Elite Event: Taste of Sydney VIP

This is one of my favorites festivals in Sydney. I come here every year and I love it.
Such a great way to try all the new hottest restaurant in Sydney, mingle with award-​winning chefs and browse through hand-​picked premium food and drink producers or simply relax and enjoy live entertainment in the stunning surrounds of Centennial Park.
Love coming back every year for my favorite vine tasting from Argentina by Exclusive Vines and cooking with Lurpak Cookery School .
There is always so much to do and try. The Fine French Food and they duck pâté was divine! And so my dumplings from Sake and pork belly from The Cut Bar.
This year was even more better as we had out Elite courtyard with open bar! Thank you Ben and Unilocal for that! That was awesome addition to my Taste of Sydney this year!
Can’t wait for next year!

As per most Elite Unilocal events this one was fantastic. If only because we had good food and good drink.
The PriceWaterhouse Coopers marquee next door was lacklustre in comparison (and I’m pretty sure they had ugly wine). We had loud laughs, weird photos and all manner of funny conversations going on in our area.
But we had a great talk by Frank Camorra from MoVida who talked so passionately about his dishes, we didn’t waste much time marching over there to get some of his skewers because they sounded mouth watering. And they were mouth watering! So nom.
We spent a lot of time wondering around and I watched while my dinner companions ate at the babe on a spit and made funny faces as it didn’t taste quite as good as they were expecting.
There was the yummy wagyu with tuna paste? Dont’ quote me on that, but it reminded me of nearly the same cut of a silverside, with a dollop of creamy paste on top. With a light tuna taste through it. There were cranberries as well which made each mouthful of this dish a surprising delight. Thanks to the two guys in the line at MoVida that suggested this place when Cynthia asked what was their best dish so far!
Oh and the Eco boards. THE BOARDS! The smell. The feel. The whole sense delight that are my new chopping boards. I have them hoarded in my cupboard at the moment and every-​time I open the doors I get hit with that beautiful smell of Camphor Laurel with eucalyptus. It makes me soooo happy sniffing my boards and Rachel sold us on her excitement of the boards and various interesting tidbits that I walked away with 2 boards.
And finally, oh finally… the French pastries. I may have had a mouthgasm at the bottom end of the Taste area. Granted, my pure delight in all things sweet from the French was joined in by my companions as a silence descended as we shoved our faces full of sweet things and moaned in delight at the taste sensations in unison.
Thanks Unilocal!And Ben for another awesome night! Much fun, much food and awesome wood.

How can one not give 5 stars to an event with free alcohol mixed with signature dishes from Sydney’s finest restaurants and free samples?
Have to admit wasn’t at the Unilocal tent when everyone got to meet the chef of Movida – was too busy eating my heart out and stuffing my face full of bread and cheese samples.
Overall I think this is a great event. It kinda sucks having to pay for a ticket and the pay for overpriced small plates throughout, but the plus side would be you have so many delicious things in one place.
My favorited stall was Otto. They had the best burata dish (truffle oil. Hazelnuts, bread), and a delicious orecchiette pasta. Definitely will have to check them out.
I’ll definitely be back next year :)

You had me at «Open bar». The two finest words in the English language.
After doing an entire lap around the event grounds and having to call Ben and admit I was lost, I settled into our «home base» — a private courtyard with our own server and fully stocked fridge.
I loved having the exclusive uncrowded oasis to come back to whenever I felt a bit parched (which was pretty constant) or when just wanted to chill out with the amazing Elite crew.
Highlights were finding my new wooden chopping board from Eco and listening to the amazing Rachel explain the process with Such passion. Speaking of, listening to an excited, down to earth, Frank Camorra was awe inspiring. That’s me swooning under his arm in the photos.
Thanks Ben and Unilocal for another amazing evening.

It’s been a few years since I last attended Taste of Sydney and things have definitely gotten better! Now that could be the festival’s doing OR the fact that I was lucky enough to be part of the Unilocal Elite group who had free entry, a segregated VIP area with our own free open bar (with dedicated bar tender) and ofcourse the awesome company.
Taste is in my opinion better in the evenings as the weather is cooler and you don’t have to worry about shade. As it was a school night, it also wasn’t too packed! I’m sure the Friday night session would be crazy packed. The way they light up the place also looks quite nice at night which you would miss out on during the day.
Another well organised event by Benny B. who stayed within the confines of the VIP area and played the part of the perfect host. The VIP suite was the base of our operations and we would wander off in groups looking for some tasty morsels to spend our Crowns on and magically get drawn back to the VIP area for another beverage (to stay well hydrated ofcourse).
Having Frank Camorra come over and tell us a little bit about his passion for food and travel was definitely a highlight of the night besides catching up with some old Unilocal friends and also meeting some of the newer crew =) Definitely felt privileged to be part of the Unilocal Elites after a night like this!

As my first Elite Unilocal event I was blown away! Yes the food was great, drinks were on the house and the atmosphere was electric my highlight was meeting a whole bunch on Unilocalers! Here’s to the next event!

It was a fun night, but definitely wasn’t enough chocolate available especially since Yours Truly Chocolates decided to pull a no-​show! Don’t worry, I filled up on peanut butter instead.

A super fun night was had by all. Quite the doozy of a festival, many big names and aaaall of the food. Next time I’ll be sure to gorge on more French pastries. They were my highlight.
No, wait, my highlight was winning the Sydney Reptown cap! I reeeeally wanted that hat :)

Loved loved loved this event– really great for interacting with other Unilocalers vs other events where you’re seated so I really dug that aspect of things.
My problem was that I spent too much time talking to people and catching up vs trying all of the food, but I must say that those lamb skewers from Movida were SPOT on. Delicious, as was the beef tartare from Yellow.
Definitely a fantastic event and a fantastic format for getting to know everyone a bit more!

Another great Elite event as usual!
Good company, free entry, and free drinks with a raffle to boot! Who can say no to that?
It was great finally being able to meet some faces connected to profiles.
Taste of Sydney always offers a great variety, my only complaint is the prices they charge for the quantity you get… but most dishes offered are delicious. From Monopole, to Movida, to Porteno, to Sake and more, this is a local foodie’s dream festival. The several tastings going around don’t hurt as well.
Great festival, but it does a number on your wallet… but Unilocal definitely helped alleviate that!
Cheers to Ben!

The Taste of Sydney brings all comers, and rocking into this thing Elite-​style was freakin’ amaze!
The riff-​raff aka general concourse entrance had the economy-​class cattle all lined up, whilst the fun stoppers checked bags and tickets and whatever else before they were let loose inside. Us Elites just flashed the lanyard and a winning smile and away we went.
Lurpak hit us up straight off the bat with an offer of cooking classes and a free super trendy shopping bag, which was the great first impression we were after!
Colin Fassnidge’s spinning spit piglet from 4Fourteen had me at 6’s and 7’s before I tried the suckling pig and cabbage and my taste buds dropped to 5 … out of 10. The predominant flavour? Wet pork. Dash of seasoning Col ;)
The big highlight was having the chance to meet and greet with MoVida’s Frank Camorra, who was so down to earth and gave us all an insight into his passion and creativity for food. He was kind enough to pose with us all for photos too which was very fun.
The food highlight (for me) was Porteno’s Wagyu, cut thin like pastrami and topped with a sauce that had a mild tuna taste and the effect of pâté on the palate — Yum! De-​Licious. Yellow’s beef tartare was also splendid, but I wasn’t such a fan of their prawn dish (the charred vegies with only 2 prawns was a let down).
The beer wenches, as described previously, were dreshed in garish tight clothing, like what you might expect from the Brazilian beach volleyball team. I ended up with 2 BOGOF tokens for frozen beer, but for the life of me I’ve never seen the point of ruining the beverage like that. Maybe if it was stinking hot I would’ve partaken of the beer slushie — but it wasn’t — so that was an easy one to avoid.
Eco Chopping Boards, from Byron Bay, had a lovely display going with the wonderful smell of camphor laurel permeating the senses. Passionate Rachel Keith explained how her mother mills the boards and everything is done at their on-​site location in Byron Bay. The boards looked amazing and a few Unilocalers walked away with them.
Then came the ticket draw, and Pete F came away with the big win on the night; seriously reptowning the exclusive Ess-​Why-​Dee cap for the rest of the night. Best nickname award goes to Brendana, bro it’s gonna stick! Unfortunately my body double was off work for the evening so the other Dan P. badge went unused… shame.
Dessert rounded out the evening nicely with salted caramal macarons (seriously does any other flavour even matter???), and delectable mud cake petit fours. I had one of each and the diabeetus hit was sensaysh!
Great to catch up with the Elites I already know, and to meet the new Elites who were so charming :)
Huge thanks to Ben for organising and securing the private VIP area and the complimentaries for the Unilocal motley crue. Our small gathering totally walloped the gigantic Price Waterhouse Coopers marquee next door and showed them how Unilocalers do it in true style. They were so jealous even their drinks girl kept walking over to our area to check it out! Can you blame her ???

A festival of restaurants? Almost impossible to dislike.
Of all the food festivals in Sydney this one kicks it up with sophistication. Top restaurants from Balmain to the Blue Mountains served up three entrée size creations for purchase. I must admit, I filled up so much on all the samples that I didn’t have any room to try the purple gnocchi by Popolo or the winning picassio creation by Biota. On the samples — they were more high-​end than your standard chutneys and olive oils. Simon Johnson and their cheese was a highlight! As was the hot smoked salmon. Mm-​mm! I only had to dodge one hard nosed sales pitch from a wine guy keen to flog an airater. Most of the stallholders were welcoming and generous of the greedy seagulls. The only thing more crass than the frozen rosé /​beer /​cider were the outfits of the poor promo girls serving it. Cringe.
Overall a great festival for restaurant and food snobs. If I paid entry however, I mightve been more harsh. Cheers to Unilocal for VIP and the free libations. Another great evening in red name tags!

This is definitely a 5 star event. Not alone are the Unilocalers in fine form, but the champagne is flowing at various hot spots and there is a wide range of tasty foods.
Fine wine and fine food could best describe the night. Small stands for various restaurants and food specialist fill the Brazilian Park area of the Centennial Park. Music is pumping away and there are cooking demonstrations… oh missed the class… but got the ideas.
Chill out areas are everywhere. Would you believe there is even a clear glass booth for «first daters».
My favourites were the roast piglet on the spit and the french desserts! Will have to get back on the exercise bike tomorrow. Definitely will be attending next year.
Thanks Ben for organising our tickets.

Oh what a night! Stepping out to my first Unilocal Elite Event I was filled with a mixture of anticipation and excitement. Who are these are other Elite Unilocalers and what are they going to be like?!
All first and lasting impressions were spot on. These guys are awesome. An Elite community filled with fun personalities and people of all different ages, cultures and life experiences.
The Taste of Sydney Festival is just that. A festival full of tastes… and flavours and exquisite dishes.
It’s such a fun night out watching and hearing from some of Sydney’s best Chef’s and tasting some of their delicious food. If you like a drink or two there are stalls of wine and beer to try. You can purchase drinks by the glass or take a bottle home to enjoy later.
The prawn dumplings from Saké were the best dumplings I’ve ever tasted. It’s now made me even more determined to go have dinner at Saké Restaurant and Bar.
Saké shares a tent with the Cut Bar & Grill which had a Texas Style smoked pork belly which was the popular dish of choice between the group.
If you’re in Sydney this weekend get a group of friends together and go check out the Taste of Sydney Festival in beautiful Centennial Park.
Sooo looking forward to the next Unilocal Elite Event but I don’t know if it can top this one :)