Saturday 4 July 2009

good food & wine show 2009

The Sydney Good Food & Wine Show is an event that Mum & I look forward to each year and without fail, we made our way over there today for the second day of the show (end's tomorrow so get there whilst it's still on!). 

It was quite noticeable that there were a few less exhibitors at this year's show. No Lindt, No Lilydale Chicken, gone were a lot of the bigger brands but more of the smaller brands and locally produced vendors. Not necessarily a bad thing and yay to Cookie Couture (with their range of pretty decorated cookies - unfortunately they only had some sample cookies on sale), they yummylicious Yael's - Cakes of Distinction (shame that they weren't selling cakes at the show but just offering samples), Bretzels from Melbourne (I had the Cinnamon and Vanilla) and so the list goes on.

It was great that the show took up another hall this year and everything was a bit more spread out; still crowded but with the extra space, we all got a bit more breathing space. It also meant that Mum, M & I managed to get ourselves a seat at the Lindeman's Early Harvest Restaurant. The queue to get the 'dining currency' i.e. $8 vouchers was a little annoying but my theory is that it's a decoy to slow people down from getting into the restaurant too quickly, meaning that by the time you get your vouchers and get your meal, you should be able to get yourself a table because others have left. Anyway, between the three of us, we decided on 2 mains and 2 desserts and without us knowing, we ended choosing one item from each of the 4 celebrity chefs. 

Gordon Ramsay's Glazed Salmon with Spinach & Radish Salad. I didn't get the matching wine with this one but swapped it with a bottle of Perrier Mineral Water.
Toby Puttock's Veal Osso Bucco. Would've been better if this was served a bit warmer.
Alistair McLeod's Chocolate Cream Brulee, Irish Whiskey soaked strawberries, almond biscotti. Not a traditional creme brulee with the sugar topping to crack and tasted more like a pannacotta.
Matt Moran's Strawberry Tart with Champagne Sabyon. This one got us into a conversation with randoms that were sitting next to us. They thought our one had more raspberries than theirs - we had to explain to them that our one 'looked like ' it had more raspberries because we'd quartered the tart and all the raspberries and sauce started running all over the plate.
The loot!

Speaking of random, mum bought a broom at the show (the handle which you see in the above pic). Again, we somehow started a conversation with a random and bought the broom with them (it was $30 for 2) and well, mum thinks it's the best thing in the world because it sweeps all types of floors from tiles to carpet!

Let me say, tops to Weight Watchers - I think they were probably the best stalls at the show. They were generously handing out ice cream sundaes (which tasted great!), their showbag was value for money and the staff were so friendly and helpful. As you can see, the Weight Watchers showbag was one of the many bags Mum & I picked up! Although my favourite would have to be the 'Ritter Sport' Bag (see top right in the above pic - basically a bag made out of Ritter Sport wrappers).

Coming home, I'm all aches and pains. You see, all the items you see above were hand carried by Mum and myself (we couldn't be bothered with bringing the trolley we had at home because it takes so much space). So all up, we probably spent a good 5 hours at the show walking, minus the half hour we were in the Celebrity Theatre watching the Masterchef's; Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris. Buggered!

12 comments:

Bean Sprout's Cafe said...

Jenny !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I forgot to call u -_-'' I was so sick since last Thursday night but had to drag myself there.. i bought biscuits from Suze also , its first time for me :D I agree with u about Cookie Couture ..so pretty but only a few sample as u said. About Yael's, i didnt know they dont sell the products but we (intentionally)passed by many times so got tasted their 3 products.. the lemon slice is the winner ..hehe

I didnt try food in the restaurant cuz only tasting the sample, already full and put on weight..I thought I bought a lot but look at urs.. Woohlaaa , you bought the 'Ritter Sport' ! I was thinking for long time if I should buy it but then keep control myself..

Oh, got so many things wanna tell u..haha After see ur blog, i wanna go again today ( now still sick.. haih)

Simon said...

When I saw the loot photo I thought "My God!".

Actually I said it out loud too...

That is one hell of a haul to ahh... haul around, even between the two of you.

Missed out on the Weight Watcher's sundae :(

panda said...

beansprout - i know! i got to the end of the day and as we were leaving, i was thinking to myself, there's something i haven't done and when i was in the car i realised i hadn't given you a call. anyway, let's meet up next week and we can chat then :P hopefully you'll be better? justin is also sick at the moment so he didn't end up going to the show.

looks like cookie couture also do macaroons?! anyway i got two of their postcards off the table because they were really pretty. yael's weren't selling at the show, heard the owner tell someone else so i just walked by to get samples too.

chocolatesuze also bought the ritter sport bag. but yeah...mum renewed her subscription to superfood ideas and i renewed by subscription to delicious so we ended up with lots of bags! so tired thought when i got home.

the lonefoodie - hahah...yeah, it was a big haul esp. it was just me and my mum and no trolley. the two of us love a bargain so i guess that's how we managed to get so much. the trick is, do the walking around first and decide what you want to get, then just buy it at the end of the day before you leave so you don't have to carry it all around :P

i had the caramel sundae from weight watchers and it was surprisingly good. i was expecting it to be quite bland with no flavour so was indeed quite surprised!

Anonymous said...

Looks like you got a great haul! Yes the WW stand was excellent wasn't it. I got a ginger kiss to take wiht me although I haven't eaten it yet. I think a trolley is definitely a good idea. Otherwise it's so exhausting!

char said...

hey panda ;) love the updates, this one and all the ones below too. caught up on about a month worth of posting (well done! keep them rolling) and am muchly appetised by all !

Stephcookie said...

Your haul is seriously impressive! That Ritter Sport bag is so cute, it would make me hungry carrying it around though! How awesome was the Weight Watchers stand? They were practically throwing free stuff at us, it was great!

panda said...

nqn - i think next year i'll go back to bringing the trolley. at least it'll mean i won't have the sore shoulder that i have now!

char - thanks! i'm telling myself to make more of an effort with this blog considering i take so many photos of food! look forward to reading your trip posts - keep them coming!

steph - that's exactly what i mean about the weight watchers stand! whilst you had to ask/wait at most stalls for free food, the weight watchers people just kept handing things out :P and lol...the ritter sport bag was a bit of a silly purchase but i love it cause it's cute!

gunkii said...

WOW you bought heaps of food! I made sure i wasnt going to con myself into buying that stuff but hoe into all the free food LOL

Towards the end of the day couldnt even fit in a main. At the beginning steph and I didnt have breakfast so we were instantly on a mission as soon as doors opened LOL!!!!

I wanted to buy the Ritter Sport bag only because of the bag but not the chocolate LOL I had to resistttt

panda said...

gunkii - both mum and i are big food shoppers so put us together, that's all the stuff we managed to collect between us :P

i actually quite like the ritter sport chocolate so the bag was a bonus. and i know what you mean, the amount of free samples does make you feel a bit woozy after awhile! i guess for me, i don't drink a whole lot so I can fit a bit more food in :)

OohLookBel said...

I don't think we could have done without the trolley - sore arms! It's great you got to see the masterchef judges as well and got to taste some of the meals in the restaurant (I just ate samples!) PS: The broom sounds cool.

panda said...

belle - i was a bit skeptical of the broom but mum insisted she wanted one. have yet to see if it works just as well at home! anyway, was glad to be able to get a seat at the restaurant this year, missed out last year. argh...and i think my arms are still sore.

Spencer said...

Looks like you had a decent feed. I especially like all that yummy chocolate!