18 July 2010

Sydney Good Food & Wine Show 2010, Darling Harbour (17 July 2010)

16 – 18 July 2010
Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre
Darling Drive, Darling Harbour
http://www.goodfoodshow.com.au



Food & Wine on mass

I spy with my little eye something beginning with free!

This is the first time I've visited this show and after paying $28.50 for an adult ticket (minus $5 for Entertainment Book holders) there was one thing on my mind — where's all the freebies. After spending 4 hours I found there to be quite a bit of food tastings to be found, some more generous than others, and after dodging through the large crowd with their Good Food Show trolleys, prams and show bag purchases I found the event quite enjoyable although quite tiring. One end was devoted to the majority of thirst quenching wine stands while on the other side the Celebrity Theatre was for the hard core devotees of celebrity chefs. In the middle was a mixture of food stands, wine stands, cooking demonstrations and informercial style product promotions.

In terms of the food offerings I preferred the freebie tastings at Taste of Sydney which were much more creative and gourmet. This event seemed to focus more on supermarket products with thankfully some boutique gourmet suppliers thrown in the mix. Seeing informercial products like the Super Shammy was a little weird but entertaining. The most out of place stand being the Free Instant Eyelift — what the hell has that got to do with food and wine? and the Shin Bio health packs — although these heat packs seemed pretty amazing. The most eye-catching stand for me was the Playboy energy drink — I'd try anything served by Playboy bunnies — yes I know, I'm such a boy.

My favourite highlights of the day were:
Baileys Coffee sample
• Friendly WeightWatchers staff serving up generous tasty samples
• Free show bag of goodies from Simply Great Meals
• Plenty of olive tastings from Spanish Olive stand
• Delicious Birch & Waite egg mayonnaise tastings
• Generous chocolate tastings from Ritter Sport
• Free bottle samples of Mount Franklin Lightly Sparkling
• Free tastings of all Ajitas Vege Chips varieties
• Challenging my taste buds to The Chilli Factory's hottest product of Devil's Delirium (Naga Jolokia Paste)
• Interesting sausage tastings of camel, venison and crocodile by Market Town Family Meats
• and of course visiting the visually appealing Playboy Energy Drink

Other food blog reviews:

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: Free samples of food products and wine, Discounted products in show bags, Cooking demonstrations, Undercover
CONS: Crowded, Have to pay to get in, People acting like seagulls around free food
MUST TRY: Everything that's free


Welcome (to the crowds)

Award for
'Favourite liqueur tasting'
Baileys Coffee

Award for
'Best Something for Nothing'


The lineup was worth the free showbag, just have to sign up to newsletter. Tasting of gnocchi while waiting.

Award for
'Friendly staff and Generous Tastings'


Award for
'Most visually appealing'


Playboy Energy Drink — that kid has the best job!

Award for
'Most generous olive tastings'


Award for
'Most delicious egg mayonnaise'

Birch & Waite egg mayonnaise

Award for
'Generous Chocoholic tastings'



Award for
'Best dressed cakes'

Sharon Wee from Sharon Wee Creations

Award for
'Best free bottle of water'
Mount Franklin Lightly Sparkling

Award for
'Best free chip tastings'

Award for
'Hottest taste bud challenge'


The Chilli Factory — Devil's Delirium (hottest product)

Award for
'Most interesting sausage ingredients'
Camel sausage

Market Town Family Meats sausages of Camel, Rabbit, Venison, Crocodile. Emu also available.

Award for
'Most out of place stand'


Award for
'Loudest hair style'

Other stand visits
Tefal ActiFry — 1 tablespoon of oil cooks 1 kg of potato chips in 35 minutes


Gabriel Gaté cooking up his blu Gourmet Pearl Couscous

Toby's Estate 'Woolloomooloo' coffee sample


Fehlbergs pickled onions and marinated garlic gloves


Pizza making station


Rochester Ginger


Gloria Jean's Coffees 'Nicaraguan' coffee tasting

Creative Gourmet strawberry milkshake


Riviana Foods 'Always Fresh' — Beetroot jam and Chilli jam

Urban Thirst Mango Daiquiri

Bondi Chai — Vanilla Honey and Club Cinnamon


Casa De Sabor — Portuguese mousse — Yummy!

Jack Link's Beef Snacks


Sangria Mar & Sol


Australian Almonds — I preferred the Dry Roasted version



Lime Grove — refreshing cordial

Fresita — Sparkling Strawberry and Peach

Omni Sparkling — rebranded and lots of choices to try, I liked the Citrus flavour

Italiquore: Keglevich Vodka flavours and Pallini Limoncello

Sence Rose Nectar — Nice packaging, looks like a perfume bottle

Tempus Two — nice designed wine bar

Calbee SnowPea crisps and Prawn Crackers

Grand Ridge Brewery 100% Pure Beer — they were too busy to try any samples but they looked very interesting

Infomercial time
Super Shammy — Not one but two for $20!

Ezy-Aussie Prawn Peeler — 1 for $10, 2 for $15, 3 for $20

Bellini vegetable slicer — Chop Chop!!

Lyndey Milan The Brilliant Cut Knife — made with diamonds. Dexter watch out!

Shin Bio — you can't eat or drink it but it's quite an amazing product that heats up chemically

Where would we be without Tupperware — probably with more cupboard space

By Pure Pleasure candles — not really edible but smelt very nice

Gao's Chinese Acupuncture and Massage — It wouldn't be a show without a massage stand now would it

Demonstrations
Kylie Kwong cooking demonstration

Margaret Fulton (right)

Sunbeam — Home Barista Skills

Taste.com.au cooking demonstration

People spotting
Maria from Scandi Foodie and Me

The crowds of people you'd just love to hate but have to deal with

Shopping trolleys available ($30) or BYO

24 comments:

YaYa said...

But amazingly no poffertje or gozlema stands! I thought I was pretty thorough on Friday but it seems a few stands didn't turn up till the weekend as I'm sure I didn't see the veggie chip guys and a few others, very thorough work Simon!

Sara @ Belly Rumbles said...

I missed the diamond knives, a bit of bling for the kitchen.

Christo Gonzales said...

wow plus WOW and then WOW AGAIN then OH WOW!

Unknown said...

Great post. I'm amazed you managed to get around to so many stalls and demonstrations. I spent too much time in the wine section, which resulted in my pics being a train wreck.

Maria said...

Haha I love your awards! I think you did a lot more tasting than we did, but I didn't really want to keep count on how much cakes and chocolate I was sampling... ;-)

Richard Elliot said...

Great overview.

I wasn't able to make the show this weekend, even though I live next door! From reading reviews I don't think I missed too much though.

Laura said...

How, seriously how?
I cant believe this was one day. Great job, incredible

BGDino said...

I went on Friday and it was already quite crowded.

Did you see the Skyy Vodka stand: free samples of their mixed drinks and they were also having a flair bartending competition in the afternoon, which was exceedingly good entertainment.

Also the Barilla pasta guys were pretty generous with their free samples - and did you get your free antipasto from the Always Fresh guys?

Bean Sprout's Cafe said...

wow, i missed so many things..haha

but my most favourite is Birch & Waite egg mayonnaise too.. I tried about 5 crackers full of mayonnaise... super YUMMY !!!

Jim said...

Lots of great shots, Simon.

Phuoc'n Delicious said...

I can't believe it is your first visit. I got to do the Lindt choc masterclass and that was great. Got a good goodies bag filled with yummy chocolate

Phuoc'n Delicious said...

Oh yeah, I thought the same about the Free eyelift stand.. Like that does that have to do with food? And also the massage stand.. I guess if the organisers get their money then it should be a problem.

Tina said...

Great round-up, as always..!

I didn't see Super sahmmy, but I did buy Mircale Shammy! lol

Yeah, I think it's a very different event to Taste - and I much prefer Taste.

linainoz said...

Yaya - I was there on Friday too, and the Veggie Chip guys were definitely there. Also did the Lindt Masterclass. Made the mistake of going to Bill's for breakfast first - great food but I was too stuffed from brekky to enjoy the tastings at the show! Oh, what a waste!!!
Simon - did you see George and Gary's show in the Celebrity Theatre? In a previous post you were talking about the amount of butter they were using on MC - you should have seen Gary adding oil to everything in the Celebrity Thetare show on Friday - George would put a bit of oil in a dish, then Gary would keeping adding more LOL. While I love my hi cal food, I think a real challenge for them would be to make something healthy and taste - you can make shoe leather taste good with enough oil/butter!

Adrian @ Food Rehab said...

wozer! That's a whole lotta food!

Where would I start...egg mayo or sausages...hmmm...

Nice write up yo!

Jen said...

What a detailed write up, feels like I was there! ;)

Angie Lives to Eat (and Cook)! said...

I was there on Saturday aswell, after walking around and around we thought we had covered everything, obviously missed out on some stuff that you picked up. Very detailed review.

Joanie said...

You always prove in your blog that the world of food is endless. Always detailed and complete when you make your reviews! :)

Motel in Albury said...

Great right up Simon, really enjoyed looking at the photos, some of that food looks delish! I agree with Jen it felt like you were there!

Simon Leong said...

hi yaya, hehe that's so right very funny. although i think they would have made a great trade. that's a shame some of the stands aren't there on friday. i guess that's why they have the 2 for 1 deal on friday as well. was it less busy?

hi sara, there's a lot of bling in those knives. i'd be scared some of it feel in the ingredients though.

hi doggybloggy, thanks heaps. i'm glad you found the WOW factor :-)

hi christine, actually i think i could have seen a lot more but i was with a few other friends so we walked around quite casually. when i'm by myself i speed around like a mad man.

hi maria, it's best not to keep count of the samplings. but at least you walk around a lot as well to counteract it.

hi richard, i preferred Taste of Sydney although it was interesting to go along and check it out.

hi laura, did it all in 4 hours although i did miss a lot of the free cooking shows which would have been good to watch.

hi BGDino, i noticed the Skyy Vodka stand. looked pretty cool. i didn't get any mixed drinks though. was so crowded when i visited. i think i missed the Barilla guys although i did end up trying some of the Always Fresh stuff — i like that brand in the supermarket.

hi bean sprout's cafe, as long as you had a good time that's the main thing. oh yeah, Birch & Waite was very yummy.

hi j bar, thanks mate.

hi phuoc, i tend to avoid paid events but prefer the free entry events because i never know if i'm going to be disappointed for paying. i think these sort of events should be free entry anyway because people are going to buy the products. it's like charging to go into a supermarket.

hi tina, Taste rules hehe and has more interesting food i think.

hi linainoz, i didn't get to go to any celebrity theatre events because i bought my ticket at the door and i think you have to buy online to go? would have loved to see gary george show. they definitely use TOO MUCH butter :-)

hi adrian, how about egg mayo and sausages together ;-)

hi jen, i try and review so it's like you're there so that's good to hear.

hi angie, i try and walk around systematically. it seems to help cover most of the area.

hi joanie, thanks for your kind comment. so much food and so little time :-)

hi motel in albury, thanks for popping by. hope you get to try some of the yummy food.

Dining said...

This is awsome...

Play boy energy drinks ha ha that is gold!

Simon Leong said...

hi Dining, what will they think of next :-)

Anonymous said...

Hello, Marcel here the owner of the Chilli Factory.
Can you please change your link to our website to the following:
www.thechillifactory.com the current link is to one of our distributors...

Thanks for the nice writeup and photos and keep up the good work!! Much appreciated,
Marcel de Wit
Hot Director 1

www.thechillifactory.com

Simon Leong said...

hi marcel, thanks for the updated link. much appreciated. have updated now :-)

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