Taste of Sydney 2009

It's my first time for Taste of Sydney ! It is one of the best event for foodies, 4 days for selections of the city’s finest restaurants offering their signature dishes to sample. The fee entry is $30 if you buy at the event and $25 if you buy online. Lucky we got the buy 1 get 2 promotion so we bought it about $13.66 per person.


Our schedule was on Saturday lunch, 6 of us - P'Ta, Kimmy, Stella, Ayra, Gladys and I, met at GJ in Thaitown then took bus to the Centenial Park.

P'Ta and I met first around 9.45 am. She kindly bought the egg tart and coffee for our breakfast, Super sister ! We studied hard about menu before going to the event..haha

On the way to the place.

We bought 30 crowns each first. 1 crown = $1 (finally I ended up spending around $70+ T^T)

Beautiful day ! (so sunny -_-'')

After we got inside, Ayra and Gladys just disappeared..haha, so the food below were from 4 of us. It was not too crowded like we experienced in other food events before. Quite good.

Ok, let's start!

Etli Borek - Crisp homemade filo rolls filled with braised veal shank, currants and pine nuts, served with pomegranate and yoghurt sauce, 10 crowns from Ottoman Cuisine

My dish, it was freshly fried after we ordered, crisp filo and tender veal, the pomegranate and tangy yoghurt sauce was very interesting and made the dish special. I quite enjoyed it, but my friends said its smell was quite strong.

Wagyu Beef Bourguignonne' with Truffled Cauliflower and Onion Rings, 10 crowns from Restaurant Balzac

Kimmy's choice. Awesome !!! I love this dish, I wish I would order it for myself. The beef was just melt in your mouth and the outside wrap was so so so crispy. I didn't try the sauce but must be perfect ! The best dish for me.

Yamba prawns, peanuts, lime, ginger, roasted coconut, chilli and caramel on betel, 10 crowns from Sailors Thai

Stella brought this one to the table. She did enjoy it a lot.

Yellow Fin Tuna with Ruby Grapefruit and Sweet Crackling Pork, 10 crowns from Flying Fish

P'Ta's dish. The decoration was very pretty and everyone seems like it, but the taste was quite normal in my opinion.

Antipasto plate featuring Pino Tomini-Foresti's cured meats, labneh and marinated olives, 12 crowns from Bird Cow Fish

At first, P'ta wanted to buy the beef pie from the restaurant but she siad it looked just pie. So she changed her mind and chose this one instead. It was good, and I really like the olives, both big and small olives were really good.

Lamb Shank "Yeeros", 12 crowns from Civic dining

Kimmy loved her choice. It was kinda Kebab dish, not bad.

Saddle of suckling Pig with Crackling and Baby Garden Peas, 12 crowns from Restaurant Balzac.

Stella was satisfied by her choice. I did try and it was good, The pork was juicy and succulent with a thin crisp crackling shell. Only it was way too salty for me and Kimmy...

Loin and crumbed belly of lamb with basil mayonaise and tomato olive jus, 12 crowns from Assiette

My turn, at first when I saw the dish, I was forgot about the belly. The loin were tender and beautiful pink. The crumbed belly was overcooked and dry, I didn't even notice it was belly... but it looks extremely wonderful in Helen reviews. The basil mayonaise and the eggplant underneath were not much taste though.

OK, now desserts time !

Dark Chocolate Tart, End of Season Berries, Mascarpone Sabayon, 10 crowns from Berowra Waters Inn

I was thinking to buy the Dolce Sardo from Pilu at Freshwater but it looked so simple. After I saw one table was eatting the chocolate tart, I immediately walked to Berowra Waters Inn .

The ganache was not too rich, a bit too sweet for my liking but when eat with the berries and mascarpone cream, it was a lot better. The disappointing thing was the chewy crust -_-''

Semifreddo Montegranelli - Semifreddo with crushed torrone and nuts, 10 crowns from Buon Ricordo

The presentation was fancy but tasted nice, like light ice cream with nuts. By Stella.

Poached Strawberries with a chocolate and hazelnut meringue with whipped cream, 8 crowns from Danks Street Depot

Very nice, the meringue was not too sweet as other meringue we had, and it went well with poached strawberries.

Vanilla panna cotta with lavender honey and fresh pomegranate, 8 crowns from Jonah's at Whale Beach

Since we saw lots of photo of this cute wobbly panna cotta, it was a must try ! And really, it was really really good! The panna cotta was soft, silky, creamy and melt in your mouth, the lavender honey with a tangy black sauce ( I quess it was Basalmic vinegar?) and the fresh pomegranatee made the dish was so perfect ! As you see in the picture, the weather was very hot then the panna cotta just almost melt.. haha.. It looked so funny !

Balzac's Bread and Butter Pudding, 8 crowns

When I saw the menu, I just ignored this dish since it sounded so plain. However, after Stella decided to buy this one and I tried.. Oh, it was the best bread and butter pudding I had so far. It was warm, light and fluffy. The butter made it crispy outside.. So good !

Cheers !

We wanted to join the Wine tasting for $4 but it was fully booking T_T. So we had to spend our crowns on food (already very full)

Death by chocolate and Ginger Ice cream from Serendipity ice cream.

The second wobbly panna cotta, it was beautiful this time but I just couldn't eat anymore.

hahaha..everyone with a naughty panna cotta.

As we already were there, we should take a picture with The Chef of the Year 2009, Justin North. He is the second chef I got a chance to take picture with.

That day was extremely sunny, my feet burned !