Now in its second year, Taste of Sydney is a food festival like no other and showcases sample-sized morsels from Sydney’s top restaurants, including Aria, Becasse, Marque and Guillaume at Bennelong. Consider it an entree to Sydney’s fine dining scene without the hefty price tag.
We were lucky enough to head out on the opening night, armed and ready to fight off the crowds and rain for some tasty goodness!
So here is our report card of what we liked, what could’ve been better and what we missed out on trying!
What we liked loved…
1. Guillaume
Despite being his first time at the festival, Guillaume had the best menu on offer at Taste of Sydney. Mini sandwiches filled with crab meat, a tender slab of wagyu beef in a velvety stew and a trio of macarons. What could’ve topped that?
Guillaume's winning Taste of Sydney offering
Mini sandwich with blue swimmer crab meat and coriander mayonnaise - 10 crowns
Wagyu beef daube with paris mash - 12 crowns
Pistachio macarons - 8 crowns
Guillaume's macarons!
2. Longrain
No doubt the stall with the most buzz, Longrain had it all – friendly staff, a cocktail bar and an enticing menu of dishes.
Fish cakes with sweet chilli lime coriander & bean sprouts - 10 crowns
Tapioca pudding with poached jackfruit & lychees - 8 crowns
Martin Boetz from Longrain
3. Pilu at Freshwater
It took us a good two hours to see this on the festival menu. How could we have possibly missed the sourdough panino stuffed with tender suckling pig!
The pork was very tender and the accompanying sauce was fantastic. I loved the addition of rocket, it added a nice peppery flavour to the combination.
Suckling pig panino with apple, mustard and rocket served on Sonoma sourdough - 10 crowns
4. El Toro Loco
It was hard not to visit the El Toro Loco stand. Every few minutes the stall would erupt with orders for ‘paella!’ and the energy was infectious. It was also a nice spectacle watching your paella being plated from a pan as large as sandpit.
El Toro Loco's massive paella pan
Paella a la Maestre - 10 crowns
A pan every paella fan should have!
What could have been better…
1. Flying Fish
While the yellow fin tuna from Flying Fish gets full marks for presentation, we were let down by the tuna itself, which was a little bland. Our piece of crackling was also very miniscule, which made it very difficult for me to split between three. Luckily the boys let me have it!
Yellow fin tuna with sweet pork crackling and ruby grapefruit - 10 crowns
2. Aria
I tried so hard to like what I had at Aria, but I just didn’t. The cured ocean trout, though well flavoured, had the texture of slimey smoked salmon. (That said, Mr. Taste raved about this dish).
Cured ocean trout with cucumber and horseradish - 10 crowns
Our second dish was the Moran family lamb roast. The lamb was a bit on the dry side but had really nice flavours, particularly with the sweet and spicy sauce (it reminded me of Christmas). The weak point in this dish was in the roll, which was very stale. We’re quiety hopeful that it was just ours…
Slow roasted Moran family lamb spit roast - 12 crowns
What we missed out on trying…
Our biggest regret of the evening was passing up Dank Street Depot’s beef ribs. To anyone who bought this dish, please let us know what we missed out on!
Beef ribs smoked in watermelon with a watermelon and avocado salad - 12 crowns
Jared Ingersoll from Dank Street Depot
We did however, make time to see Alex Herbert’s segment at the Gourmet Traveller Kitchen. She made a Tiramisu Roulade, which was on offer at the Bird Cow Fish stand. It was an unusual recipe choice for a cooking demo though as the roulade takes a good half-day to set. So when the roulade roll was cut open, the sabayon filling oozed out like bad toothpaste. It wasn’t a good look!
Alex Herbert from Bird Cow Fish at the Gourmet Traveller Kitchen
Taste of Sydney is on now at Brazilian Fields at the Centennial Park. Entry is $30 at the door, while crowns can be purchased in books of 10 or 30 at the festival ($1 = 1 crown).
Show times
Thursday 11th March – 5:30pm-9:30pm
Friday 12th March – 12:00pm-4:00pm
Friday 12th March – 5:30pm-9:30pm
Saturday 13th March – 12:00pm-4:00pm
Saturday 13th March – 5:30pm-9:30pm
Sunday 14th March – 12pm-5pm
Show menus: Click here!
For more information, please visit www.tastefestivals.com.au.
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12 comments
That paella pan is awesome. I never have a pan big enough!
great to see some of the other dishes i missed seeing. hope to see the rest i missed on thursday this saturday
thanks for the recommendations 
Looks fantastic! I’ve always wondered whether it’s worth going to if I’ve already eaten at the restaurants that are participating though.
I went last night and had the watermelon smoked ribs. It was great. Full of flavour and falling off the bone. I am set to go again tonight. I think I must have Guillaume’s Wagyu Doube.
Nice little wrap up, most definately looking forward to Sunday! I hope the rain holds out…
Amazing photos! Guillaume’s offerings look the best overall!
Jealous – you got way more crab in your sandwich than I did
Maybe they were runing out when I was there…
Really great photos – the paella looks so delicious!
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just yours. I also tried the slow-roasted lamb from Aria and found it to be disappointingly dry. Danks Street Ribs were absolutely amazing
Was quite disappointed overall. A lot of the food lacked seasoning.
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