Margaret River Gourmet Escape 2015

We were extremely lucky to be invited to the Margaret River Gourmet Escape, we had an amazing time last week and would like to share our experience with you. The event showcased all that Margaret River has to offer in terms of good quality produce and beverages, as well as the opportunity to watch your favourite celebrity chefs cook live on stage. To name a few on the line up, Marco Pierre White, Matt Moran, Adriano Zumbo and Rick Stein.

The event currency was "Gems", one gem = $7 and the gems were used to purchase food and drinks at all the individual stalls within the Gourmet Village. These are the stalls that we visited throughout the day:

We were given a free wine glass upon entry, in which we used to taste all the amazing local wines that were featured at each stall. It may seem like a tiny taster at each stall but before we knew it, we were already tipsy! (Hehe)

 

Out of the many wines we tasted, the Harmans Pink Sparkling stood out to us and we ended up purchasing a bottle from the lovely Greg, who is responsible for making the wine. 

Throughout the event there were yummy little tasters of chocolate, cheese and other delicious produce that comes from the Margaret River region. One of our favourites were Gabriel Chocolate, the chocolate was creamy, smooth and melted in your mouth!

 As it was such a hot day we decided to cool down with an ice cream sandwich coated with chocolate chip cookie on the bottom and dipped in Gabriel chocolate. 

The boys at The Cocktail Lab (who also were at Taste of Perth) were there showing us their skills with the bunson burner. Check out the amazing cocktails below, they all tasted amazing. Our favourite was the Torched Lemon Meringue Pie!

Torched Lemon Meringue Pie & Grasscutter Mojito

Nitro Espresso Porter

Mac and Cheese Toastie

After having a few drinks, we craved a greasy, cheesey toastie but we were left disappointed unfortunately. First of all, it shouldn't be called a toastie because the bread wasn't toasted properly and it was soggy. The mac and cheese inside was average and the hot sauce was too much which overpowered the whole sandwhich. 

This is where the chefs presented their cooking shows, we loved that you could be in such close proximity to your favourite chefs. The ownly downfall was that the seating area was not under cover and as it was an extremely hot day you couldn't stay out and watch them for very long.

We were extremely lucky to even get a taxi back to our accomodation as we forgot to book a bus ride back. We would like to give a shotuout to the awesome taxi driver Darren, he even stopped to show us this beautiful scenery on the way back.

To sum up the event, our positives and negatives were:

Positives
- Huge variety of food and drink avaliable
- Amazing atmosphere and beautiful venue
- A great line up of chefs
- Lots of free tasters
- Lovely staff

Negatives
- Purchases became quite expensive due to the gem system (1 Gem = $7)
- Portions of purchased food were small and not worth the price
- No shade in the Chef Theatre
- No free water was avaliable

- General Tickets are only for access to the Gourmet Village, other parts of the event required extra costs 

Overall we had a great time, every event has it's positives and negatives which can be improved upon in the future. A special thanks goes to the Margaret River Gourmet Escape marketing team for inviting us, it was such an awesome experience and we would love to do it all again!

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Chimek, Fremantle Markets

Website: https://www.facebook.com/chimekperth

After hearing all the buzz about Chimek there was no doubt about trying it out! Chimek is a small food stall inside the Fremantle Markets, which specialises in serving chicken and beer, and they've also become quite popular for their Charcoal Beef Burger. Just as a heads up, they sell out of their more popular items very quickly so we recommend going before midday. 

For this blog Megan was unavailable, so my friend Soo Ching was the lucky guest today. She's done a fair bit of travelling and eating in Asia so it was interesting to get her opinion on the food. 

Charcoal Beef Burger ($10)

We had to see what all the fuss is about with this burger and we've never tried a black bun before and we were intrigued to see if the charcoal would add any different flavours. Charcoal buns are quite popular in Asia, it is made from bamboo charcoal and is supposed to help with digestion. Surprisingly the charcoal bun just tasted like a regular bun, but it was still delicious! The beef patty was cooked perfectly and slightly pink in the middle making it nice and tender while the cheese, onion and mushroom complimented it. However the burger wasn't too different from what we've had before, so we rate it 7/10. 

Guadalajara Cilantro Wings ($10)

The wings were definitely our favourite out of all the dishes we tried. You can't really go wrong with fried chicken but Chimek took it to the next level with the marinate, herbs and spices on top. The Guadalajara Cilantro wings have a Mexcian influence, the herbs and spices on top reminded us of chimichurri. The tanginess with a hint of spice worked beautifully with the crunchy texture of the chicken, which also had nice tender meat on the inside. We like that Chimek has 5 different style of wings, each correlating to a different cusine (American, Korean, Italian, Mexician, South American) so there was plenty of variety. We rate this dish 9.5/10. 

Matcha Green Tea Cheesecake ($7.50)

After being tempted by all those mouth-watering pictures on Instagram and being a Matcha lover, we couldn't leave without trying this. The Matcha flavour wasn't too sweet or intense which is great after having a big meal. The cake was very smooth, soft and creamy, however we feel that they might have added a little too much cream cheese to their recipe. The first couple of bites were delicious but after that it became a little too rich, so we gave it a rating of 6.5/10. 

Overall Review

Although Chimek is just a tiny market stall, the staff were very friendly and efficient, even though it was a busy weekend we could see that everyone was happy and received their food fast. We were very impressed with the consistent quality of food and it's great value for money. It's amazing to see a small business have so much support online, we highly recommend visiting their stall next time you're in Freo and we rate them 8/10 overall. 

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Night Noodle Markets, Eat Drink Perth 2015

Eat Drink Perth 2015 Program: click here!

The Night Noodle Markets are running in the Perth Cultural Centre (outside the State Library and Art Gallery) from the 18th - 29th March from 5:00pm - 8:00pm, so there's still time to check it out. This festival replicates traditional Asian hawker markets and showcases Perth's best and most unique Asian cuisine at very cheap prices, as well as free entry! The photos will not be our best, as you can see it was very crowded and it was extremely difficult to stop and take a photo without a head or two in the way. We hope you enjoy this more realistic style of blogging because we love sharing our foodie experiences with you. Give us feedback please, let us know if we should occasionally do blogs on Perth foodie events :)

We decided to go on a Friday night after work, but that didn't turn out to be the best idea, we arrived around 5:45pm and it was already packed out and we could hardly move through the space. So it'll probably be better to go to these types of events on a week night in the future. 

We wandered around the three sections of the market before we decided what we were going to eat. There was one in the Urban Orchard, outside the State Library and in front of the Museum. The areas were all lined with beautiful lanterns and the space was filled with aromas of the amazing food! 

We decided to stop at the Print Hall/Apple Daily stand to pickup some Chicken Wings and Pork Ribs, upon seeing everyone's amazing food pics on Instagram and hearing great reviews from other food bloggers. 

Linley Valley Pork Ribs, Taramind, Chilli, Coriander ($12)

We always gravitate towards rib dishes because they very rarely disappoint us, and just as expected these ribs were amazing! The taramind, chilli and coriander all worked beautifully together with the pork. Despite this dish being cooked in large batches Apple Daily didn't compromised the quality, the meat was juicy, tender and came right off the bone. Our only issue was trying to find a spot to sit down and enjoy this without making a mess. For the great price point and quality, this dish deserved a rating of 8/10. 

Chicken Wings, Narm Phrik Pao Caramel, Puffed Rice ($9)

The wings from Apple Daily were sensational. Crispy with the puffed rice and full of tangy and sweet flavours from the marinade which worked together so well. The chicken was cooked perfectly, beautiful and tender. For the price, we were served with three decent sized wings with plenty of meat on them which we thought was good value for money.This dish deserved a rating of 8/10.

Lychee and Mint Drink ($5)

As soon as we saw this drink on the menu at the Turban Chopsticks stall we had to try it. We are both lovers of lychee and felt like a nice refreshing drink after our meaty dishes. This drink definitely hydrated with the fresh lychee, lemon and the hint of mint. Our only issue was the drink was literally fruit, ice and water, which for the price of the drink we did not think was worth it. We rate this drink 5/10.

We came across Yalumba's awesome two story storage container bar in the centre of all the markets.  We would've both loved to take a seat up on the top floor but unfortunately it was extremely packed out. We suggest getting there early to secure a spot.

Pork Buns (6 for $15)

We were excited to try the BBQ Pork Buns from the Let's do Yum Cha stall but unfortunately we were left a little disappointed. The buns had hardly any BBQ pork inside, which left them dry, bland and very filling. We would definitely recommend trying the prawn dumplings instead, which we tried next. We give this dish a rating of 5/10. 

Prawn Dumplings (6 for $15)

You can never go wrong with prawn dumplings when you have Dim Sum and this was no exception! The skin was soft and smooth, with juicy tender prawns on the inside and they go very nicely with a bit of soy sauce and chilli sauce on the side. If you've never had Dim Sum or any type of dumplings before, this is the one to try, it's a classic and it's always done well. It's usually $5-7 for 4 at most Dim Sum places, so it was a little bit more expensive here. We give it a rating of 7/10. 

Overall Review

Overall we enjoyed the Night Noodle Markets even though we didn't actually try any noodles! The range of asian cuisine showcased at the event was fantastic and we loved the variety that was on offer, we only wish that this event was held at a bigger venue so it would be less crowded with people, maybe that way we would be more encouraged to try more places and take our time. We were very impressed by the Apple Daily stall which is a part of Print Hall, we will be eating and reviewing their restaurant very soon! We rate the Night Noodle Markets based on the food, atmosphere and overall range of cuisines showcased at the event  8.5/10.

By the way, keep an eye on our reviews in the future, as we will be attending more great events within Perth such as Food Truck Rumble and the WA Cider and Pork Festival in Swan Valley!

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