Night Noodle Market 2017, Sydney CBD

Once again, the Sydney Night Noodle Market was held in Hyde Park and flagged the beginnings of the Good Food Month (i.e. October every year).

Entrance to Night Noodle Market

The food selection appeared to be the same as last year (with the most popular being Hoy Pinoy, Messina Gelato, Black Star x N2 Gelato), along a few new additions spread throughout the park.

Harbour Room @ InterContinental Sydney, Sydney CBD

Entering into the InterContinental Sydney is like walking into a opulent marble maze in order to find the lifts to the Harbour Room. Fortunately for me, I just followed a couple I knew, who appeared to know where they were going, before heading up together to this engagement party.

The Harbour Room is located on the 31st floor with some spectacular (200 degree) views overlooking the Botanical Gardens through to Circular Quay:

Circular Quay

Get Your Pink On! at The Commons Local Eating House, Darlinghurst

Okay, I didn't really try any of the food from The Commons but I did spend an enjoyable afternoon in their front courtyard for a "Get Your Pink On!" function - a collaboration between FCBA and @Eatventures in support of Breast Cancer Network Australia.

Front Courtyard

In keeping with the pink theme, the courtyard was decorated in pink and the food followed suit.

T2 Matcha Masterclass, Chatswood

Over the past few months, T2 has been heavily promoting their new matcha powder range (which are sadly quite exy) so when I received an email from the T2 Tea Society advertising their matcha masterclasses, I jumped at the opportunity to check out their products first hand.

Outside of T2 Chatswood Store

Tea Display

Twilight Christmas Market @ Carriageworks, Eveleigh

This year, Carriageworks held their inaugural Twilight Christmas Markets, which was actually an expanded version of their usual Saturday farmer's markets - complete with the usual (and more) food and drink stalls, as well as stalls selling various knick knacks suitable as last-minute Christmas pressies (to others... or oneself) across the road.

Since I got a pre-Christmas early mark off work, I decided to catch the train to Redfern Station and make the short hike to the Carriageworks. Since it was the first time I travelled there by train (I travelled by car on my first, and only, visit to the Saturday Farmers Market), I was a little hesitant that I would get lost. However, on this particular afternoon, there were lots of people wandering the streets from Redfern Station in the same general direction so I decided to follow some strangers, in hope that I would be arriving the at the correct location. On route, I passed by people holding bouquets of flowers, or pulling along their trolleys of purchased goods, so I knew I was heading down the right path.

Finally, I arrived! The sheer volume of people squeezed into the small space was epic:

View of the Eveleigh Markets

Small Bar, Crows Nest

I recently came here to celebrate the momentous first birthday party of mini-Aunt T. Small Bar seems to be the go-to place for special occasions for MSG Cafeteria due to its convenient and central location so I thought I'd use this opportunity to document and share the food experience.

Located along Willoughby Street (i.e. main food street) in Crows Nest, Small Bar faces some intense competition in the food stakes. There is limited seating outside the main entrance and along the long aisle towards the courtyard around the back, however the courtyard space is big enough to accommodate 40+ people.

Outside of Restaurant

Aunt T & Co. went all out on the event with the food and decor, even decorating the courtyard with balloons, banner and bunting. Also, Ivanhoe was recruited to apply her artistic skills to create the time capsule slips for guests to fill in.

Noodle Night Market 2016, Sydney CBD

Every year during Good Food month (i.e. Oct), the Sydney Night Noodle Markets are held in Hyde Park within the Sydney CBD. Lines of stalls are opened providing visitors just a glimpse of the (mainly Asian) foods on offer around Sydney. Ironically, despite being labelled as a 'noodle' market, most of the stores actually don't even have a noodle menu item.

Despite arriving around just after 6pm, the crowds in Hyde park were in epic proportions and gradually got bigger as the night went by.

Entrance Closest to Town Hall Station

Fortune Cat Art

Giant Fortune Cat
(recycled from Chinese New Year?)

Lunar Markets, Pyrmont Bay Park

 It's almost a week into my cold/flu now and I'm still feeling pretty lethargic. So much so, that I missed Lunar Streets- Chinatown, Thainatown, Koreatown all come to life with street food. NOOoooo!!!! An ultimate grazing opportunity slipped through my fingers.

So to make it up to myself, I went to Lunar Markets instead. It's exciting because I haven't been to night markets for a couple of years now, so I'm eager to try some of the new places.

 First stop is Daniel San and their charcoal BBQ skewers. The chicken yakitori was a good start to the night. Also available were pork belly skewers but we passed on those because...

Chicken yakitori - $6 each / $10 for 2

 We noticed a longer queue for Hoy Pinoy! The name literally means Hey, Philipino! - needless to say its here to bring the flavour of the Philipines to Sydney.

Chicken or Pork belly skewer - $6 each / $10 for 2

 At the same price and offering the same varieties, you will find Hoy Pinoy!'s skewers a little smaller than Daniel San's. But it's about quality, not quantity and personally Hoy Pinoy! wins this one in my books. The chicken was slightly juicier and had a better level of char which I enjoyed.

Hoy Pinoy! doesn't have a permanent store location in Sydney yet, but we anticipate its arrival.

 We ran into a man handing out gyoza samples and found this store which specializes in handmade gyoza. I love gyoza. But my gyoza expectations are pretty high. A quick online search showed this place to have good reviews from previous pop up locations but doesn't have a permanent store in Sydney.

Those were all the reasons I needed for trying these. We ordered the power combo - 4 x chicken and 4 x pork gyoza. 

 Power combo: 4 x chicken and 4 x pork gyoza - $12

 

The chicken gyoza were pretty good. Juicy with a good ratio of veges as you bite into it. The gyoza skin was superb too, distinguishable from the super thin commercial gyoza skin, these were believably home made. The pork gyoza missed the mark for me, however, like I said, I have exceptionally high standards for pork dumplings. If a store opened in Sydney, I would be keen to try the other flavours too.

 Phumplings? Pho + Dumplings. Somebody out there put two of my favourite foods together. This was really the highlight which drew me to the markets.

Phumplings - $10

Bar Pho came up with the patented idea of putting xiao long bao into pho soup. I was super excited by the idea and heard this menu item was sold out ever night at the Sydney Festival. Upon tasting it, it was ok. It wasn't mindblowing, nor was it dis-likable, it was just okay. The skin of the xiao long bao was probably a little thick/ gluggy and the filling mediocre by dumpling standards. The pho soup itself was well spiced, I would probably like it a little richer? It was a good concept, just not as amazing as I expected it to be. Maybe if they used a wonton-like dumpling it would accentuate the soup flavours more?

Coconut drink - $6

Crowds 5PM on a Sunday

Our final pitstop, Pasar Malam. We wanted to wet our whistle with some Ribena Longan but saw the chicken lollipops. It's fried food goodness and a decent portion size for the night market scene. Thank goodness we had a drink to wash it down with, otherwise it might have been overkill on the grease. 

Nonya Chicken lollipops - $10; Ribena longan - $5

It was great to see and try a few unique stores that aren't usually available in Sydney. Night market crawling is never cheap. The excitement of variety and small portions mean the cost quickly adds up, but it was certainly worthwhile for trying a few things out of the ordinary. 

Lunar Markets is located at Pyrmont Bay Park (across the road from The Star Casino).

It runs between 12th to 22nd February, 2015.

Mon - Wed: 5-9 PM

Thurs-Fri: 5-10 PM

Sat: 4-10 PM

Sun: 4-9 PM

See: http://www.nswfoodandwine.com.au/lunarmarkets for further information.