"My Hunger will go on" was lucky to be invited by
Rekorderlig Cider (Thank you Ellie for the invitation!) to
Taste of Sydney 2013 (14-17 March 2013), a fun festival at Centennial Park to appreciate and taste various restaurant foods, wines, and attend cooking shows.
We got there on Friday evening for 5.30pm opening, and we were amazed by the number of people heading there for the extraordinary culinary experience.
Rekorderlig Cider is the exclusive Cider sponsor for Taste of Sydney 2013, their custom built
Beautifully Swedish "Rekorderlig Star" bar aimed to provide a relaxing, exciting, and engaging experience for their guests. There are multiple bean bags, table tennis and fuse ball for the guests to enjoy while they sip away any of eight sensational flavours.
Rekorderlig Cider's impressive range of flavours (From left to right): Apple, Apple & Blackcurrant, Mango & Raspberry, Wild Berries, Pear, Orange & Ginger, Strawberry-Lime, Passionfruit
We were absolutely thrilled after hearing about the debut of the new flavour from Rekorderlig Cider, as our last experience with
Mango-Raspberry flavour had been great!
After finding the perfect spot to indulge, the
Orange & Ginger (Left) and
Passionfruit (Right) ciders arrived at our table. Firstly, the
Orange & Ginger flavour somewhat reminded us of Ginger beer. It was bitter, yet with a slight sourness of the Orange. If you don't love too much sweetness, or perhaps you prefer something more stimulating, I would highly recommend this flavour. As with the new
Passionfruit flavour, I found it had a very light taste with a mixture of sweetness and tanginess. It was more refreshing compared to the
Orange & Ginger flavour, and a lot gentler on the taste bud. As I drank the
Passionfruit flavour, I could picture myself sitting at a beach, enjoying a cool breeze and listening to the voices of the ocean. A memorable food or beverage can always arouse vivid imaginations, just like a good book that can take your mind to some amazing places.
Personality I actually loved
Strawberry-Lime flavour the most, it tasted really sweet like a candy melting in your mouth. If I could use something to describe that flavour, I'd say it was like a young innocent girl, searching to fall in love at first sight.
Apart from the wonderful experience at Rekorderlig Cider, we managed to go around to different pop-up restaurants to taste some delicious and unique dishes.
The roast pig outside "Four in Hand" stand really grabbed our full attention, maybe because we had a low resistance towards food that were cooked on the spot, especially meat. With the colour of that pig, the constant smoke, and inevitable inhalation of the aroma, we rushed our way to get our first plate.
So there I was, opening mouth wide and enjoying as much as I could.
Spit roast suckling pig with coleslaw and hot sauce $12.00
The suckling pig was unbelievably soft, and they fell into pieces every time as they were lifted up by the fork. Every bit was cooked perfectly, and they combined well with the creamy hot sauce. Along with the Coleslaw and potatoes on the side, it was a great dish to start off the journey!
Later on we continued our search for innovative dishes around the area, and we found some great ones as below:
BBQ Prawn skewers with black pepper, curry leaf sauce and Sri Lankan pickle $10.00 (Peter Kuruvita's Seafood BBQ)
The flavours were strong, with all the spices circulating your mouth to give you that everlasting pleasure. I loved how the prawns were so fresh and fulfilling, each bite fit into the mouth perfectly. The only thing we wished for was...more prawns on the skew! (Clearly we craved for more)
Turmeric Chicken with rice noodles, wild ginger & Thai basil $8.00 (Longrain)
This was one of the cheaper dish compared with the others, but the standard was definitely equivalent to or above the rest. I loved how chilli this dish turned out to be, and the way that each ingredient mixed well for that burst of flavour. The noodles were flat, slippery and chewy, which I found quite interesting.
ICON DISH - Deboned roasted sheep head with local garlic and cherry tomatoes tandir $14.00 (Efendy)
One of the icon dishes we ate for the day was at Efendy, where we bought the deboned roasted sheep head. I had no idea how we came to try out this dish, it was certainly something outside our usual preference. We have ate chicken head, duck head, pig head, but sheep head? Really? I guess we were curious. It turned out that we enjoyed some parts and not so much of the others. The brain was a strange experience for us, as the texture was very squishy and tasted a little bit like liver. However, the rest were great, for instance the tongue was very thick and tender, and most parts were juicy and fully soaked with amazing spices.
ICON DISH - Twice baked cheese Souffle $22.00
The second icon dish we tried was at "Claude's", purely because I couldn't resist the sound of "Twice baked CHEESE Souffle". But I was actually a little disappointed at the result, as it turned out to be very different to how I thought it would be. The cheese has melted to the right stage, but I imagined it would be puffed up instead of flatten down. The taste was still awesome, but I guess double cheese was a bit too much for me at the time.
On the side note, we saw Poh (from Season one of Masterchef)! She was demonstrating some interesting dishes and how to cook them. Unfortunately we ran out of time and decided to grab one of her recipes instead. Later we thought...we soooo should have watched or even tried the dishes!
Salted Caramel Macaroon $4.00 (Croquembouche Patisserie)
On our way of exiting, we managed to use the last 4 Crowns on a Macaroon from Croquembouche Patisserie. While I was eating that, somehow I was comparing it with
Ladurée. It was certainly bigger, and felt thicker too. But the flavour was bitterer, and the filling was slightly slimy. Not too bad I'd say, and it was nice to finish off the festival with it.
For these people who still wanted to have a look, you can purchase tickets at the door (Please check their official website for more information on tickets). You can either choose to buy Crowns (the currency used inside the festival, 1 Crown = $1) from outside or inside. I'd suggest you grab a Menu card and work out what you want to eat first, as it does get quite overwhelming with all the wonderful selections around!
Have fun exploring!!!!
Address:
Brazillian Field (Centre of Centennial Park, near Loch Avenue and Dickens Drive)
Centennial Park
Opening times:
You can still make it to the following times!!!
Sat 16th March
Dinner 5.30 - 9.30pm
Sun 17th March
Lunch 12pm - 5pm
Dinner will be CLOSED
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