Taste of Sydney

This was the only Taste of Sydney I had attended and although the food was amazing, I found that we ended up spending a lot of money and had to wait in very long lines. There wasn’t that much free sampling as my friend had mentioned and the wine tastings were not really to my liking.
I did loooove the food that we got though, even if the portions were expensive and small.
Items sell out so you might want to go during the day and not the evening as we did.

What a great evening we had at Taste of Sydney.
It was a lovely warm night, perfect for wandering stall to stall checking out what everyone had on offer.
The guide was very useful, letting you know what the main restaurants had available and even highlighting their featured dish. Off we went!
We made a beeline for 4Fourteen to try the suckling pig. Disappointed? Most certainly not. A large helping of slow cooked pork and pickled veg, delicious. And a porky perfect way to start the night.
We also tried Nels famous ham chips with pea purée, bbq lamb and South African sausage, delicious saffron pasta and beef shin ragu from Otto, pork belly (more crackling please!) and charred brussel sprouts.
Water, we need water. No refill points onsite. That’s a shame, and unlike Sydney. Thank goodness for OH! giving out sugary sparkling water! Hurrah! We are saved.
After spending just $ 50 to eat food from some great restaurants and also consuming various tasters jams, chutneys, crackers, wines and other drinks, I headed home very full and happy.
The Taste of Sydney for me was definitely the taste of pork. Yum.
Thanks for the tickets Unilocal

I love Taste of Sydney. We go every year.
Funnily enough, I often do not get to try some of the tasting plates, because I become so involved with talking to the producers. I absolutely love people who are passionate about what they are doing, what they believe in, and their achievements and pride in their produce.
This year’s stand out, for me, was from a company called Dickens’ delights.
Their Almond toffee with Milk Chocolate had me swooning! OHHH MYYY GODDD!
Slightly, almost kinda, but not quite, burnt toffee with crunchy nuts and a bit of coconut, complimented by a coconut and chocolate base. Hold me back!
Pretty sure I could eat my own weight in this stuff!
Hurry up! It closes tomorrow! (Sunday 13 March 2016)

Sydney definitely shines on events such as this, very lucky for the immense variety of food, wine, beer, spirits and cuisine paraphernalia on offer all under one roof… well it was outdoors but you get my point… highlights were the dishes offered at Porteno and Movida, lots of unusual jams to try too… we went jam crazy! Stonewall jams were a favourite, truffle ketchup and peanut butter chocolate sauce worth a mention. Gruyère cheese from Sweden also a favourite, see how the aging affects the same cheese…
Movida had a decent sized BBQd pinchito (marinated lamb on a massive stick) soooo juicy!
Cooking classes and demos weren’t bad, we attended the cupcake decorating class, my daughter is still on a sugar high and it’s 10:30pm! Lots of nice places to chill out and enjoy the music, kid friendly and surprisingly not overcrowded we didn’t have to wait longer than 5 mins on any line (not even the free massage line!) aaaah massage :)
The only negative: food is a little overpriced for the portions given, me and hubby spent $ 140 on food and we were still a little peckish? Maybe we’re just big eaters and I guess you pay a bit extra for the experience.
Worth mentioning is also the loo situation. Never seen such decent toilets at an event like this they’re usually trashed and filthy but not the case here. Also no waiting in line as there were plenty, so bonus points for that!
Probably more wine and spirits than food but we love a good drink so didn’t mind. 666 vodka served some yummy cocktails and the car on display kept our tornado entertained while we sipped in peace!
Parking doesn’t close on the grounds at sunset (as it states on the website and the gates) so if we knew we would have parked a little closer…
Will definitely revisit next year, had a great time!

Wow this event was alot different from most food events that I’ve been to.
I won 2 free entry tickets which was great: D! (Thanks to Ben and to Unilocal: D :D).
Ended up going with one of my best mates from work which loves good food as much as me, we hit up 4Fourteen first and got a white Choc Popsicle which was amazing. was more like a gaytime, also I’m a big beleiver of Dessert first lol!
We then got the the Lobster kingfish with cucumber haha such a small prtion but the tastyness made up for it lol! Then got the Chashu Pork rib roll can’t remember from where but if you see that in the menu you won’t be disappointed :)!!
Then finally hit up Otto which was down the far end which i chanced to try almost everything on the menu hoping it was all amazing, i had the prosciutto which was nice but not wow, then had their small pasta dish which tasted heaps bland. and then had the Coconut Panna Cotta with apple crumble i think. that was good :). Had those 3 meals while watching the chilled live Band a few steps away, girl could sing: D!!!
Overall it was pretty expensive for mostly small portion meals, you got lucky gere and there with some decent size onesfor a good price :), if they had picture menu for each showing the size of each meal, i can bet the big portions will be a sell out over the small ones lol, but that is the Restaurant Chef making money life.
Had a great first time, can say that I’ve been but wouldn’t go again: D

Great event but you’ve gotta be willing to drop some pretty serious dollars! Pretty small servings, mostly for north of $ 10.
The Celebrity Cruises stand was great value — $ 5 for three solid canapés and matching wines.

I attended the 1^st Session of A Taste of Sydney festival this year (Thursday — 5:30pm — 10pm) and it was incredible. The Brazilian Gardens in Centennial Park were filled to the brim with food, wine & culture enthusiasts looking to experience what Sydney has to offer. I walked in & exchanged some money for «Crownies» which is the festivals only form of currency. The Crownie Card acts like a debit card that all stalls have access to using. You can load any amount you like onto the card and pay a $ 1 bond for the card that you receive back when you hand the card back in (If you end up handing it back in!). After loading up on the card we started our A.T.O.S journey through all the tents. The place had an amazing atmosphere right from the get go but we were lucky enough to get some incredible weather too.
We started off with a glass of Barossa Valley Estate’s Grenache Shiraz Mouvedre from Delegats Wines and went on our way passing through the tents. There were as many freebie’s & taste tests as you could possibly eat & drink with a few alternative products in there too. Coconut water, jerky sauce, white wine, pork belly, fine cheeses, organic chocolate, red wine, chicken with red sauce, polenta chips with gorgonzola cheese, green teas, beers, chopping boards, ice cream, nuts, peanut butter, coffees, eclairs, lamb souvlaki & of course, more wine! (Bear in mind, there’s plenty more, this is all I could remember after too many glasses of wine last night!).
If you’re interested, you can register for an onsite cooking class with some celebrity chefs. There is also a pretty cool «First Date» booth where you can meet new people, plenty of seating, makeshift bars and music all around, which really gives it it’s fun vibe. You’ll find yourself doing plenty of laps of the stalls for top ups, reminders & more freebies because 4 hours is more than enough time to revisit the stalls over and over again.
It was around $ 30 a ticket, which more than covered my share of the freebies consumed, plus whatever you choose to put onto your Crownie Card. I got away with spending about $ 100 between two of us with a bit left to spare, so $ 50 a head + $ 30 a ticket should get you a long way. Also, if by the end of your night you haven’t spent all you allocated on your Crownie Card, then you hand the car in, receive your $ 1 bond & the staff provide you with the remainder of what you had left on the card.
Overall, it was a brilliant night with some great weather and an exceptional range of spectacular products. I’ve never attended such a culture-​filled festival like A Taste of Sydney but I definitely look forward to coming back again next year. I highly recommend heading in this Friday or Saturday night and getting your culture fix!

Everybody seemed to have a good time at Taste of Sydney. This is my view from a casual dinner looking for a memorable experience.
First observation is that, it’s more of an alcohol festival than an eating one. Almost half of is wine and liquor with one quarter coconut water and lastly 25% of stuff that you can actually eat.
Value
My biggest gripe is the overall value of the offering. I don’t expect freebies, but these restaurants must have made a killing. Charging a range from 150% to 300% or more of their restaurant menu, it is certainly better to book a table and eat in the comfort of their respective restaurants. Easy to be critical of them, without knowing the festival fees but their is no value in the food they sell. The following do leave a sour after-​taste:
* Fast food version of their usual standard in terms of quality
* Premium price for fast food version — usual stuff was at least $ 12/​crowns and the really interesting dishes that I wanted to try were $ 20+/crowns for minuscule portions and/​or sold out anyways.
* Expensive entry fee
* No seating
* Long queues for anything good
Quality of restaurants
Unknown chef or more a cook from Rojo Rocket who demos how to make… guacamole in a two minute session, seriously? (probably just a bad session, but still it put me off). What next? How to fold a burrito?
Quality of participating restaurants has gone been declining over the last four years, sure some have one or two so called hats but most of them are unknowns that should not be commending those prices with the exposure they are getting.
Payment
Crowns? non-​transparent way for making attendees waste and overspend. No easy way to check your balance and knowing how much is really being deducted.
Conclusion
These are neither the best restaurants nor best chefs in Sydney. What kind of business model is this? where entry is at least $ 20 – 30 and on top of that, charge a premium for the fast food versions of the restaurant menu?
If you do decide go next year to, set aside at least $ 150 per person and it still might not be satisfying.
End of the day, I will not be in a hurry to visit any of these restaurants. On the other hand, you will probably have a blast if you have no expectations and just going drinking, chilling with some mates. However if you were looking for a culinary experience this is the wrong event for you.
@thesydneynoob

This event is great place to spent an enjoyable day while trying some tasty food.
It may be a bit expensive for each dish but this gives you opportunity to try different food for less than what it would be in an actual restaurant.

An annual event from the company that brings MasterChef LIVE to us. Thank goodness Taste of Sydney is way better. If you’re entering the event from Paddington gates, Taste of Sydney is about 580 metres from this gate in Centennial Park. Thank you Unilocal for the free tickets.
The pink fork sculpture marks the entry. Meals are purchased at the event in the form of «crowns» in multiples of $ 10. Look out for the guys dressed in pink. $ 1 = 1 crown. Any unused crowns do not get credited in cash. Spend wisely. Apart from spontaneity, check out the menu card prior to entering. Each dish gives you a guide as to how much they are in crowns. Some of the exhibitors at MasterChef live have made a re-​appearance here.
In addition to food for sale, a variety of cocktails, ciders and wine can be sampled. Nudie makes an appearance, and there is a fantastic bakery in the Tasmania section that wants to get their name known in Sydney. Delicious black pepper pies. A chance arises to try your hand at cocktail making for 10 crowns, and also receive a free massage by one of the 3-​Minute Angels at the Smooth FM stand. Great samples, and the Dilmah High Tea was rather delicious (10 crowns). Not fond of the tea, although the sweet and savoury was divine. The serving was quite small for $ 10, although rather filling.
Love the garden atmosphere.
How to improve the experience:
* Less commercialised.
* Perhaps give us $ 10 bonus crown credit for every ticket purchased to get us into the mood to eat. If I had to pay $ 30 for entry, I would not go.
* Credit to be given for any unused crowns.
Amazingly popular among school kids, and parents with bubs in prams. Great table tennis facilities nearby too. Receive a free copy of the Gourmet Traveller magazine when you come here too. Thanks Unilocal for this tix’s again.