Bbq Madness and World Chef Showcase 2011

4 October 2011, 02:28

OH HAI! How was your long weekend guys? The Crave Sydney Food Festival kicked off on Saturday and I managed to catch the tail end (teehee pun intended) of the Sydney Morning Herald Growers’ Market.


It’s looking like an awesome month for eating and baby am I excited! The weather held up it’s end of the bargain and there were shoppers and puppy dogs galore at this once a month market.


Of course the drawcard of having to wake up so early this Saturday morning was the BBQ Madness tent where Sydney’s head chefs were cooking up a storm. Xanthi’s David Tsirekas magically appears with his bottle of Zivania aka lighter fluid to ‘warm the cockles of my heart’ muahaha

There were different sessions each featuring a dish from Matt Kemp of The Montpellier Public House, Lauren Murdoch of Felix, Martin Boetz of Longrain, Joe Pavlovich of Glass, Jowett Yu of Ms.G’s, Alex Herbert of Bird Cow Fish, Kylie Kwong of Billy Kwong, Darren Robertson of The Table Sessions and Alex Kearns of Glebe Point Diner.


We had scored the last session of the day and after patiently queuing up in the dying remnants of the sun we were shown into the promised land and after a bit of a wait why hello delicious tender lamb! Sure was tasty and I could’ve eaten my body weight in lamb. Though shame we were so unceremoniously booted from our table with the ring of a bell when we were the last ones to get our food!


A quick break at the gorgeous Intercontinental Hotel which had incredible views


And then it was onto the afternoon session of the World Chef Showcase of France and Beyond. Mauro Colagreco from Mirazur was first on the stage and charming us all with his accent and tomato martini that was just downright purdy.


Mark Best had the perfect deadpan humour which worked well against Simon Marnie who was MC’ing the event and the chocolate jelly, raspberry isomalt tuile and tomberry disappeared in seconds.


But it was the famed pastry chef and awesome blogger David Lebovitz that had me in tears of laughter. Effortlessly winning the crowd with his self deprecating humour, crazy stories and speaking a mile a minute, he was just super entertaining and I didn’t want his session to end!


Oh but did I mention his dessert? Chocolate orbit cake with candied peanuts and salted butter caramel hells yeah baby that was the shiznit! All kinds of deliciousness was right there on that plate!


Random: so I went to the launch party on thurs and while waiting to get in I was chatting to a guy about queue jumping ethics. Didn’t realise it was David till Helen told me later oh dears /palm face. Oh and David Chang was in my elevator. Couldn’t say hi because there was a sea of humans in the same elevator but I totes breathed the same air as him haha

ChocolateSuze attended BBQ Madness and the World Chef Showcase as a guest of Destination NSW

1. David was definitely the highlight of the day. I am totally going to make a massive jar of those candied peanuts asap!

   — Helen (grabyourfork)    Oct 4, 03:00 AM    #
   
   

2. Salted butter caramel hellz yeah!! The Sat bbq madness event sounds heapz of fun!

   — Ramen Raff    Oct 4, 08:45 AM    #
   
   

3. Ooo the food looks amazing. And that hunk of lamb, I could just sink my teeth into!
   Its a pity the long weekend is only 3 days.

   — Apple @Polkadotsandchopsticks    Oct 4, 09:51 AM    #
   
   

4. Eeeee David Lebovitz is awesome. Haha I can’t believe you talked to him without realising at first, LOLs oh Suze.

   — Steph    Oct 4, 10:05 AM    #
   
   

5. you should’ve poked david chang! wish i’d woken early enough for the growers market… would’ve liked a decent breakfast

   — rockahenry    Oct 4, 10:22 AM    #
   
   

6. Haha, you look so happy in that first pic! :)

   — Tina@foodboozeshoes    Oct 4, 10:30 AM    #
   
   

7. Mmmmm spit roast!

   — Nic@diningwithastud    Oct 4, 12:09 PM    #
   
   

8. Oh Suze, I want to live in your magical world of celebrity events and food and laughter! It’s been too long since chiffon cake :P

   — Hannah    Oct 4, 12:20 PM    #
   
   

9. Oh hai Susan, actually “celebrity” spotted you and Helen outside the BBQ madness tent, but I had my hands full with fresh food, a coffee and a bacon and egg roll so I didn’t say hi. Plus the markets were full of people, just like the lift where you saw David C!
   PS both Crave offerings looked like a great events!

   — Martyna@WholesomeCook    Oct 4, 12:51 PM    #
   
   

10. i want to take a photo sandwiched between 2 spits too!

    — sugarpuffi    Oct 4, 01:00 PM    #
    
    

11. haha oh suze you make me laugh! breathing the same air as David Chang = awesome!

    — Jacq    Oct 4, 02:59 PM    #
    
    

12. oooh. That spit roast is just a work of art.

    — Tammi    Oct 4, 03:22 PM    #
    
    

13. It was great to meet you, Helen and Tom on the weekend. Looking forward to another catchup in November. Your pix look fabulous!

    — Eat,drink+be Kerry    Oct 4, 03:59 PM    #
    
    

14. I’m totally jealous that you got to meet David Lebovitz. I live for his chocolate idiot cake. And his devils food cake. And his madeleines. And his ice creams… <fangirl rant>

    — Karen | Citrus and Candy    Oct 4, 05:29 PM    #
    
    

15. So much celebrity spotting! I wanna breathe the same air as David Chang too! ;)

    — Jen    Oct 4, 07:03 PM    #
    
    

16. hehehe, at least it was a truly intelligent conversation…..

    — muppy    Oct 4, 09:41 PM    #
    
    

17. I love when you accidently meet famous people you don’t know/recognise! I walked down the street with Chris Martin and had forgotten what he looked like until people came to take photos with him! haha

    — Jenny    Oct 4, 10:29 PM    #
    
    

18. I went to the world chef showcase on sunday and went to the session David Chang was guest starring in.. i was in awe when i was able to get my book signed.. and not to mention a photo. i heart david chang. cannot wait for his momofuku in the star to open! YAY!

    — Tina @ bitemeshowme    Oct 4, 11:45 PM    #
    
    

19. What a mad event and lucky you meeting David! How cool is that!Oh and lovin the moment shot with the meat hihihi

    — Adrian (Food Rehab)    Oct 5, 10:12 PM    #
    
    

20. So lucky you got to go!
    And meet (and see) some famous people! Starstruck!

    — DK @ Excuse Me Waiter    Oct 5, 10:31 PM    #
    
    

21. Love the first shot, the excitement on your face is priceless :)

    — Dumpling Girl    Oct 6, 01:41 AM    #
    
    

22. And don’t forget that David Chang got to breathe the same air as YOU as well!

    — mademoiselle délicieuse    Oct 6, 03:11 PM    #
    
    

23. wow excitement! haha :) it was good to see you! we got kicked off our table too. a big group of people took our spots on table 8 so we were banished to the other end. i didn’t even get to feel the seat caress my precious behind ..sad

    — cathy x.    Oct 9, 10:41 AM    #
    
    

24. Woo-hoo, two Davids for the price of one. Sorry, that was really bad. I want ALL the dessert, ALL.

    — shaz    Oct 11, 11:43 PM    #
    
    

25. that is so cool! david lebovitz is awesome.. i am dying to make his salted butter caramel ice cream /drool

    — Christine    Oct 28, 10:05 AM    #