It has become somewhat a tradition that the Mother, DS and I attend Taste of Sydney together every year and basically spend the afternoon sitting outside, gorging ourselves on food and buying way too many Crowns to feed our stomachs. Although the Mother was unable to attend this year, DS and I forged on and had a jolly good time.
Some immediately noticeable improvements to last year’s festival included the seating arrangements. Not only was there seating available around the drinks tents in the centre of the festival, but there was randomly allocated seating throughout, including a lovely rustic spot in the Sustainable Living area. Haystacks and apples on trees! Makes you feel like you’re in the countryside.
Other changes included the addition of ‘icon’ dishes at some of the restaurants. I’m assuming these are the stellar dishes of each restaurant, but they come at a price too! They can set you back up to 40 crowns…Perhaps it’s better sticking to the smaller dishes and getting a variety. Another change I noticed was reduction in freebies…I recall walking away from Taste last year with free Preshafuit juices and armfuls of Greek yoghurt – whatever happened to that?!
DS and I tasted some great food at the festival. First up, the Spit Roast Suckling Pig with Coleslaw and Hot Sauce from Four in Hand was a rather impressive sight! Perfectly balanced by the coleslaw, although the hot sauce may not have been necessary. Next came the BBQ Cheese with Honey, Lemon and Herbs from Porteño – “how do you barbecue cheese?!” was my first thought. It definitely worked though. Honey and cheese is an exquisite combination! Yes, it was difficult to eat nicely, but well worth it.
Saké is one of our favourite restaurants, and seared salmon is one of my favourite types of nigiri so we couldn’t pass up the Seared Salmon Nigiri with Yuzu Truffle Dressing. The yuzu was a bit more prominent than the truffle but the fish was a delightful change from two heavier first dishes. Next, DS couldn’t resist Kitchen by Mike’s nostalgia-filled Pluto Pup. Comfort food at its height, right? My version of comfort food was found at Ipoh on York, the Malaysia Kitchen Pop-up for the day. Hainan Chicken Rice, consisting of poached chicken with steamed rice cooked in chicken broth, reminds me of home in Hong Kong. It’s a dish I am ever-so-slightly obsessed with.
Onto the desserts, we decided to go for a selection of Croquembouche Patisserie goodies. A coconut eclair, a toffee eclair and an opera cake were sampled – all delicious!
Unfortunately, Taste of Sydney is not a cheap excursion. We always tend to go for the Premium Tickets for $50. This package gets you a 30-pack of crowns and is usually enough for the day (you can also pay cash at most of the stalls). However you can definitely make a day out of it! Spend some time lazing around the different stalls, learn how to make pasta, watch some cooking demonstrations and buy a couple of goodies too! We made sure to Cured Meat Platter from the Salt Meats Cheese stand for the Mother, and grabbed some fresh linguine pasta from the Pasta Gallery!