Good Food & Wine Show, Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour

What with everyone jumping on the foodie bandwagon these days, the Good Food & Wine Show is these days packed with people trying to eat as many samples as they can to justify their entry fee.

Weeding our way through the prerequisite overpriced "gourmet" riffraff, the Danoz-inspired toaster bags (Rowena, how you've fallen since those Sons & Daughters days of glory) and pizza stone contraptions (who is really going to make enough pizzas to justify a $200 pizza-maker?), we did find some gorgeous caper berries, yummily smooth natural yoghurt and assorted mustards, dips and olive oils.

Unfortunately the only Celebrity Theatre tickets available were those for dear old Curtis Stone. Thankfully he spared us from the over-enunciatiation he subjected us to during episodes of My Restaurant Rules. Cooking up an uninspired tomato tart (even the audience helper said it looked boring), the fact that the cheeky subtitler got more laughs and value than Curtis said it all. To rub salt into the wound, all we could hear as we wandered about afterwards was a pumped-up crowd cheering, clapping, stomping, laughing and having a damn good time with Ainsley, further reminding us of how little fun we had had just before.

All in all good fun and yep, we ate our money's worth (if you can't beat 'em, join 'em).


Darren Simpson, head chef Aqua Luna - demonstrating how small his waist used to be


The loveable Ainsley Harriott, always a joy to watch


Kylie Kwong, serious as ever


Curtis Stone-what is the big deal girls?

The Good Food & Wine Show takes place annually in June in both Sydney and Melbourne.