Taste of Sydney

This is the second time I've left my camera at home thinking that it wouldn't be needed, then something comes up to prove me wrong! This time it's the Taste of Sydney, with free entry courtesy of my work mate.

I knew about this event but balked at the $27.50 entry fee, mostly to do with how much money I know I'd want/need to spend inside, what with 48 dishes on offer from 16 of Sydney's fine-dining establishments. It's a good introduction for me since I've only been to Assiette for lunch, and tried the wagyu burger at Plan B!!!

There were people handing out booklets of menus and timetables, free ferrero rondnoir (a dark chocolate ferrero, and selling crowns at the entrance. We were checking the lay of the land when we came across The Australian Gourmet Traveller Taste Kitchen, which features chefs cooking live on stage, and it's free. The lovely lovely staff told us about the cozy Chefs Table where you and a small group of people chat with chefs over wine and canapes, and recommended Gourmet Traveller's wine for which we're sooo thankful!

since the first session of the evening starts at 6:15, we wandered around with our printed A3 menus searching for food (can you tell someone is very serious? and over 45?? haha)

great outdoor tables

I liked the sound of beef ribs smoked in watermelon with a watermelon and avocado salad, from Danks Street Depot. Didn't like the watermelon/avocado combo, but the ribs were beautifully smokey, with a slight sweetness. I liked this much more than ribs dripping in sauce that can be too cloyingly sweet, so much so I had the ribs on their own, avoiding the accompanying onion chutney

cute!

We grab a risotto with Crystal Bay prawns and zucchini from Pilu at Freshwater, and 12 hr slow cooked lamb shoulder with minted crushed peas and feta dressing from Four in Hand. The 6:15 session of  "Taste Wine - Some like it Hot" was just about to begin so we pay our 6 crowns (best money spent), and take our food in and eat while our wines are poured. MA is a regular at Pilu and loves their suckling pig (also sold at their stall), but she wasn't enamoured with the risotto, because she's not a fan of prawn stock! I thought it was ok, the flavour was mild to me because I love the briny taste of the sea.

The lamb just got better with each mouthful, not exactly melt in the mouth tender, but it went so well with the minted crushed pea...a real comfort dish. What i really want to try is saltbush lamb though. They are available for purchase along with a cool bag (and buy the girls did), but I opted out.

Some like it Hot - hosted by Nick Stock with a chef from Longrain, on pairing wines with spicy cuisines such as Thai, Indian, Indonesian etc. We also received a free copy of Gourmet Traveller WINE. Nice to see mineral+still water on the table too.

starting off with a palate cleanser - Chandon ZD Blanc de Blancs. ZD or zero dosage means the wine was made without the addition of a sweetener (a dosage is a mixture of sugar or wine), which results in a very dry style of sparkling wine.

Followed by:

1. 2009 Frankland Estate Cooladerra Rieling
2. 2008 Taylors Gewurztraminer
3. 2009 S.C. Pannell Rose Arido
4. 2009 Spinifix Pipillon

we taste each wine in turn, then we each received a bowl of yellow curry of Byron Bay Berkshire pork with picked mustard greens. OMG....it was soooo good. The curry had so much depth; as the chef explained, they dry roasted the spices first so there was alot of flavour without the afterburn. Just beautiful. You can buy it from Longrain's stall. The wines tasted different with and after the curry, and the crowd favourite was the Spinifex Papillon (also my favourite), followed by the Gewurztraminer, which was quite a surprise to us as it's not something we would think to pick. It was redolent of lychee and rose petal but not too sweet. All of the wines were very fine but I am hanging out to have the Spinifex Papillon again haha

Crispy wagyu beef with wild mushroom and truffle foam, from Restaurant Balzac

I was intrigued by the name so I was a bit shocked when I saw it...it's really just a wagyu springroll! I suppose it made for easy eating although that's not my preferred way to eat wagyu haha. Foam was nice, not much of a truffle flavour but I love mushrooms.

Matt Preston at Pilu!

We'd seen him earlier with George, walking to the VIP lounge. He is truly a big, imposing man! I couldn't remember his surname though. All i could think of was Matt Damon, Matt Moran, and Cravats. haha. That's a shitty photo of him. In real life he looked very nice and friendly and took photos with fangirls.

Zippulas - Sardinian donuts with citrus sugar

We blew our remaining crowns on this dessert and a beautiful glass of wine with frozen berries (my memory fails me!). Truth be told, I'd have liked to have another dessert, but that's all our $30 (and my $40) could procure. The donuts were hot and crispy and good with the creme anglaise but it is a bit dense and I could have done with more creme.

Not that we left hungry; we also sampled Tasmanian cheeses (the Opal blue cheese is a good introduction to blue cheese, as it is mixed with brie and quite mild); baileys with ice cream, ginger liquer, pomegrate liquer, etc, while the Opera Band played in the background.

None of us had wanted to come, because of the entry fee; don't know why they have to charge it (or so much), since all of us would be more than happy spend that money inside anyway (although the fee may have kept the crowd away, it's not horrific like the good food fest at Hyde Park, so that's a bonus). Anyway we all ended up having such a fantastic time we couldn't stop going on about how much fun we all had!

I've had a charmed day, spending my morning at Waverly and Bondi, getting great parks everywhere I went (one with plenty of money left in the meter!), then a great night at Taste of Sydney and for free too! What a way to end the week! ;)