So I’m a bit late for my wrap up of Taste of Melbourne this year, but better late than never.

I must say, I was rather underwhelmed with this years’ event. I found the layout to be poorly designed, with lots of congestion upstairs where the restaurants were. Last year they were in better places whilst still being upstairs. As I went on opening night, the crowds were nowhere as bad as they would have been on the weekend, and yet crowd flow was an issue. There was still a vast range of food on offer, and stalls to meander through. We came home with the most amazing licorice ice-cream from Gundowring, and some moscato from Innocent Bystander.

Anyway, enough moaning from me, let’s get onto the few dishes I sampled.

Restaurant: St Katherine’s

Dish: KFC ‘St Katherine’s fried Lilydale chicken’ BBQ sauce

We started off with the fried chicken, and were surprised how much we received for 12 crowns, quite impressive! Hamsley and I both enjoyed the hot crispiness of it, with the bbq sauce. We were tempted to get another bucket with our leftover crowns.

Restaurant: The Kitchen Cat

Dish: Pulled Pork Panini

Those two words…. pulled pork… can leave me weak at the knees. Unfortunately there was so much sauerkraut in the bun, it was overpowering the pork itself. It was still delicious, on a nice soft fresh bun.

Restaurant: Mezzo & Mister Bianco

Dish: Sher Wagyu meatballs, Sicilian cous cous & salted ricotta

Of course, meatball queen here had to get the meatballs. They were in fact my pick for dish of the festival. The combination of flavours and textures was delicious. I loved the the raisins in the cous cous and the amazing sauce that coated the meatballs. Watch out, I’m gonna be hunting these babies down for more delicious times ahead!

Restaurant: Libertine & Le Traiteur

Dish: ‘Coq au vin’ – Burgundy-style slow-braised Lilydale chicken in red wine & thyme

Hamsley has become obsessed with coq au vin since I first made it for him. I found this one to be a little dry, but I guess that’s what can happen at food festivals. The boy however loved it and inhaled it.

Then before long we craved sweets. We picked up some deliciousness from the awesome team at LuxBite.

Restaurant: The Millswyn

Dish: PB & J: Peanut butter parfait sandwich with raspberry jelly

This was a small serve but extremely moreish. Almost like eating peanut butter out of the jar. It was soft, smooth….I wanted more, yet was glad there wasn’t more as I was so full.

I wanted to try an ice-cream sandwich. We stumbled past Pat & Stick’s and got chatting to the guy at the stall. There were two mystery flavours you could choose from if you ‘liked’ them on Facebook. So I did just that, just so we could have this apple-strudel-snickerdoodel ice-cream sammich. I cannot tell you how awesome this was. The biscuits, chunky and very snickerdoodle-ish, and the apple flavour of the ice-cream was so fresh….. must… have more….luckily I can!

Still glad I went, but I hope it’s better next year!

Iron Chef Shellie attended the Taste of Melbourne thanks to Hot House Media.