As I say every year in July, it's the busiest time of the year for me. With Good Food Month well under way, it comes time for my annual recap of some local food festivals. So without further ado, here's my annual recap of my experiences at this year's Regional Flavours.
Starting off this year's choices in food we had our first and only dishes from the eatSouthBank food stalls, being the Creme Brulee ft. eggs from Darling Downs and the Potato & Bangalow pork croquettes with lime aioli from French Martini. Both were enjoyable, the croquettes were quite rich and creamy, especially with the generous portion of lime aioli. Having said that, I found them to be a bit small for the price.
The highlight of this year's visit was without a doubt the quail from Brisbane Valley Quail. Normally we don't focus too much on these types of stalls but we could smell the BBQ quails from miles away and started salivating almost immediately. Having both a serve of BBQ Quail as well as Deep Fried Buttermilk Quail, $6 gave two quarter portions of the most giant quails I had ever seen. Moist and extremely juicy, they tasted wonderful and I will definitely have to source some locally to cook at home.
A crowd favourite this year was KOI Dessert Bar which had finally made the trek up here from Sydney. We almost got sun stroke from the time standing in line, but it was all worth it.
Moving our group down to River Quay for our final food items, the crowds here were definitely less than last year, and we were really lucky to be able to score shaded seats. For drinks we had Passion Fruit Spritz and OJ from The Jetty, both refreshing and crisp.
Other dishes we got from The Jetty included the mushroom gnocchi and the moreton bay bug roll. We only realised after the fact that one serve consisted of two rolls when we were in fact only given one. This was very disappointing as we found it to be quite tasty but extremely exorbitant for the price. The bun though was fluffy and the bug was crisp and well battered. We also enjoyed the warm comforting truffle gnocchi which was a definite crowd pleaser.
I'm not entirely sure why, but every year we keep getting the Ragu alla Bolognese braised Wagyu Ragu despite being let down without fail. The meat texture was fairly powdery and long overcooked. The parmesan added to the powderyness whilst the bolognese sauce was watered down for minimal taste, didn't cling to the pasta and left a pool of water at the bottom of the plate.
Last of the savoury dishes, we had the Waygu Cheeseburger Toastie with Darling Downs Wagyu Beef Patty. The sandwich definitely replicated the traditional cheeseburger quite faithfully. I enjoyed the meaty crumbly beef, the melty cheese, pickles and cheeseburger sauce. For the price, it was also good value for money.
Rounding off our experience with KOI, we had the Yuzu, Black Sesame, Baileys and Nomtella. Having gone to their HQ in Chippendale quite a few times, I had fairly high expectations. The variety available on the day were quite expensive, our four pieces came to $45. The textures were rich and creamy for all varieties, even the yuzu which we had chosen to be a palate cleanser was very intense. I definitely prefer the wider varieties from their Sydney ventures.
Can't wait to see what the next year's event holds!
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