark chocolate tart, end of summer berries, marscapone sabayon. I enjoyed all 6.

Famous Italian chef -Armando Percuono of Buon Ricordo with daughter, Armanda.

Where am I?


Buon Ricordo:  Fagottino di carne & Braciolette Napoletana. What was the first dish called again? Named after who?   

Braciolette Napoletana–Veal rolled with parsley, pine nuts, sultanas & garlic cooked with fresh tomato. Zesty and tangy.

Fagottino dicarne:Homemade sausage with parmesan& truffle egg. So that’s what it is

Sorry, just couldn’t wait....and yes....it was delicious!
Buon Ricordo

Becasse & Plan B –Organic wagyu beef burger. The smallest buggers I have seen.

Becasse - More buggers.

Chef George Francisco -Jonah’s at Whale Beach

Jonah’s: The Chef, the cook and Johnny Depp!

 

 


Jonah’s -Vanilla Panna Cotta with Lavender honey,fresh pomegranate&balsamic vinegar.

The panna cotta was wobbly and the best! Happy eating and THE END!!!!!

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10 Comments

That dude was not Johnny Depp but he was totally confrontingly HOT. I blushed when I saw him, turned and walked away where I could quietly wait staring at something else completely unrelated to object of male hotness while my own object of male hotness ordered by foods.

Thursday night was pretty awesome, but your sunday looks amazing.

Congrats on finally getting this up Jen :)

Awesome pics. I went on the Sunday as well, and it was a great day, but I didn't manage to take any pics (Probably due to being too busy pigging out lol)

Thank you for the free passes!

Love your captions Jen! Cute and funny :)

Johnny Depp! hahahaha that's what I thought when I first saw him too! How funny

Hehe, there was quite a lot of eye candy at the festival wasn't there! Men, food...

My pleasure! I'm glad you had a good time :)

Thanks Christie! I just love Sam's commentary too :)

LOL, does anyone know who he really is?

Ahh interesting stats! LOL at Johnny Depp, should had gotten an autograph! MMmmm missing so many of those dishes esp the eton mess!

wahoo! you did it! a post!

love the commentary on Sam's document. "Named after who?" Ha! Gold :)

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