The title says it all really. Does anyone ask for average food and wine? After 15 years of exhibiting, the Good Food & Wine team know how to put on an exhibition. Imagine hundreds of incredible Australian and international proprietors giving you samples of their most delicious fare over four days.
It is very much a ‘sampling’ event, which being a notorious sampler I loved. Give me 15 small serves (or in the case of the Good Food & Wine Show, 150 small serves) across a large variety versus one large serve any day! I can’t even begin to tell you about the range of exhibitors here. There is enough to please — and I use this word acccurately — LITERALLY everyone. BBQ, jerky, yoghurt, froghurt, macrons, pizzas, cakes, salami, wine, cheese, beer, and the list goes on and on. My stomach must have been wondering what was going on but my brain was clear.
I went in with a plan. Start with the ‘meal’ type savoury tastings first, mix in some wine, then move onto the cheeses, have some more wine, then head on over to the desserts. Within the first five minutes any semblance of order broke down. It was a wonderland. I went from BBQ to macrons to jerky to cider to beer to cake. You have no chance. This place is a haven for gastronomes and you turn into a kid into a candy store in quick time!
While the title says ‘wine’ the exhibition certainly isn’t short on beer and cider. There are some incredible creations with many of the vendors coming straight off the back of their Good Beer Week beauty parades. After going through most of the alcohol-providing vendors I was thankful of the mercy that ‘sample’ size offerings provided. This was even more so when it came to the cheese.
Oh-em-gee! There is so much cheese it actually has its own section, “Cheese Alley”. Goat, cow, sheep, hard cheese, soft cheese, smelly but delectable cheese. It’s all here, people! My +1 and I were in a cheese coma after we challenged ourselves to have at least one offering from each of the proprietors — which soon turned into maybe just one more round and then another. The alley is strategically placed next to the wine section and you’re able to take your wine glass from vendor to vendor to mix and match. It was a vino/fromage extravaganza !
The exhibition runs over the Queens Birthday long weekend. It is incredible value for money as all tastings are included in the sticker price, $34. Head down and embark on a culinary journey that will leave you very satisfied.
– Rukmal
Rukmal (Ruki) is The Plus Ones’ Managing Director. He looks after the marketing, technology, and finance areas of TPO and loves nothing more than optimising and targeting a campaign. Okay, perhaps building a global digital media company is a touch more interesting. While he rarely writes articles these days, preferring to leave it to our incredible staff writers, he can occasionally go back to his roots.
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Disclosure: The Plus Ones attended Good Food & Wine courtesy of Red Agency.
