Feastability

Newtown Performing Arts School, King Street, Newtown

Towards the end of September, Annually

Food markets are always exciting. It's a chance to sample the tastes and experience the delightful smells that infuse with each other and send you under the dizzying spell of a food frenzy. Better in public than in the privacy of your own home, where, if you may collapse, people may not discover your body for weeks.
I don't really have much to say about Feastability. In my opinion it could be better, in terms of quality of produce offered, however, in it's defence, it is more a showcasing of local restaurants and food businesses than anything else. It also must be noted that I am one spoilt foodie (can I be called that? according to the wikipedia article I think I am categorised more within the realm of a gourmet!?), for sure. Feastability is an opportunity to experience the world that is King Street in the courtyards of the local Performing Arts School.
So there were different roasts and blends of coffee, samples from T2, and crushed juices, in particular the delicious apple and mango (was it?) that I had. In terms of food there was paella, copious amounts of Thai (and, although, it is Newtown I did manage to sample a delicious marriage of chillies, roasted shredded coconut 'meat', ginger, dry shrimp, and a whole lot else, wrapped in a tiny leaf of lettuce, which was ultra delicious), the lovely artisan's bread that is Common Ground (the fruit loaf I bought was sensational - it was more panettone styles though! surprising!!), and, most importantly, ice-cream from Ice and Slice, a highly recommended place for the frozen stuff if you're ever in need of it at the Missenden Road end of King Street.
Plus, there was a lovely 'dear' of a drag queen commentating the day's entertainment and happenings. There were two stages, which really set the tone to international. I think that in the time I was there, I saw Tongan dancers, a choir of 50+ year-olds shouting their way through gospel-type songs, a Mexican shindig, and a country band from...the country. Representin' the peoplez. Yo.

For me, there aren't many better ways to spend a day than strolling around markets selling delicious things to squee over with a few friends, with nothing much to do other than make stupid comments and consume deliciousness. You might not agree, but hey, that's why I write a food blog and you don't.
Feastability was fun. There was the same stalls that I've become accustomed to, some gozleme over here, some Thai over this way. I had some coffee from an Artecaffe-toting café that I don't recall the name of. Which is a shame, because although the coffee is average to good, the barista was not, which makes all the difference most days.
There was delicious bread baked by a Neo-Christian commune, Rubyos offered us a mini-grazing plate, and of course there was plenty of Thai to be found. The entertainment was as varied, with a terrible choir, some cool Islander dancing and other assorted fun randomness.
A lot of the novelty was lost on us, having traversed up and down King Street more times than we can remember, and having loved Newtown for as long as we've been exposed to it. It's a fantastic little area, and Feastability reflected that. That said, it would have been nice if some of the stalls had gone to some effort, or at least had Campos and Serendipity turn up.
And extra delicious is always welcome!

The Aroma Coffee Festival

The Rocks
10am - 5pm; annually, mid-late July

In general, I love markets. In particular those little white stalls with teepee hoods that dramatically sweep to the sky in that mediaeval, almost gothic, fashion. Good times!
To be honest, I was not expecting much from the Aroma Festival. In the weeks approaching there was advertising in all shapes and forms (okay, SMH and small billboards), and it started to get a really mainstream feel to it. I am the first to admit that I am a food snob at heart and, thus, I cannot deal with the general public knowing about awesome. I reserve the right to say that some things are only meant for those who deserve the rad. I should probably talk to a therapist about it. Or an analyst. Or...

Nevertheless, the day came. It was overcast and threatened to be drizzly. In other words it was set to be a perfect clutching-coffee-and-nibbling-on-delicious-things day. Ayup! I got there relatively early and had a look around at the roaster's and blender's who had claimed their places around the precinct of The Rocks. To be honest, there was not much that excited and I recognised few worth trying. Out of the Sydney favourites there was only Toby's Estate that I noted. This has become a popular blend amongst local cafés and, alas, proved to have an insane length of lined cawfee-drinkers from sun up to sun down. 'Twas definitely not worth waiting when I have their two stores so close to me (and my heart) - the Woolloomooloo one I am sure will be documented in the future. The first shot I had was from Danes and proved to be the best shot all day. Given, shots earlier in the day are always better than those later, but I was pleasantly surprised at the balance it had going. Definitely a solid roast to look out for. The next coffee short thereafter I had was...awful. Can't remember the roaster and, suffice to say, I don't care to. Only for cases of avoidance. The only other coffee I made bold to try was one within the Latte Art Championships section. A couple of competing baristas were 'taking a rest' from competition by making coffee for the general public at the back...they were obviously avoiding the harsh scores that the judges were serving up. Whew! I received a gorgeously arted latte, of which I do not normally consume, but it was free and proved to be delicious! Milk and coffee do go well together in such ratios! Surprise! It was also nice to meanwhile glance around the International Terminal and covet pretty-looking machines and shiny grinders.
The tea, chocolate, and spices and other edible fare were quite of the delectable! Stand outs included the fruit-infused tea, which within were ingredients like cinnamon, sweet Chinese apricot kernels, tangy haw slices, apple, hibiscus, and rosehips. No wonder it was called 'Amore'. The warm chocolate-covered cup of fresh strawberries were delightful, the conglomeration with which we bought fudge was great, and the dark-chocolate-coated peaberry beans were bought for those who were not predestined to make the festival and proved to be a gift of deliciousness. Also consumed later were the packets of spices bought to make more-than-heavenly curries - a great idea, these packets hold only the required amounts of condiments and leaves, thus ensuring that ingredients are fresh at all times! Innovation!

It was a popular event. It was, all-in-all, a good day to spend with those you enjoy the company of and in a location that is gorgeous to wander into sandstone-lined back alleys and enchantingly concealed shoppes. It is not a coffee festival per se that I would recommend other than if you: are a complete n00b at coffee; like the good stuff for one dollar; or if you are looking to start with some quality home machines. Perhaps next year will prove to be more promising in terms of coffee?

GUEST CONTRIBUTION: RISHIMON

Kekekekeke zerg rush lol.

See? I can be plenty Korean. Can't tell me apart can you?

Ostensibly, this is supposed to be about the Aroma Coffee Festival. But for both of us, it's not going to work out the way we want.

For all its hype as being the coffee festival of Sydney, the coffee component was rather lacklustre. None of the really interesting boutiques were available, the queues were immoderately long despite there being a fairly large number of coffee stalls available, (was your half-hour wait for Toby's Estate worth it?! Well, was it?!) no Campos, no Mecca, no Single Origin. 'Nuff said.

That being said and done, it was still okay. I had a pretty decent shot of Dane's, got to try and learned to hate several blends of coffee, which I can neither remember the names of, nor do I want to.

Where the festival really shined was the rather large 'other' category. This consisting of chocolate, tea and spices. I'm not even going to comment on spices, as a) how the hell do you partake of spices? and b) I didn't really try anything nor buy anything spice-related, which may have been to my detriment. That said, the spice stalls consisted of nice things like jams and relishes and confusing and odd things made of hibiscus. Possibly alcoholic.
The chocolate was good. Really, that sums up it well. Lots of different available chocolate products, lots of free samples, cheap to boot. I managed to snag 200g of chocolate-covered coffee beans for the paltry sum of $5, which was a great damn purchase. In retrospect, I should have bought a lot, LOT more. The consortium we formed to purchase fudge was a wise investment. A deliciously wise investment! Apparently, they appear every week on the Rocks Markets to sell their soft and textured wares, so go seek them out.

Other highlights included: watching baristas get absolutely destroyed by judges in the latte art competition, getting free coffees at the competition with lovely little ferns and trees on them and the coffee machine expo. Getting to stare at and touch some of those machines was a delight.

Gripe: It's too short. 7 hours? C'mon. Ideally, they should stretch this thing into a night festival, but it being the bane that is winter, that may prove infeasible (in which case, move it to summer...or hold two!) If you're not going to hold into the night, make it two days at least.

All that being said and done, it was worth it. I'd go again in a heartbeat, and would strongly suggest you do so too. It was muchly fun, and worth your investment of time and moneyz (even if I turned up late...but that's another story).

Addendum: The weather was really good for that day. Cool, but not cold, with a very light hint of rain. A very fine coffee mood kind of day. This probably contributed a lot to the day, and I hope it happens again.

The Pyrmont Growers Market

Pyrmont Bay Park opposite Star City Casino

First Saturday of Every Month
7am - 11am

What better way to start off a food blag with the ultimate in foodisity? 'TWAS A GROWERS MARKET.

This place is one that encapsulates the quality of Australian produce, the inventiveness of local inspiration combined with the fortune we have of multiethnic influence, and the sheer chutzpah of "because we can OKAY?" (seriously: caramelised onion and chilli jam!? omfg). With an almost provincial feel (ruined a little by the glitz of the building opposite and Sydney's tendency towards modernity *sigh*), the stalls that were visited - twice, maybe three times over - and picked over by the crowd kept a previously unfilled stomach and tired-this-is-way-too-goddamn-early eyes completely sated.

What an overload of sensory experience. Stand-outs included the oils and vinegars from Pukara Estate (yeah, that girl was kind of cute), the fudge from Bowral (don't usually like fudge!), the oozing amounts of honey (with such unique flavours and pairings: coriander honey!? almost like selecting a fine wine or cheese!!), and a lamb rissole to absolutely die for (it melted so beautifully in my mouth...it was about THYME). Also: samples are the new awesome.

And so came my undoing. Having a terrible weakness for food of the delicious kind, I decided to spend 80% of my weeks earnings, which I had only acquired the day before, as I excitedly jumped around to various stalls that had grabbed me on my previous visits. Lemon butter and passionfruit butter ("as if you can pass up a two dollar saving!?!111!!" or so my excuse goes), a fruit loaf THAT HAD WHOLE DRIED FIGS AND ALMONDS AND DRIED APRICOTS and who knows what other kinds of magical ingredients, chèvre fetta marinated in chilli and garlic (my salads are going to be amazing), honey spiced dry-roasted hazelnuts form Mudgee, and a velvety-rich brownie at a chocolate store, of which I forget the name of. Oh dear, what a shame - I may just have to go back next month to check out what it's assumed signage was.

So it goes.

I figured that we couldn't call ourselves foodies until we had visited the growers markets, a place for niche and specialist food producers to gather and allow people like us to sample their produce, tempting us to purchase there oh-so-delicious goods.

Did they succeed? Holy shit yes.

There was some ridiculously delicious things around. The cute girl at the Pukara stand drew me toward the stand, but the beautifully viscous balsamic had me hooked. Some café that produces delicious things in the blue mountains had an outrageously delicious chutney that I am convinced would taste good on anything (even muesli :o ) Honest to god, I could probably live off that stuff.

A delicious sausage, with freakin' bacon included with the onion was consumed for breakfast, while the coffee of the morning was purchased from a stall that offered coffee beans grown in Australia. Terrible, terrible coffee. You'd think that a specialist coffee stall would have a barista with half an idea of what he was doing (I'd settle for a quarter!). Some beautiful cheeses were tried, a biscuit from whisk and pin did not fail to disappoint. The honey stall was a highlight of a long series of excitedly sampled things, with pooh having not one, but two blends at the table that day. La Tartine, a sourdough bakery, managed to produce bread so awe inspiring that it surpassed even Sonoma in my esteem. Not to mention, the description of the fruit loaf caused a friend to burst into tears at the sheer weight of awesome implied.

I'm determined to go next month and get some of that honey. and more bread. and some cheese. Just thinking about it makes me salivate.

I expect everybody to come to the markets next week.