The premise of Foodi's Amazing Scavenger Hunt is for the teams to follow a series of clues that lead you to 10 or so food venues across the Sydney CBD in the space of 3 hours. Along the way, you are required to take team selfies, consume food samples, and complete challenges that may require you to either photograph or obtain (e.g. by purchasing, begging, taking... or stealing) items from the given scavenger hunt list in order to earn bonus points. By the end of the hunt, the points are accumulated and the winning team is announced at the final location (usually a local pub).
Let's just say the entire experience was... memorable... to say the least.
A week prior to the event, the attendees were advised that we would be joined by another group of 4... and that they would be filming a segment for the Sydney Weekender. Since this wouldn't be a private event for our group, we were given a $10 discount each as compensation (apparently the alternate option was for Foodi to cancel our event because of a lack of guides). In retrospect, even at half price, the discount on the scavenger hunt wouldn't have been enough.
Okay, I can't remember the exact wording of the clues but here are the places we ended up visiting - let's see if you can figure them out:
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| Iconic place for the local rock industry; also named after the Paris rail system |
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| Collective of something that means a lot of money, or the raw material used by bakers |
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| See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil |
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| This lady will always (blank) before she swallows her food
(Note: this place has recently been renamed to Saigon Lane) |
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| This guy became famous after appearing on TV making insane desserts |
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| It requires much "gumption" to do this in The Strand |
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| Key ingredient in chocolate; opposite of white |
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| Tying a red, not yellow, ribbon around the big (blank) tree |
I was the first of our group to escape, mainly because I was running late for a dinner... but also because by this point in time, I had enough of the filming.
Thanks Sydney Weekender - you ruined what could have been an awesome afternoon filled with food and fun.
A lot of time was wasted in assisting with the filming for the Sydney Weekender. No script/rehearsal was prepared beforehand with the guide so scenes were filmed over and over again until the improvised wording and shots were deemed acceptable. They even got our group to actively participate with the filming at various (fortunately not all) food pit stops - I personally didn't want to appear on screen and tried to avoid as much interaction in front of the TV camera (by staying behind my camera) but there is only so much you can do without ruining the experience for others in the group. The person directing the filming kept blurting out the food venues in advance (so anyone who overheard knew where we were headed before we even got the clues) and the scavenger hunt was basically all about them filming (ranging from the actions done by the group... to the ordering of food and drinks), rather than us enjoying an afternoon together on a foodie adventure around the CBD. As a result, we missed a few food pit stops and still ended up finishing way overtime.
I'm surprised that the Sydney Weekender assumed that in attending the scavenger hunt, we willingly consented to being filmed for their TV show and the food venues that were part of the scavenger hunt would be willing to accommodate them for "free advertising on TV". Maybe some people are willing to do anything just to appear on TV (like a few random strangers did whilst filming) and achieve their 15 minutes of fame but not me. I'm not even sure if the other attendees even realised that our group was basically exploited for the sake of good TV and providing free advertising for Foodi. I thought the entire experience sucked the mystery and joy out of being on a scavenger hunt and deviated from the usual events organised by Foodi that it is near impossible to comment on what their food scavenger hunts are truly like.
Our Foodi guide was friendly and seemed knowledgeable about the places we visited (then again, he has been doing these tours for over 6 months). We got to visit a few food venues that I've walked past before but never had the chance to check them out and got to sample food along the way, including:
- Sweet bread from The Dough Collective - large selection of savoury and sweet breads that you can sample. Loved their red bean & matcha bread loaf and mochi breads.
- Vermicelli rolls from Miss Chu (which was technically not open at the time) and pork ribs from Bite, Chew, Drink (unplanned visit since Miss Chu was closed) - didn't sample the food as it's sort of hard to eat these food items and deal with my camera.
- Macaron from Adriano Zumbo - tried the Malted Choc Milkshake, which was surprisingly bright blue. Flavours weren't that strong and wasn't a fan of the buttercream filling.
- Chocolate from Koko Black - tried the dark chocolate hazelnut cluster, which was recommended by staff. Certainly satisfies any nut + dark choc cravings with the rich dark chocolate (not too sweet) coating the hazelnuts and soft praline base.
- Beer samples and pizza from Red Oak Beer Boutique Cafe - didn't sample the food as I don't drink beers and I had to run off early.
I seriously hope that Foodi have an existing agreement with the various food venues, which would permit them to bring around large groups of people on a regular basis. However, they should reconsider some of the items on the scavenger hunt list so as to not annoy/frustrate local businesses (or certain public sector services *cough*) with people incessantly harassing them for material every week.
Next time, I think I'll pass and go on my own food crawl, and come up with some witty clues for each place. At least my friend seemed happy with the whole afternoon (although a little weirded out by the actual amount of filming) - the things you do in the name of friendship... 😔
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