Sydney Food and Wine Fair 2007

Sydneysiders it seems are a charitable bunch, especially when there’s food involved. Pair good food, some wine and a splash of good weather and you will surely pull a crowd. Last Saturday found us at the annual Sydney Food and Wine Fair at Hyde Park. It was a full house that day and it seemed that right at noon, the entire population of Sydney descended upon Hyde Park for a veritable feast.

Over 100 of Sydney’s finest food and wine makers come together each year to raise funds and awareness for the AIDS Trust of Australia. And like many others we turned out to lend our support and our bellies. Last year we were at Tetsuya's, but this year I was determined not to miss out.

Most of the usual restaurants and cafes were present offering pretty much the same fare as they did the previous years. Although this didn’t bother us, as you never get to sample all of the goods on offer on that day. You only get two hours to peruse all of the stalls, navigate through the sea of people, decide what you want to eat, get on the queue and finally get around to eating it.

I had spotted a few things I fancied for lunch although I was quickly put off by the inexorable wait. G spotted the grilled prawns with black pepper and curry leaf dressing by Flying Fish and decided that his stomach couldn't resist and plucked up the fortitude to wait patiently on the line. I on the other hand traipsed up and down the longest stall-lined avenue in Hyde Park and couldn't make a decision. I got the annoyed "why are you so indecisive?" look from G when he saw that I was still empty-handed after having surveyed the options.

After making a rash, yet sound decision I ended up with The Tea Room lunch pack that had a combination of sweet and savoury bites. It consisted of an egg sandwich, a spinach and ricotta pastry, tomato filo tart with avocado and for the sweets a chocolate cake, a strawberry and mascarpone tart, orange and almond tart and passionfruit sable.

After downing a couple of beers from several stalls including the Belgian Bier Cafe and Industrie: South of France, we decided that dessert couldn't wait any longer.

And for dessert, well, we couldn't pass up Serge Dansereau's of Bathers Pavilion almond tart with fresh berries and cream. He has been making this desert for the past few years I have attended and yet I cannot say no to another helping. I was about to try Marque's toasted marshmallow and strawberry although I knew that we would still be hankering for a taste of Serge's tart. So off we went and joined the line at the Bather's stall.

By the time we polished off the the tart, soaked up the sun and watched some of the festival entertainment our bellies were full and the two hours of philanthropic banqueting were almost over. We had two spare coupons and were looking for somewhere we could spend it quickly. Most stalls had either run out of food or were only selling things worth 3 coupons or more, so it was decided that the last 2 tickets be spent on another cup of beer. What's a balmy day in Sydney without a refreshing beer to cool oneself down.

As we lazily made our way out of Hyde Park we came across a some chess enthusiasts who seemed to be completely oblivious to the feasting that was going on close by. We thought the man in the bright blue shirt and white beard (bottom right) bore an uncanny resemblance to Steven Spielberg. What do you think? Incognito holiday down under?

The Sydney Food and Wine Fair is held annually during the month of October as part of Sydney's Good Food Month.

To see all that went down during our month of good food, then go to Morsels and Musings for the weekly round up of all events covered by Sydney food bloggers.

Other Good Food Month posts:
A Spring Pick-i-nik
Sugar Hit: Four Seasons Hotel
A Lunch With Berry Simple
Serendipity Ice Cream Class: Part I
Serendipity Ice Cream Class: Part II
A Lunch Affair: SMH Dymocks Literary Lunch with Matt Moran