One of my favourite community festivals of the year is the Italian Ferragosto festival which is held in Fivedock. Every year hundreds crowd the blocked of streets to enjoy not only Italian food, but the cultural dances, singing, kids entertainment and other cultural foods.

Festival is about promoting the italian culture and of course supporting and recognising the local businesses within the area. Its about bringing people together and enjoying market stalls, trying new foods and enjoying a day out with family.

Cannoli is the main reason that I keep returning to this festival. Its because the cannoli’s are made fresh and there are not 1 or 2 stalls, there are many which compete with each other.

First of all I had a really good time. The sun was up and the heat was on! If it wasn’t for the curfew limit i’d probably stay there all night and eat the whole place till it went dry LOL. Thanking god we didn’t end up choosing the night tickets as it ended up pouring =|.

30minutes into the event, I already had a fair bit of champagnes and wine LOL. I blame the heat for making me drink more. Randomly chatted to a couple of people who were already off their bolts from the mojito’s and ping pong cocktails LOL. It was a friendly atmosphere and everyone was having a great time in the hot sun with great booze and awesome food.

Emirates section was boiling hot which sucked but can’t complain when it was free booze (beer, chandon wines and champagne. Definitely going again next year as i had a really good time sampling lots of delicious foods and experiencing awesome new flavours.

Anyways i’m going to leave it with a stack of photos i took of the foods we ate and hopefully make your mouth water. I’m definitely going again next year ^_^. Thank god for the free $60 crowns.. All up we woulda spent about $120 on food and drinks which i thought was well worth it especially at events like these that dont come around all the time.

THE FOOD

Ottoman Cuisine

Etli Borek – Crisp home made filo rolls filled with braised veal shank, currants & pine-nuts, served with pomegranate and yoghurt sauce
There was a line-up for these which was well worth the wait especially when its hot and straight off the fryer. It was similar to having a springroll stuffed with meat

Salmon Dolma - Salmon, cray & prawn wrapped in vine-leaves, lightly battered, served with savory piquant sauce
Salmon was cooked to perfection as it was the right combination of cray, prawns and herbs. The batter was light without the oily drips which made it even more pleasant to eat. Definitely one of the favourites

Restaurant Balzac

Wagyu Beef Bourguignonne’ with Truffled Cauliflower and Onion Rings
Awesome dish! I throughly enjoyed this wagyu beef as it was an delightful experience of it presented so differently. I loved how the meat was shredded which created texture in my mouth. It really did open my eyes to seeing meat served in a different way.

Saddle of suckling Pig with Crackling and Baby Garden Peas
Like a roast for special occasions. The flavour and the moistness of the pork is wonderful that i’ve never had pork cooked so so plesantly before. The crackling was crunchy and there was no fat in it at all. It was extremely lean and the meat was easy to break away (thats how tender it was). The gravy and peas made a feeling of traditional style cooking. Very plesant dish

Balzac’s Bread and Butter Pudding
The texture was velvety custard combined with nutmeg or cinnamon (cant remember) but it reminded me of warm comfort food that you don’t always have. It would have been nicer if it was warmer as though it just came out of the oven. It was warm going on the verge of coolness. Overall it was beautiful especially if you haven’t had this in a long time.

Flying Fish

Sri Lankan Snapper curry with basmati rice and coconut sambal
My step-sister used to be a chef at flying fish before she moved to the USA. This dish happened to be my very favourite mainly because I’m in love with coconut sambal and I have a love for crispy skinned snapper. The fish was cooked to perfection. Not over cooked and not undercooked. The coconuts and the curry flavours were sooo yummy I wanted to buy another one of these ^_^ Portion size was awesome and value for money.

Plan B

Gundooee organic grass fed wagyu beef burger
I’m a huge fan of Bécasse and will be hosting my sisters birthday at Etch. My work mates tend to go to Plan B for their take away wagyu beef burgers during their lunch breaks so I just had to have one of these.. They were sooooo delicious and the wagyu beef is absolutely fantastic! It’s cooked right through and is very moist and not dry. The organic flavours that come out of this burger is definitely one of a kind. The boys loved it soo much they had about 2 serves each LOL

Jonah’s at Whale Beach

Sesame seared yellow fin tuna, crisp spring onion rings, red radish and watercress
This is the first dish i had and I love it! I love semi-seared fish. The flavouring of the fish was divine when combining the watercress and spring onions together. Great thing about this dish was you could tell that the tuna was extremely fresh.

Vanilla panna cotta with lavender honey and fresh pomegranate
Panna cotta is one of my favourite desserts. It made me laugh when i saw how much it jiggled.. it looked like perky boobs bouncing on my plate as I was walking back to my table LOL

Asiette

Loin & crumbed belly of lamb with basil mayonnaise & a tomato olive jus
The lamb was cooked perfectly even though it was still very red. It was extremely tender which melted in your mouth. The combination with the crumbed lamb and a sampling of the basil mayonnaise and the olive jus went well together.

Bird Cow Fish

Braised beef cheek and roasted onion & Jerusalem artichoke pie; red wine jus (sour cream and Careme Puff Pastry)
The pie was TO DIE FOR!!! it wasn’t gluggy and was chunky beef which was soft and tender. The gravy was light style gravy which had a homemade taste and wasn’t over powering . The pastry was light, fluffy and was extremely crunchy.

Longain

Spicy pork sausage betel leaves & pickled ginger
Very different thai food which we have never experienced before. T he crunchiness of the betel leaves with the pickled ginger and the pork sausages were nice. However the sausages were not spicy it seemed like the spiciness came from the sweet chili sauce which was a disappointment.

Sailors Thai

Yamba prawns, peanuts, lime, ginger, roasted coconut, chilli and caramel on betel leaves
If you love nuts then this is the dish for you!  When eaten, the flavours of the peanuts and coconuts explode in your mouth. Such a refreshing entree that leaves you craving for more.

Danks Street Depot

Poached Strawberries with a chocolate and hazelnut meringue with whipped cream
Unfortunately I didnt get the chance to try any of this. I was too  busy chow-ing down on my panna cotta. The boys loved it and ate it before i could try some =(

PRODUCERS MARKET

Huon Aquaculture (http://www.huonaqua.com.au)
This cost $2! The salmon was light, fresh and wasn’t over-powering. Sample was well worth it!

Serendipity Ice-cream (http://www.serendipityicecream.com.au)
I’m a suckker for all things cute! What a refreshing way to end the day.. Chocolate and vanilla icecream sandwiches, strawberry and melon sorbet and passionfruit minature icecream cone. MMmm if i bought an esky i would take some of these home LOL

Death By Chocolate – Winner of the best chocolate ice cream
Extremely chocolaty but not sweet ^_^

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