10 things you must do at Taste of Sydney festival
Taste of Sydney is in full swing this weekend! Are you heading there right now? Have you purchased your entry ticket yet? Not sure how many Crowns (festival currency) you going to spend? Not sure what to expect? Is there toilets/ATM, and most importantly, celebrities? No fret, instead of writing a full report of what I have experienced at the Taste festival, I will do a quick simple Taste of Sydney 101 survival guide. I hope this will be helpful to those who are heading there right now or tomorrow.
So here’s the top 10 things you must do at Taste festival:
Clockwise L to R: crowns (the currency at festival); wine tasting classes; outdoor seatings with picket fences; or enjoying food while standing by sharing table
10. Be early.
You are more likely able to find a car park inside the Centennial Park if you arrive early. If not, catch a bus or cab it are better options. Also, the crowd tends to build up slowly throughout the evening, so be there early while you still can enjoy the food without having to queue up. Not to mention able to sample more food at the stalls without a whole group of seagulls fighting over a chip.
9. Feel the Crowns, Be the Crowns!
The crowns are your next best friends. The crown is also the currency at the festival, you use it to buy food, drink and also food products at the stalls. You can get them at the counters outside the entrance before getting inside, but there is also numerous ticket stands inside selling the crowns. Also, you can always approach the ladies in pink t-shirt who handling out menus will also available for purchasing the crowns. Having said that, there are some stalls do accept cash, but not all. I would suggest to start with a small amount of crowns (say $20 – $30), try some samples, and if you would like to try more, then can always purchase more crowns later on.
Clockwise L to R: Tempura ricotta filled zucchini flowers with basil pesto sauce by Jonah's; Fagottino di carne - Homemade sausage bound with parmesan and truffle egg, finished with lemon extra virgin olive oil by Buon Ricardo; Wagyu Beef Bourguignonne' with Truffled Cauliflower and Onion Rings by Balzac
8. The menu handout – your bible
We actually referred to the menu quite often throughout the evening to decide what food to try. There are about 15 restaurants to choose from and each provides options of 2 mains and 1 dessert. So it can get very confused especially for the indecisive ones like us. Use a yellow highlight marker (as Helen did) if necessary and highlights those you think you definitely would like to try, and it does save you heaps of time to decide and more time to sit down and enjoy the food.
7. Dress for success
It is an outdoor event with food and sunshine. So dress casual, with comfy shoes and let yourself frolicking freely in the the garden of foodie haven. There are lots of grounds to cover, lots of stalls to visit, lots of food to sample and of course lots of people! So you definitely wouldn’t want someone bumped against you and have tomato sauce spill all over your favorite dress.
Clockwise L to R: Semifreddo Montegranelli - Semifreddo with crushed torrone and nuts by Buon Ricardo; Goat Cheese Marshmallow with strawberries and basil granita by Centennial Parklands Dining; Dark Chocolate Tart, End of Season Berries, Mascarpone Sabayon by Berowra Waters; Love cake with cinnamon cream by Flying Fish
6. Sharing is caring
The best thing about going to the festival in groups is you able to try more food by sharing! There are 4 of us in the group and we all decide to have different food, then split in quarter and share. The food is served in sample size and it is rather costly for most people who would like to try more variations. We limit ourselves to around $20-$25 crowns each and we able to sample 4 mains, and 5 desserts. All in all, we might not be full be the end of the night, but we definitely have tried more food than paying full price and eat alone. So sharing is the key!
5. Go Fetch, I’ll guard.
The seatings are rather limited at the festival, and be ready to share tables or eat standing up. So best to have friends mind a table and send off someone in the group to fetch the food back. We spent the whole evening, enjoying our food at the Sydney Morning Herald stand. We actually don’t mind to stand at least we got the chance to wandering the stalls more often, sniffing and peeking at the food what other people are having.
Clockwise L to R: Pure Wasabi - $14; choclatea by iTea; Sagatiba stand serves variety cocktails; cheesy biscuits at Mary's Munchies
4. Sample, sample, sample.
There are lots of stalls promoting their products and free food are on the table for you to try. I’ve tried a few amazing samples from some of the stalls and absolutely loved it. The food is free yes, but is not there to provide you a full meal. Sharing is caring, you try, if you like it, buy. If not, move along and be polite and say “Thank You.” Here’s a few stalls that I think is worth to check out:
Pure Wasabi – one of the highlights, fresh grated wasabi from Christchurch, New Zealand. $13/tub. It has been featured in Maggie Beer, The cook and the chef TV show.
Zokoko – Chocolate produced in Emu Heights with fresh cacao imported from Bolivia and their own “secret”.
Mary’s Munchies – based in Orange, with the most amazing cheesy biscuit and rum chocolate pudding!
iTea – a boutique tea house from Bondi also features some unique chocolate from Malibu, California with tea leaf as ingredient.
Clockwise L to R: cutesy cupcakes at Sparkles stand; Pama Pomegranate Liquer
3. Extra culi-currum
There are extra culinary curriculums for you to take part at the festival including wine tasting classes, beer tasting classes, chef masterclasses etc. Again, refer t0your menu for timetable of the classes. This is also the good time for you to get close and personal with the chefs you admire and have secret crush for a long time.
2. Say, “Cheese!”…
…literally, and take lots of photos! Everyone is doing it. All the chefs from the restaurants will be hanging around at their stalls socialising or busy serving food to the patrons. If you want to know which chef is who, please refer to my earlier post at the media launch with faces to match. We were lucky enough to have chef George Francisco, the head chef at Jonah’s to come over and say hi to us because he recognised ChocolateSuze and her wobbly booby pannacotta video on youtube. Even George himself is doing it! So don’t be shy, approach them, say hi, have a chat, and take a happy snap together! 
Last but not least, No.1 of the Top 10 things you must do at Festival…
Vanilla panna cotta with lavender honey and fresh pomegranate
1. The “must try” wobbly booby!
You’ve guessed it, it is the notorious insanely wobbly Vanilla Pannacotta by Jonah’s. The outlook of the pannacotta definitely has caused a stir at the festival, everyone was looking at the wobbly bit while Suze is holding it, filming herself wobbling the pannacotta. Even a guy came over and grabbed Suze’s plate and started jiggling it and laughed whole heartedly, “Oh you norty, norty girl, don’t go there!!!”
Not just because it looks exceptionally like a boobie, but the pannacotta actually taste flippin’ fantastic! It is velvety smooth and creamy, nothing like a jelly which I hate. It has an amazing great vanilla flavour every mouthful accompanied with the acidic pomegranate just out of this world!
It costs 8 crowns for the pannacotta, you will be kicking yourself if you are not going to try it.
Here I wrap it up with the jiggly boobie, and I hope you all have a fantastic time at the Taste of Sydney, and hopefully I will see you at Taste next year!
I was there with Helen, ChocolateSuze and the Hungry Digital Elf, and also bumped into Not Quite Nigella and Fig & Cherry, go and check out their full report of the festival.
A Table For Two (ATFT) is Billy Law's food blog that features best eats in Sydney and around the world with drool-worthy food photography to salivate your appetite. I also throw in a smidgen of my food and travel photography for good measure. Billy Law also happened to be a contestant on MasterChef Australia 2011. 
Awesome write-up, thank you! As one of the last ones to go to Taste (feels like I’m always fashionably late!) this is invaluable. Can’t wait to have my own jiggle!
Karen’s last blog post..La Renaissance French Patisserie
Oh, thanks for the 10 tips Billy! I’ll definitely be there early tomorrow. Going on the last session so I’m expecting it to be busier than ever. Mmmmm… more jiggly pannacotta.
Jen (jenius.com.au)’s last blog post..Gift ideas and cool shit
great post dude! The taste fest is actually a bit too expensive for me -the humble pov uni student [insert sarcasm] so it was great to read about it here. I feel like I was actually there and wobbled that wobbly booby myself!
K’s last blog post..Kingsley Steakhouse, Sydney
Yeah, thanks for the tips. So, are there toilets and ATM’s inside?
I’m going tomorrow, hope it dries out before then
lili – pikelet & pie’s last blog post..What produce requires the most pesticides and chemicals? Answered!
@Karen: have fun you might be lucky to taste everything at half price for the last session!
@Jen (jenius.com.au): hehehe definitely the jiggly panna cotta.
@K: I heard you, even to me it is a bit steep, that’s why we shared.
@lili – pikelet & pie: Oh! ATM = NO, Toilet = YES!
Excellent tips, and so spot on! It is pricey, but worth it to try dishes from restaurants you haven’t been to before.
BELLE’s last blog post..Taste of Sydney (and a Navy parade!)
Lovely reportage! Everything seems so tasty.
Too bad I live across the globe.
JIGGLES! heh ooh i like this article layout! had fun hanging with you dude must do it again soon
chocolatesuze’s last blog post..Taste of Sydney Festival [3]
Can’t wait to use the fresh wasabi, and yes, a good time had by all. Great angle too – a must-have guide for anyone yet to go!
Helen (GrabYourFork)’s last blog post..Taste of Sydney Festival, Centennial Park
Haha excellent post!
We’d have to say “be prepared with enough crowns and cash” eh?
Trackback-ed to your entry as I “didn’t have” my camera.
Yas’s last blog post..Taste of Sydney!
@BELLE: you had an impressive experience there trying so many dishes among two of you!
@zapxpxau: Well I guess you just have to wait for the Taste to hit your country, or perhaps nearby country?
@chocolatesuze: jiggless….. hehehe yeah must do that again! It was fun or the dinner after makes it all worthwhile
@Helen (GrabYourFork): Yeah now wish I have bought some of those wasabi, nothing can beat the real fresh one.
@Yas: ahahaha “didn’t” have a camera eh? LOL
Ahh awesome pooostt!! Too bad I didn’t get to read it before I went haha. Oh man that wasabi was so gooodd, I wish I had bought one too!
FFichiban’s last blog post..Pie in the Sky (PITStop) – Cowan, Sydney (2)
great writeup and pics. love ya work!
s
Simon Food Favourites’s last blog post..Restaurant Balzac (14 Feb 2009)