Campsie Food Festival

Often affectionately known as Sydney's "Little Korea", Campsie offers more than just kimchee, incorporating a gastronomic melting pot of Indian, Lebanese, Fijian, Samoan, Turkish, Vietnamese and Chinese shops and restaurants.

This year's Campsie Festival was bigger than last year's, appearing more organised and better planned. Food stalls were moved from Anzac Mall and out along Beamish Street, enabling better accessibility by the hungry crowds. Anzac Mall was set up with a huge stage and plenty of seating, and the Evaline end of Beamish Street was filled with plenty of rides for the kiddies.


Even though I'd just had breakfast, I couldn't resist this sampling of jellyfish salad. I love jellyfish! I went through a phase where I couldn't get enough of that vacuum-packed jellyfish goodness... and I'm always first in for the jellyfish at Chinese wedding banquets! Mmm...


This lady was grinding spices for an Indonesian green papaya. I even spied her pouring lemon squash in the salad, which I thought was unusual...


Japanese okonomiyake and fried gyoza.


Korean fishcakes filled with red bean.
I love this machine! The fish moulds open up and flip around enabling double-sided cooking.


The finished fish cakes.

At only $1 a throw, these were hugely popular. They're fairly tasty and only mildly sweet.


Chicken kebabs sizzle enticingly


Fishballs, seafood balls, satay chicken, tofu and prawns shoved on a stick for your convenience. Nearest the camera are those tasty sweet pork bbq slices. I always used to wonder what they looked like raw...


Ahh... that would explain why I can't stop eating these, but then feel slightly queasy afterwards...


Awww...


Why are gozleme only ever made by women? Or is that a silly question!
Yeah, it's probably a silly (blatantly obvious) one...

The food options were enormous and very tantalising, but alway a sucker for "the untried and unusual" I knew I'd be getting lunch from this stall:



And of course I had to choose the most "exotic" thing on the menu:


Cau Cau $8.00
Stew of seasoned tripe and potato flavoured with chilli and served with rice
from Ed's Peruvian Cuisine

The tripe was diced into fairly small pieces and was quite tender. Nourishing and comforting, this had quite a strong chilli afterkick! However I didn't feel too weighed down by oil or heavy richness, leading me to feel this was fairly authentic homestyle Peruvian cooking.

I had a bit of a chat to Ed. Apparently he's a regular at the Fox Studio Farmers Markets at Moore Park on a Sunday, and does offer external catering services.


Did someone ask for a tall order?


Barbecued pork skewers


Korean goodness


Korean spicy rice noodles


The styrofoam-looking raw noodles in the box


They were calling this "Korean sushi" - skewers of fish balls and seafood rolls served in a cup of clear fish broth.




Awww...


Cherry cranberry and pistachio nougat from Nougat Limar


Ok, I know, I know. I'm a sucker for a cute face.


Okonomiyaki - a Japanese "pizza" of cabbage, egg, batter and assorted meat, seafood, noodles and/or veggies.




Searing chorizo at the Mojo Picon stall. These people get around everywhere. They were at the Petersham Food and Wine Fair and are regulars at the Fox Studio Farmers Markets too.


Pork skewers... check out that smoke


Souvlaki barbecuing over charcoal

This was a great day out. There was heaps to see and do, plenty of interesting food on offer, and lots of people watching (and cute kid stalking) too. And with Diesel playing on stage (whoah! I know! Campsie is moving up in the world!) the Campsie Food Festival was definitely lifted a notch or two. [Photos of Diesel to be posted shortly in a separate post]

This following pic is definitely my favourite photo of the day though and one I think which sums up my approach to all things in life. I'd like to think we all go around consuming goodness with this level of utter joy on our beaming faces.



Related GrabYourFork posts:
Campsie Food Festival 2004