Taste of Melbourne 2010

I was fortunate to win a double pass to Taste of Melbourne 2010.  This Event is held annually at the Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton and is held over 4 days.

There are 12 Melbourne restaurants and a number of bars to chose from.  You don't decide where you are going to eat but have to decide what to eat.  The restaurants feature 3 signature dishes each, so there are many to chose from.  There are also a number of exhibits you can have a look and try some of their produce.

 The Chocolate Master Exhibit

Ben and Jerry's Ice cream van

Sweet By Nature Exhibit

Before you enter, it's a good idea to have a look at the menu here and decide (if you can!) what you are going to eat because once you get in there, it can get really busy and you might miss something.

Hubby and I went on the opening night, Thursday.  We had a fairly good idea what we wanted but we still just wanted to have a look around at all the stands to see what looked good.  You also have to buy "crowns".  This is the "currency" used at the Event.  $1 = 1 crown.  You can buy crowns at the crown banks located around the event.  There are also crown sellers that are roaming around.

Organic slow braised pork cheek, white polenta, raisins and marsala sauce from Mezzo Bar and Grill (8 crowns)

Wagyu Burger by The Palace (10 crowns)

Salted Western Plains Pork and prawn sweet roll with pickled vegetables by Longrain (10 crowns)

Pistachio "Panna Cotta", salted Caramel Popcorn by Sarti (8 crowns)

The Bombe - strawberry sorbet, white chocolate parfait, and toasted meringue (10 crowns)

Swiss Chocolate by Movenpick (4 crowns)

My pick of the night was definitely the pork cheek from Mezzo bar and grill.  The meat was so tender and flavourful.  The white polenta was fluffy and silky.  Another winner was the Pork and Prawn roll from Longrain.  Oh my, this little roll was full of flavour and the pork had a little crunch from the crackling.  We aslo tried the Wagyu burger from The Palace.  I'm glad we got a chance to taste this as they had run out later in the night and not everyone got to try it.

For dessert, the bombe was "The bomb".  It was so delish.  The different layers combined into each other.  The sorbet was tart while the chocolate parfait was sweet.  Perfect.

Hubby and I left the event feeling so full and satisfied.  There was nothing there that we could say anything negative about.  The entire event was worth the wait in the rain for.