Fine Food Australia 2010

I love food events.  Fine food Australia is an annual event for the food service and hospitality industry.  With more than 1000 exhibitors, you are bound to find something to give you great ideas or help you with your business. 

I was given a media pass by @fine_food_Aust so I went Tuesday Evening with my family (who had registered to go).  

Once in the buidling, my first thought was "oh my, it's so big".  We only had a couple of hours to go through the whole exhibit and it definitely wasn't enough time.  I would've loved to have gone again another day but unfortunately didn't have the opportunity to return.



The event was separated into "worlds".  There were drinks, bakery, packaging, gourmet food, confectionary, meat and seafood, natural products, general foods, dairy, and food safety and handling.  This assisted us as we had limited time, we were able to quickly go to which "world" were of interest to us.  The exhibitors ranged from bakeries and caterers to packaging and everything possibly relating to the hospitality and food service industry.

We started off at the catering equipment section and slowly made our way across.  Now that we think about it, we started off at the wrong side because all the food and food tastings was on the other side and by the time we got to that side, we only had about 30 minutes left till it closed.  We had to rush through.  We did, however, see powdered tomato, a machine that popped out rice cakes (yes, "popped out"), numerous different flavours of granitas and how a convection oven can steam dumplings.

The night was very informative and we spoke to great suppliers and vendors who were only to keen to get our business.  We walked away well informed with samples and brochures.

I would love to return next year and this time, I will put aside a whole day to ensure I get to see all the exhibitors.

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.

Sunbeam Cupcake Masterclass.

Gotta love twitter!

Hubby won tickets to attend the Sunbeam Cupcake Masterclass at the Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show 2010.  Since Hubby couldn't see himself making and decorating them (he did see himself eating them though), he gave the other ticket to my Sis-in-law.  It was loads of fun and there were plenty of taste testing along the way.

The actually cupcake making was easy enough as they had the Sunbeam Pattie cupcake maker on hand.  It was the tips and samples, that I was waiting for.

The instructor demonstrated on how to make a cute koala bear, butterfly and even a soccer ball inspired by the 2010 world cup.   

There were buttercreams to use to ice the cupcakes, along with food colouring to make whatever colour icing you like  There were also all sorts of lollies, chocolates and decorations for use.

Then it was our turn.  The person to come up with the best decorated cupcake would win a cupcake maker. Unfortuantely, neither I or sis-in-law won.  However, I did have my entry make it to the front of the class and went in the running.

Here was my entry.  I know it's not the most sophisticated cupcake but it was cute none-the-less.

Overall, the class was fun, full of tips and information.  Maybe next year I will pay for my own session and take my daughter, Deanna along, as I know she will enjoy it.