Taste of Melbourne

Royal Exhibition Building, Carlton; 21-24 August 2008

To attend a progressive dinner at The Botanical, Circa the Prince and Interlude would present a variety of hindrances, not least being the awkward distances to travel between the three restaurants. Taste of Melbourne presented the opportunity to achieve just that, with no further impediment than navigating a crowd of foodies (some of whom I think were only moonlighting as food buffs) within the finite and fantastic surrounds of the Royal Exhibition Building.

The Taste Festival comes to Melbourne via London, having spread its wings through several cities in the UK, to Johannesburg, and landing in Amsterdam, Brussels, Melbourne and Sydney in 2008. On paper, the setup distinguishes it from other, more familiar food festivals: a select range of restaurants offer three signature dishes, in reduced portions. The Festival operates its own currency of Crowns - $1 buys one Crown, and most of the dishes are between eight and ten Crowns. A $50 ticket gets you the $30 entry fee, plus thirty Crowns - a saving of five dollars.

Therein lies another distinction - it's not the cheapest food event on the calendar! Once inside though, things became a little more familiar. Just as one would expect at the Good Food and Wine Festival, or any number of events at Fed Sq, the festival space was filled with exhibitors offering samples of their produce, so the fiscally savvy visitor could easily garner three reduced-sized dishes with their thirty Crowns and satisfy any residual hunger with tastes of Bultarra lamb, puddings, brownies, Jalna yoghurt, or vincotto from Enoteca Sileno.

But what of those signature dishes? I gave careful consideration to the menu, ensuring I picked from restaurants that were of interest, but perhaps in a price bracket that made an imminent visit unlikely.

First up was a dish from the Botanical, which had grabbed my attention from the moment I perused the dishes on offer: Macleay Valley rabbit and chorizo terrine with quince aioli. It's those two words at the end that turn my head.As with several of the dishes on offer, the presentation wasn't going to win any prizes for aesthetics - paper plates don't help, and these were 'sample size', so morsels, smears and smidgins were the order of the day!

Secondly was an intriguing mix from Circa, the Prince: slow-cooked sher wagyu, braised meat pie, truffled coleslaw and licorice-spiced pumpkin.This plate served up more than a morsel of meat. The too-cute pumpkin pie was only ever-so-slightly tinged with the licorice spice, but just as well since there was also the unmistakable kapow of truffle in the coleslaw, and all that nutty fattiness in the wagyu. Something I was quite pleased to eat such a delicate amount of, giving its constituent parts.

Lastly, I was thrilled to be able to try Interlude's bacon and eggs.Your first thought is understandable - that bowl of darkish liquid looks more like miso than a breakfast fry up. This is true. What this version of bacon and eggs actually involves is an egg baked in its shell for hours at 63C. When it comes out it has a silky texture and a still-runny yolk. The egg sits in a consomme with dehydrated pancetta and puffed wild rice. It is certainly a texture journey as much as a flavour trip.

Cider Festival, Kellybrook Winery

Fulford Road, Wonga Park; 03 9722 1304

I've previously established my predilection for cider, so it's no surprise that Kellybrook Winery's annual Cider Festival is set to become an autumn fixture for me. The Festival celebrates not just cider but also the West Country culture, in which cider is a far more refined drink than a monolith like Fosters (who distribute Strongbow) would credit it to be.
The winery's bucolic setting is the first indication of the pleasures in store. En route from the carpark a demonstration of cider pressing is under way, the crates of apples giving out their sweet scent as they also surrender their juices. The sound of bells joins the aroma of apples in the air, as Morris dancers snack and drink between their own demonstrations. Music plays all day, a magician is on hand, and the usual cellar door offers tastings of Kellybrook's wines, including a champagne cider, riesling, shiraz, pinot and apple brandy.
The winery has a restaurant on site and on Festival days there's a clearly worn path from its door to the food tent. The food on offer is limited but fitting: pea and apple soup with sourdough, Boscastle pies, Ploughman's and Squire's sandwiches, and hot chips. The Squire's lunch is a sourdough roll with pork and apple sauce. The Ploughman's is also squeezed into a sourdough bun and features a wodge of cheddar, greens and chutney.
Bellies sated, it's time to slake one's thirst. The fresh-pressed cider comes a variety of ways: there's mulled, warmed and intensified with the addition of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and perhaps some sugar. There's draught or bottled cider, and for those parked on the grounds straight apple juice: $1 for a small glass, $2 for a large. That's a great value vitamin fix. Enormous barrels keep filling four-litre bottles of scrumpy. This is West Country-style cider, traditionally made from late-season apples. Kellybrook's version is still rather than sparkling, and will keep fermenting in the bottle. It's smooth and dry, with a slight ginger bite at the end.
When hunger returns, a feast of desserts waits to greet it. Not all are apple-based: there are brownies, orange-almond cake and fig cake. The apple custard sponge and traditional apple pie bring the crowd's attention back to the star of the day, however. All desserts come with cream, which one can lavish on to their heart's content. It's a good analogy for the day really: there's as much decadence and pleasure available as you care to ladle out.

http://www.kellybrookwinery.com.au/

Pierogi, Polish Festival

Would you spend an hour in a queue for these tasty morsels?

In the normal run of things I wouldn't, but in homage to the way Melbourne embraces her cultural events, I was happy to get my dose of 30+C sun hanging about at the Polish Festival at Fed Square in the line for the only stall dishing up the pierogi (Polish dumplings).

And they did live up to expectation. The dough was quite thick, but very giving, and slightly salty. This was a good seasoning match to the meat filling, made a little bit peppery by shredded cabbage. On top are some caramelised onions contrasting all the mushy stuff with some crunch. Especially given the Albion Polish Association must have sold several thousand of these on the day, they were a quality, fresh product.

There was also plenty of this fine Polish pilsener, Okocim, to be had!