eating Italian style

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I’m the first one to admit that I don’t utilise Sydney enough for everything it has to offer. It’s a big city, with a lot of things going on at any given time, and sometimes I just need to say, oh, yes please, lets go. I didn’t need any words of encouragement to get to this one though. I had been flicking through the Crave Sydney Food Festival  guide and one thing jumped out at me… Haberfield food festival. Item circled, multiple arrows drawn pointing to it and Mr Chocolate told he was to cancel anything else going on for that day, as we were going.

Ok, he said. Thankfully he didn’t need any encouraging words to get him there either. Promises of Italian food tasting plates and pasticceria goodies was all that was needed.

Haberfield is in Sydney’s  inner west and an as authentic Italian experience as you are going to get outside of the mother land itself. Leichhardt? (It’s flashy Italian cousin suburb next door) Pffft… Give me Haberfield any day.

So with a large bag to fill, dollars in my pocket and a tummy keen to try everything on offer we set forth.

 The Monkeys were keen to try these ones. Gingerbread as big as your…

 Well as big as a small persons head. Eaten and finished on the spot.

 My new favourite butcher. A lot of butcher’s have an annoying habit of stating they carry free-range pork products, but on further questioning, don’t know where the meat is from or are using a ‘free-range’ company with (in my mind) dubious free range-ness. So our family just does without unless I’m buying from a company I know and trust. (Piggy options for a city girl post here.) I was very happy to hear that this wasn’t the case at Gojak’s. Using a company I was already familiar with brings a little sigh of relief… Ahhh, and piggy purchases then  tucked away in my bottomless bag.

 Back to the tasting, and there was some mozzarella, wrapped in prosciutto, drizzled with truffle oil. (Half consumed, before I remembered a picture.)

 Buffalo mozzarella.

 Eggplant Involtini. Melt in your mouth that one was. Stuffed with tomato, breadcrumbs, and parmesan.

 One panino, two panino, three panino, four? Well actually there was seven panini eaten between the four of us. What can I say, they were delicious.

Cannoli. Now for reference reasons I needed to buy these ones. They were taken home to be eaten later, but hands down so much better than my ones were. Note to self, need to keep practising…

Also bought and not shown was…

* The most delicious biscuits I’ve tasted in….years! I can’t work out what was in them to try and replicate them, so will have to make a return trip for further investigations. It’s tough, but someone has to do it. I’m thinking almondy something or other. It’s a little Ameretto, and a little marzipan in taste.

* One recharging espresso for Mr Chocolate, (who also sometimes goes by the name of Mr Coffee.)

* One double sausage and onion roll, inhaled by Mr C and two ravenous Monkeys.

* Rosetta rolls for later.

* Chilli and Rocket Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Bocconcini from Paesanella for later.

I could have kept going, but for the sake of my now quite full stomach and empty wallet, we left it at that. Vowing to return another day, (and hopefully next weekend if I have anything to do with it.)

36 thoughts on “eating Italian style”

  1. It was so nice to see you all, Brydie! Wasn’t the food delicious? I ended up stuffing myself on whitebait fritters from Napoli, and sesame brittle from the gingerbread lady! Pete came home with ricotta cannoli – his favourites – and we bought arancini for the boys!

    I adore Gojak’s butchers as well – both for unusual things like their homemade free range bacon and ham, free range marinated chooks and Hungarian style salami (csabai), but also because it’s such a family affair – in the photo above are Mateja and her son Luca, and outside Dave and his father were working the sausage stand. Three generations on the one day! 🙂

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  3. Yum, yum, yum – this is making me hungry! The buffalo mozzarella looks divine, as does everything actually! Looks like you had a really fun family outing : )

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  5. what an amazing array of quality products..i’ve never seen anything like that in melbourne..but having said that i do tend to avoid crowded festivals so i’m probably missing out on all sorts of edible delights..

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  9. Those gingerbread are gigantic and lovely!
    They are enough of a reason to go to the festival- add in the cannoli- the mozzarella- pannini- this is way better than Fair food.(which is all deepfried.)
    Thanks for sharing a little of your feasting!

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  10. Wow, everything looks amazing and my son would kill for those cannoli. One of the best and worst things I did in Italy was to go to the Christmas markets – so much wonderful food that I wanted so badly, but couldn’t bring home!

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  14. What a fantastic post. These are the things we love when we go to the city . When there is something on in our local city ( an hour away in Newcastle) , we love to go and immerse the kids in a different culture for the day. Who knew there were so many types of Italian food!
    Also was fascinated by the butcher shop you went to. You are such a careful consumer….good on you! In our country area we are lucky that the if you choose the right butcher, he can tell you where the beef is from (as in which farm nearby ) . Pork is also a hard one though, even here…. I am searching for a decent ethical supplier for this myself .
    I feel like I have just been to Italy, thanks for this post.

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    • Careful choice of meat is really important to me. I would rather do with out than buy any old meat from the supermarket or butcher. That’s great that your local one can tell you where it is all coming from. Good for the local farmers and good for the consumers.

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  20. Oh this post made me a little homesick! We lived in Haberfield for a few years before moving to Tasmania. Apart from family and friends, it’s about the only thing I miss about living in Sydney.

    Great post Brydie and gorgeous photos!
    xx

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