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!
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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