The four day Taste of Sydney just finished yesterday.

And wow, what a great foodie festival it was…and yes you do need friends with you, who like to share!!

Not just a wonderful chance to enjoy some pretty special dishes from some of Sydney’s best restaurants but lots of excellent free or low cost interactive sessions, wine tasting and way too many selfie opportunities (apologies in advance).

Having done our research we booked our sessions and headed off to start on our dish hit list.

First to Porteno where Adam and the team were serving up some delicious dishes…

Grilled cheese with Almond Romesco $6 (one of our favourites)

Steamed corn and cheese tamale with Tomaillo sauce $10 (another fav)

BBQ pork sausage with creamed corn and spicy sofritto $12

Icon dish – BBQ beef belly with crispy fried Brussels sprouts $18

Then dessert….the highlight of the day Hazelnut Mousse Cake with Pedro Ximenez and gold leaf from Mercado Restaurant, with a hollow chocolate core filled with divine liquid $10. We weren’t the only ones who loved this dish, it was ranked No. 2 in the Best in Taste awards.

Time for one of the World’s best margaritas…..

Some very delicious Rum Chata…..

And some Tamada Georgian wines (apparently the world’s oldest wine growing region)…

Then back for more dishes, a lovely Lavender and Rose soft serve with red vermouth caramel and pistachio praline $6 from Banksii…

…who also had their Ora King salmon rillette with red pepper relish and rosemary flat bread $10…

….and their Banksii duck sausage with vermouth plum jam and fennel salad $12

…..then another of our favourites, the Liquid pumpkin and Parmesan gnocchi with forest mushroom tea $12  also a Best in Taste winner at No.3…

…and a Black sticky rice coconut slice $6 from Long Chim along with their Icon dish of Charred rice noodles with chicken, yellow beans and Chinese broccoli $14

Time to get cooking with Meat & Livestock Australia’s Cook’s Corner as Andy Allen and Ben Milbourne from Andy & Ben Eat Australia……

….taught us to cook Brisket and Charred Herb Salsa…

…and then off to the Lurpak Cookery School……

….to do some hands on..

…Butter Poached Fish served with Butter Charred Corn and Passionfruit Curd Tart (delish!).

We just caught the end of the Ethihad Airways Taste the World winning chef preparing Bouche on the Bridge’s No.1 winning Wallaby skewers with spiced cashew sauce (wild Tasmanian wallaby tenderloins marinated & cooked over charcoal)..wow!

So sad to not be able to get to everything like IncredibleIndia’s Delhi ‘O Delhi or Organic Darjeeling Tea tasting…

…or the many Table talks and wine appreciation chats.

 

And then there were also all those chef talks that would have been fascinating, like Nathan Sasi from Merado and Mike Nicolian from Continental Deli and of course, the dishes still on the hit list we didn’t get to:

Nel’s Banana and Peanut Butter Ice Cream $10

Captured by @pipedream.celebrations

Summer Efforescence -Strawberry Sorbet, lychee, champagne mousse, crystallised rose petals $12

Captured by @jamielee.lane

Wagon Wheel – raspberry, yuzu and milk chocolate wagon wheel $6

Captured by @tasteofsydney

Truffle Hunt with chicken, truffle, porcini mushroom croquette & edible truffle soil $10

Captured by @davidxiao8891

Mercado’s

Foie Gras Parfait $12

Captured by @patsplustots

Long Chim’s Grilled Squid with Sriracha sauce $10

Captured by @katty_sydney_

or Saint Peter’s Pambula Sea Urchin Crumpet $24

Captured by @glendonww

Next time!!!!!

Parking was surprisingly easy and free near the Centennial Parklands venue and while it was clearly very popular and you needed to book sessions ahead, lines were short and waiting small. 

General tickets were $25 on-line, most activities were no cost except for most wine tasting (around $4 a 60ml pour) and the Chef’s Secrets $12.

Truly a great experience and I’m looking forward to next year!!!