'Liverpool Bites' Food and Wine Festival

Liverpool is turning 200 this year, and to celebrate, Liverpool City Council decided to hold a food and wine festival to showcase the many varied cultures that help make up the community. It went for two days over the 16th and 17th of October, and was held at Woodward Park.

The day I was available to go was the Sunday, and, as everyone had dogged me, I was going it alone. This made me feel incredibly conspicuous with my camera, but I was determined to check it out.

 
HTN and Tafe recruiting stalls

 

My first impression upon entering the area, other than "Oh God, what is that unholy wailing?", was that the number of stalls was very small - I counted about 10 - 15, plus rides. The noise turned out to be a stage that had been set up for "performers" - but to tell the truth, I'd rather listen to Japanese businessmen singing 'Like A Virgin'. Still, I wasn't there for the music, and so I bravely soldiered on towards the food stands, sticking out like a sore thumb among the family groups.

 
These guys were actually not so bad...

Starting from the back, I investigated a Turkish Gozleme stand, but upon finding out how expensive it was ($7.50 for a tiny cheese and spinach one!), I decided to buy some baklava to take home. At $3 a piece, I was hesitant, but I'm glad I bought it because it was delicious, moist and fresh.

 
Baklava, $3 each, two for $5

Desperate for some breakfast, I approached the Dutch Pancake stand, where for $7.50 you get 19 mini-pancakes with your choice of topping, and the option of cream and icing sugar. Service was slow, but you got to watch your food cooking, and the end result is worth it. It was deliciously warm and fluffy - I have no idea if those pancakes are Dutch style, having never eaten in Holland, but they were great.

 

 
19 mini-pancakes, $7.50

Next was an Eastern European bakery stand, and I was tempted to get the burek, but at $10 I felt it was safer to try a couple of other things instead. The hand-made doughnuts and ricotta pastries were fantastically fattening, and I bought a few to take home and share with Stephen.

 

 

 
Ricotta Pastry, $1.20 each

 

Doughnut, $1.00 each

Now, at a food and wine festival, you'd expect wine, right? For some reason there was only one wine stand, run by Narellan Estate Wines, and I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't more variety. However, the wine that I tasted here was actually pretty decent, if limited in the way of selection: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Viognier were pretty much all they had. I tasted all of them and took home the Merlot and Viognier, both bottles together costing me $21.

There were other stands, mostly run by restaurants in the area, but having already had breakfast, and not being able to take these items home (like egg and bacon rolls), I stopped at my last stall, a cupcake stand run by a lady by the name of Karolina and her young son. Upon trying some free samples, I discovered Karolina not only makes great cupcakes, but short-bread, cookies and cakes for birthdays and special occasions, too. Everything was made at home, and she dreams of opening a shop soon. Taking home four of her cupcakes, I leave impressed.

 

 
A beautiful Christmas cake

 

 
The cutest Halloween cupcake in the world...

Liverpool City Council probably should have arranged this festival better in the way of advertising and securing stalls - really, the only way I knew about it is that it's right across the street from me. Also, the few stalls really didn't represent the 160-something cultures that we have here in Liverpool. And the "entertainment" really left a lot to be desired - it was one of the reasons I left so soon. Still, I'm willing to admit that this WAS the very first food festival in Liverpool, and I can only hope they do a lot better next time.

 

 

Karolina's Design Cakes

Phone: 0431 591 063

 

Narellan Estate Wines

1043 Cobbitty Rd

Narellan, NSW

2567

[email protected]

 

Comments

[LiverpoolBites]

Hi Jasmine,

Thanks for the blog post.

The Liverpool Food & Wine Festival was an initiative of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce & Industry Inc. largely run at below cost to make it available to as many of the 176 cultures in Liverpool who were willing to participate.

Liverpool Council provided us with loads of support and cannot be faulted in any way. They were tremendous to deal with; considering they have so much else to deal with right now.

The term Liverpool Bites is something that the media and a few others have been bandying around, but Liverpool Bites is a seperate business owned by myself and a good mate of mine; to promote all things food in Liverpool. We allowed the use of the Liverpool Bites website; as well as other web platforms to assist in the facilitation of booking stalls and promoting the Festival.

Chamber had originally 25 to 30 stands booked, some pulled out at the last moment, others couldn't set up due to the dreadful winds on Friday & Saturday. Many stall holders didn't bother returning on the Sunday due to the winds on Saturday.

Though the winds died down on Saturday night, the evening, the amusement rides and fireworks drew a crowd of around 600 people.

All said; it was the first, there will be changes, we know who we can rely on and who we cannot, there will be more time, feedback is welcome and we're looking forward to 2011.

Thank you so much for taking photos and writing about the Festival. There is no need to feel conspicuous. Would have been great to meet you.

Thanks and regards,

Daniel Doherty
www.liverpoolbites.com.au
PS: There is a Feedback Form on our website.
We welcome all feedback.
PSS: I am also one of the Directors of Liverpool Chamber.

[Jasmyne Tea]

Thanks so much for your comment!

Yeah, I could tell it was a little withdrawn compared to what I saw passing by on Saturday, but I did like what was there. Was just a bit disappointed in the lack of variety.

As I said in the post, it can only get better next year, and I look forward to it! There's alot of potential.

Thanks again for reading,
Jasmyne.