Smooth Choc Fest 2015

The highly anticipated weekend of deliciousness, came in the form of Smooth FM''s Chocolate Festival in The Rocks.


On a beautiful spring weekend, Sydney boasted blue skies and warm weather perfect for the decadent festival.
We decided to get in early before the brunchers and lunchers and smash all the favourites before it got too crowded.
Arriving at 10am it was no surprise that some others shared the same idea.




It was good to see that although it was the chocolate festival, there were a number of options for some of the non-chocolate lovers. Stalls had the usual suspects like Messina Gelato, Black Star Pastry, Nitro and Zumbo but there were some suprise appearances such as Vogue Cafe from Macquarie Centre.



Zumbo's window was lined with these V8 Chocolate cakes all looking absolutely decadent and droolworthy. I wondered how quick these would sell out to the chocolate loving crowd especially with the current Tella Ball phase. 



I headed straight for Black Star Pastry to try their infamous watermelon cake to see if all the rave reviews were accurate. To no surprise, there was already a long queue of people who were just as keen as me. Black Star Pastry was also offering gorgeous delicate dessert tacos in a range of funky flavours. The wait was about 15 minutes although it seemed to go by quickly. The staff were working at top speed to get people flowing through nicely.



Of course I just had to try the watermelon cake - it has given Black Star Pastry their celebrity. Its images have been splashed all over Instagram and now I had the chanceto finally taste it. Despite all the rave reviews, I was wary of being disappointed and considered the possibility of it being ‘over-hyped up’. However, it was pleasantly surprising! The cake wasn't over sweet and did justice to the balance between the natural sweetness of both the watermelon and strawberries. My only criticism is that the fresh watermelon made for a slippery layer that was difficult to cut through so I was left with a delicious pink and white mess which I then proceeded to inhale. 




The dessert tacos were beautifully displayed, all lined up and gorgeous and colourful. Each serve gave you one of each flavour. Angel with lemon curd, passionfruit jelly, Italian meringue and coconut. Devil with dark chocolate, hazelnut crunch, freeze dried plum and chilli ganache. Matchmallow with Matcha white chocolate ganache, freeze dried lychee and raspberry marshmallow. 

My favourite of the three was the Angel. It was just a gorgeous balance of light meringue and punchy flavours. The tacos weren't overly sweet and the crisp pastry was perfect to hold the delicious filling. You wonder why this hadn't been done sooner! 



Next stop was Messina Gelato before everyone else caught on that they were around. We popped by when there was absolutely no one! I wasn't sure how long this would last so I grabbed at this chance to add gelato to my breakfast.  Gelato for breakfast is acceptable right?




In the light of timing I chose All Night Breakfast!





The ice cream tasted like a midnight cup of milo and warm milk with a nostalgic flavour of malt and milk throughout. The only thing about this was that the ice cream was pretty awkward to eat and hold with the warm sun beating down. It was kind of a race against time trying to eat the ice cream without it melting in your hands while trying to avoid an intense brain freeze. 



In other parts of the festival they had stalls selling bars of chocolate, ice cream toppers and even demonstrations of chocolate sculptures. 


In another area there was a very busy individual constructing a man entirely out of Tim Tams ! 
We managed to have a look at the very early stages of production and were hoping the Tim Tams didn't melt or have a cheeky bite taken by someone. 



The Smooth FM Choc fest was in full ‘smooth’ mode, with lots of places to laze in the sun while relaxing music filled the air. It was nice to see so much recreational space at this kind of festival because it has always seemed to be lacking in others. 



In complete contrast to the chocolate festival I picked up a Kransky roll on the way out. 
After so many sweets I just had to balance everything out and craved a savoury taste in my mouth. I was so happy to see Kranskys on offer! Served on sauerkraut and smothered in truffle aioli, it was certainly one satisfying meal.
Would definitely pick this up again if I ever found it! 
The creamy aioli wasn't overpoweringly truffle flavoured and the sauerkraut definitely gave the humble sausage all the justice. 

The chocolate festival was a success for me personally and I'm glad I went out early. Turns out the dessert tacos had already sold out close to 12pm. With the incoming crowds, I was definitely happy to leave when we did. Can't wait for Good Food Month coming up soon! With the warmer weather, it's definitely a huge incentive to get out and try some amazing food! 



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