Taste of Sydney 2013

It’s that time of the year again where participating restaurants put on offer a couple of dishes that gives you a tiny snapshot of what they serve up, thus the name ‘Taste’ of Sydney. This annual food festival was located at Centennial Park which was operating from March 14 to 17. Sydney definitely produced some very fine weather for the attendees.

An awesome blogger friend, Raff, kindly invited me along to this event for the Friday lunch session. It turned out to be the only session I could attend as I was busy with the Boy’s birthday.

Taste of Sydney uses crowns ($1 = 1 crown). In previous years tokens were provided, but this year a card was utilized. I definitely found it to be an efficient payment method as no paper tokens were lost/scrunched up in pockets or handbags.

Four in Hand – Spit Roast Sucking Pig w/ coleslaw and Hot Sauce – 12 crowns

Colin Fassnidge is renowned for his suckling pig at his restaurants so was glad to see it was on the menu at Taste of Sydney. Tender. Juicy. Flavoursome. Perfect. There are just no other words.

I really wanted to try the icon dish of crumbed pigs tail but apparently only 10 servings were made and it had been sold within minutes of opening.

Three Blue Ducks – Braised Pork, Radish, Lemon Vebena Caramel – 10 Crowns

As mentioned on Raff’s blogpost, the flavours of this dish did remind me of vietnamese pho. I was impressed that such a light dish could produce a flavour with so much depth. The braised pork was so tender it only needed a fork to break it up.

Three Blue Ducks – Chocolate, Yuzu Curd, Miso Butterscotch – 6 Crowns

I’ve never had this flavour combination before but it worked and made my taste buds dance. The chocolate had a sprinkle of salt flakes on top which really pushed it to the next level of awesomeness.

Biota Dining – Croquettes – 10 crowns

Just a croquette you say? No. This one is filled with southern crayfish with paleta and biota garden onions. It really was a morsel of happiness. A beautiful crunchy exterior with delicate flavours inside. Pure bliss.

Biota Dining – Charred Local Spatchcock – 12 crowns

Charred, juicy spatchcock (see how it’s cooked here) is served on a bed of black garlic farro with garden sage and bush lemons. The whole dish is clean and fresh which really shows off the great produce used. Also, another bonus is that it is a healthy dish.

Porteno – BBQ Cheese with honey, lemon and herbs – 8 crowns

It doesn’t look visually appealing nor is it easy to share. The melted cheese had a subtle char-grilled flavour brushed with a honey, lemon and herb sauce. That sauce really hit the ball out of the ball park. It was bold, it packed a punch, it made your pupils dilate. It was very, very exciting.

Porteno – BBQ Wagyu Beef Brisket with BBQ sauce and pickle – 12 crowns

Tender ribbons of brisket are smothered in a BBQ sauce laying on a bed of coleslaw and pickles. Oh me oh my. I’m speechless!

It was THAT good that it got voted the best Taste Award at Taste of Sydney 2013. I have to say I’m not even surprised, especially with that execution of flavour. incredible. Well done Ben and Elvis!

Anana’s Bar & Brasserie – Salted Caramel Elcair – 6 crowns

A beautiful choux dough is filled with a sensational salted caramel filling. To me it had the perfect amount of salt as you could taste it, but was not overbearing. Turns out it’s been a huge hit amongst others as well! How can you go wrong with eclairs and salted caramel anyway!

Efendy – Trio of Baklava – 8 crowns

For our final dessert, we try the trio of baklava. I can’t be too sure what the variation was exactly between the three, but they were different. My favourite would have been the top left, which to me almost felt like your normal traditional baklava with the pistachio flavour coming through. It was a very sweet way to finish off such a great tasting.

Rekoderlig have launched a new flavour just in time for Taste of Sydney. The passionfruit cider is now available and let me tell you that it is my new favourite (not that I drink all that often anyway). I don’t find it as sweet as the others and this sustains the real fresh passionfruit flavour.

It’s Friday so let’s cheers to that! Yeah yeahhhhh!

I had a run in with several chefs on the day. It was lovely to meet and speak to them all for the first time!

I have been following Jackie M for a while now on twitter so it was great to put a face to a name. I really need to fix myself up and visit her restaurant.

I have secretly adored Colin Fassnidge since I first saw him appear on Masterchef a while ago though. I was giddy like a little girl when he put his arm around me (tee hee :P).

I met Chef James Viles through Raff, who is the owner and chef of Biota Dining. I’ve not been to Bowral before but I definitely know where to dine when I do! I really admire James’ passion for utilising fresh and local produce. It’s no wonder why the dishes I tried from Biota were fantastic.

Poh is such a wonderful and bubbly character. She’s definitely come a long way since her Masterchef days. Looking forward to what will come next for her.

I thought I could take this fork home as a souvenir, but I just couldn’t….. even with all my might.

Another great and successful year for Taste of Sydney. Here’s to the great food that Sydney has on offer and we all can’t wait to discover some more.

Check out some other blogs for some more Taste of Sydney 2013 encounters.

Again, thank you Raff for the kind invite to this foodie event :)

Taste of Sydney

http://www.tasteofsydney.com.au/