Taste of Sydney

Waygu Beef Burger by Plan B + Lining up for a taste of the restaurants

Sometimes the idea of buying tickets well in advance can be annoying. Knowing that I still have a few months to wait before the event is here, and when it is finally here I'd have forgotten all about it until I see it in my diary. This is the case for Taste of Sydney, when I bought the tickets back when they were promoting it at 2for1 price. Thankfully I bought it at that price as it's not really worth having to pay for entry then pay for food (and expensive food too), though I guess the convenience is that all the top restaurants are only a few feet away from each other. Panic then ensued when I noticed that everything is in Crowns (1Crown = $1) which made me think that getting them in advance would be more efficient then having to line up on the day when I could be spending that time getting food...which didn't work as I still had to line up on the day as I didn't order them online till too late. By the way, also double check to see if they can be exchanged, which they can't and therefore overpurchasing of crowns was a BAD idea.

Book of crowns + Tent for buying crowns

For those who don't know it, Taste of Sydney is an event that's about bringing together the finest restaurants in Sydney and allow us to have a sneak taste at their signature dishes, two mains and one dessert. It's an event that's held around the world such as Taste of London. There will also be a Taste of Melbourne which will be held in August 09...it's a shame that I won't be there for it.

Anyways, I went to the Sunday session hoping that they'll be less people and possibly more half priced food (cheaper is always better right :))

Upon entering, we headed straight to the restaurant sections. What I noticed was that they were not in the same order as the website's menu page. This I found to be a pain as I'd already made note of what I wanted and was hoping I would alone have to walk a few feet to them.

First stop was Restaurant Blazac. We ended up getting all three of their (sorry no photos as they were all scoffed down). The Waygu beef was a pleasant surprise, disguised as one giant spring roll. Though the truffled cauliflower didn't have much taste and the addition of what tasted like bland cream? Weird.

I will say that their bread and butter pudding is probably one of the best that I've ever had, lots of taste and cooked to perfection (not soggy as if there's more liquid to bread ratio).

On our way to Johan's Whale Beach, we stopped by Centanial Parklands Dining to taste the Goats Cheese Marshmallow with Strawberries and basil. Boy, were we surprised, the Goats cheese marshmallow had a very pleasant saltiness and acidity. You could taste it was goats cheese but it wasn't over powering at all. The basil sorbet didn't taste great by itself but once you taste it with the marshmallow, its like they were the perfect dancing partners. Compliments to the chef!

Goat's cheese marshmallow with strawberries and basil

At Johan's Whale Beach, it was the Zucchini flowers that I was only aiming at. Though it tasted great, there was nothing different about it to all the other Tempura Zucchini Flowers that you can get at other restaurants (and for a cheaper price too).

Tempura ricotta filled zucchini flowers with basil pesto sauce

At Sailors Thai, their Yamba Prawns dish was slightly disappointing. Though the base was superb, crunchy peanuts+lime+ginger+coconut+chilli and caramel, it was the Yamba prawns I was disappointed with. Having already imagined that they'll be two juicy prawns on top, could you imagine how it felt seeing that they had only placed 1 quarter of a boiled king prawn ontop? I'd have expected more, especially since I've had to pay 8crowns for just one mouthful.

Yamba prawns, peanuts, lime, ginger, roasted coconut, chilli and caramel on betel leaves.

Buon Ricordo's Fagottino di carne (homemade sausages bound with parmesan and truffle egg, finished with lemon extra virgin oil) was one thick, short sausage. One the first mouthful, you could really taste the parmesan, but as I took more bits, the oil became too overpowering. It was like biting into a sausage with nothing but bland oil oozing into my mouth. I think that if they had left out the olive oil, it would have been a good dish to eat.

Fagottino di carne

Longrain Bar was my next pitstop. Waiting in line was a pain, especially since there were about 4-5people behind there bar and they were having a better time talking to each other than making the drinks. Even then, only two of them were fixing drinks. Either ways, I ordered the Ping Pong (Lychees and Passionfruit muddled then shaken with 42below Passionfruit vodka, lychee and fresh lime). As I was waiting for my drink to be made, I overheard that they were no longer making Ping Pong but a variation as they'd run out of passionfruit. It would have been nice to be told that I would be served a slight variation of the drink BEFORE paying for it. Nevertheless, anything with lychee and lime will always taste good.

Longrain restaurant + Longrain Bar + my beautiful non pingpong cocktail
Flying Fish's Yellow fin tuna with ruby grapefruit and sweet crackling pork was so small I needed my glasses to see it. Presentation was very brown with only a hint of the ruby showing through the sides. Eitherways, the tuna tasted great and the sauce was sweet.

Yellow Fin Tuna with ruby grapefruit and sweet crackling pork

Ottoman Cuisine had a long line of people waiting for their Salmon Dolma. And I can see why...it was exquisite in taste. Deep fried with crispy leaves on the outside and juicy salmon and prawns on the inside. And they were huge servings too. As for their Sari Burma...it's just another name for Baklava but in a 'spring roll' shape. And, WOW, it was sweet!!

Salmon Doma + Sari Burma

Assiette's Strawberry Bellini with strawberry and cinnamon donut was something different. The drink was quite tasty with a hint of alcohol (quote from my sister) and the donut, well, it was a donut.

Strawberry Bellini with Strawberry and cinnamon donut

Lindt had a stall there and I tried their waffle with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Need I say more? Though the waffle was smaller than I'd expected, everything still tasted great. It'll be great though, if communications would be better on getting names on customers. I had my name read out in three different ways before asking if it was mine...."oh, sorry, bad hand writing".

Waffle with vanilla ice cream and lindt chocolate

Besides the restaurants there was also an area for the Producers markets (though less produce and more boutique). The one interesting thing I found was the Pomegranate Liquer. It tasted so sweet and similar to pomegrante, it was divine. Though interestingly, even though they weren't meant to be selling the bottles, it still didn't stop them. Its a shame they didn't take my crowns as I'd have bought at least two.

Pomegrante liquer + Cordials aimed at older target market