Good Food & Wine Show 2012, Darling Harbour (24 June 2012)

Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre

Darling Drive, Darling Harbour NSW 2000

http://www.goodfoodshow.com.au

Wining and dining the masses

Thanks to the team at Chobani for sending me a couple of complimentary tickets to the Good Food & Wine Show. I visited on sunday afternoon and learnt it's a good time to find the best bargains from the stands as they're generally wanting to clear their stocks. I think trade show stands that are generous with their samples tend to see the value in the potential after sales and interest that can be created from such an event and Chobani were  happily giving out their Greek yogurts for free to the masses. The City Tattersalls Club were full of energy and had a generous menu of treats including some excellent Crisp Sumac Spiced Prawns. Best pit stops for a free chocolate fix were Perugina and Ritter Sport while Conscious Chocolate were sadly chopping up their chocolate blocks into tiny little pieces that then had to be eaten with a toothpick, seriously what's the point. My tasting plate ($15) at Salumi Australia had two cuts of cured meat and some cheese which were nice and left me wanting more. Vege Chips are always generous with their range of delicious chips with Sour Cream & Chives being their latest addition. For fans of ALDI they were serving up lots of product samples. I think you could have easily had your lunch for free just standing around their stand. The temptation of Kurrajong Kitchen Cheese Alley was strong until I saw how popular it was — maybe I'll try and find the patience next year to visit. I liked the cute idea of the Weight Watchers sushi train. The Scone with Jam and Cream was actually quite nice. ZenQ Desserts were happy to dish out heaps of Taiwanese dessert samples including an interesting shaved ice cream. My award for the most unrelated stands goes to Sydney Sunscreens and Free Instant Eyelift — they seem to be there every year for what reason I'll never quite understand.

Other visits to the Good Food & Wine Show:

• 24 June 2012 - Sydney Show

• 3 July 2011 - Sydney Show

• 17 July 2010 - Sydney Show

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Lots of free tastings and show bag bargains to be had, Celebrity chef spotting, Interesting new products to discover

CONS: Very crowded and especially hard to get around with a pram, No free street parking nearby

MUST TRY: City Tattersalls Club, Vege Chips, Perugina chocolate, Ritter Sport chocolate, Finding out where they sell Salumi Australia

VERDICT: If you love food and wine and have the patience for crowds then you'll probably enjoy and find value in this event

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Merchandise for the punters

City Tattersalls Club team — you guys rock!

Crisp Sumac Spiced prawns with tomato & capsicum relish
SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Confit Pork Belly with celeriac Remoulade — nice flavours

Midori Splice Foam with champagne & orange pearls — didn't get to try

White Chocolate Martini — no shortage of alcohol in this one

Lots of free Chobani samples

Perugina chocolate from European Foods

Salumi Australia using 100% Australia Pork

Tasting plate ($15)

Vege chips — very hard to stop at one

Harney & Sons Master Tea Blenders — thanks for the samples, the Chocolate Mint tea is something different that seems to surprisingly work well

Chef Luca Ciano spreading the Barilla love

ALDI providing heaps of product samples

Ritter Sport chocolate — lots of different flavours to try

Cheese Alley way too popular for me to attempt visiting

Weight Watchers sushi train — nice idea

Scone with jam and cream with less guilt

The Collective Dairy — NZ makes their presence known

Conscious Chocolate — big stand, tiny samples

Macro wholefood market — it's organic for Woolworths

SBS Feast cooking demonstrations

Sammy and Bella cooking demonstrations at The Chopping Block

ZenQ Desserts — Taiwanese style desserts

Three Threes serving up three types of pickled onions

Sweet William chocolate with no added sugar naturally sweetened with Stevia

Anathoth Jams & Pickles

Anathoth Zucchini Pickle — was quite nice and would work as a chutney with maybe smoked ham in a sandwich

Porters Produce — lots of awards at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show

Kim Chi free samples

Be Natural

Itha's Homemade Christmas Puddings — it's never too early for pudding

Johnson's Quality Maid Lollies — not the best things for your teeth unless you love fillings

Clayridge Honey Crunchy Honey Popcorn — you had me at popcorn

The Cake Pop Queen

Nespresso coffee making class

Wine Selectors

Free samples of Organic Aqua Essence — sounds like something Zoolander would advertise as a merman

Sydney Sunscreens — how am I supposed to eat that?

Free instant eyelift — all this food and wine is making my eyes saggy

George Calombaris book signing — a very popular chap

OzHarvest — doing a great job feeding the hungry

The Kids' Cancer Project team — cute beers for a good cause

Dan Murphy's — accordions rock!

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