Taste of Sydney Food Festival

I visited the Taste of Sydney festival today in Centennial Park with some girl friends. It was my first time at the festival so I wasn't sure what to expect.

The entry fee was $27 if bought online in advance or $30 at the door. My friend gave me a code to buy two tickets for the price of one, so off we went to the food fair. I should really have done my research first, because what I didn't realise was that there would be no vegetarian food there except for cheese and desserts... Of the many swish restaurants there serving their signature dishes in miniature, not a single one offered any kind of food that I could eat, except for their desserts.

Seriously hungry, I trawled the stalls for food I could eat, and came across the Grumpy Baker.

I tried several pieces of their amazing bread...

And settled on a delicious raspberry muffin. I don't usually eat muffins due to the high fat and sugar content, but this one was just amazing - the best I've ever had by a long shot.

Cheese tasting was next - representing was King Island Dairy and Tasmanian Heritage. I had the most amazing smoked cheese at the King Island Dairy stall...

And a delicious Red Square washed rind at the Tasmanian Heritage stall. I made a repeat visit and tried their Camembert and Swiss. OMG so amazing. Why is cheese so delicious?

My downfall was the McGuigan Wine stall. For $2 you could get a tasting of six wines. They had a Moscato I was desperate to sample, so ponied up the $2. It was money well spent as I was given an extremely generous serving of each wine and ended up more than a little tipsy. I bought a bottle of the Moscato and Riesling to take home.

We had put our names on the wait list at the Planet Cake stall to decorate cupcakes. After the wine tasting we made our way there and I tried hard not to slice myself with any sharp implements while the wine was whirling in my head.

The ready-made cupcakes cost $4 each, but if you did the decorating "class" you got the keep the cupcake for free. Score!

They gave us all a prepped cupcake and circle of fondant.

Simply roll on the fondant and rub the special piece of plastic over the top to smooth it down.

Class busy at work.

Rolled up pieces of dark purple fondant to make the body.

White fondant for the wings. Voila!

I finished off the afternoon with a caramel and pecan ice-cream from Pat and Stick.

So incredibly good!

My small stash - I had to restrain myself. Apart from the wine I bought some macadamia dukkah from A Taste of the Bush and red wine liquor vinegar from Pukara Estate. We're going over a friend's house next Sunday and I will be taking these, along with a loaf of Sonoma, for snacks.

I did have a really fun afternoon, and if I do go again next year I will eat some solid food first in advance...