Bankstown Bites Food Festival 2009: Discovery Food Tours

The Bankstown Bites Festival is always a calendar highlight.



This year the Festival was set-up further down South Terrace, enabling better traffic flow and crowd management. "Fast Ed" Ed Halmagyi was the feature chef this year and stalls sold a range of foods from Korean to Peruvian, and German to Lebanese.


Traditional Korean drumming


Chicken skewers


Churros

My favourite aspect of the festival is, of course, the Discovery Food Tours. Manned by council volunteers, these are organised into different themes, a tasty showcase of the diversity of Bankstown, an area that is home to over 130 different nationalities speaking more than 60 different languages.

Whilst in the past the tours have been free, a nominal fee of $2 was levied this year. This didn't stop huge queues of people lining up to register on the day (half the spots were allocated online, the other half were opened up to registrations an hour before tour departure).

I ended up on three tours:
Purple Tour - Grocery Explorer - India, Philippines and Africa
Orange Tour A - Treats from the Middle East
Pink Tour B - Sweet Treats (Vietnamese).

Purple Tour - Grocery Explorer (India, Philippines and Africa)


Purple Tour Stop #1: Lotus Spices and Video

I've been in this shop several times before, but it's amazing what you spot when you're eagerly documenting your travels with a camera. Catering to customers who are from India, Fiji and the Pacific Islands, there's a huge range of foodstuffs on offer and I was particularly taken with much of the packaging, so different to the bland sameness you see on our grocery shelves.


Breakfast crackers


Parle-G Gluco Biscuits


Talofa tuna flakes that taste like Wahoo - tricky marketing!


Jungle Oats - loved this pack design


Amul Kool in Kesar flavour - a milk drink flavoured with saffron


Lifebuoy soap


Thali divided dinner tray


Talofa soy sauce - I didn't even know that New Zealand made soy sauce!


Fiji's 100% pure ghee


Indian snacks to sample


Gulab jamun, Indian snacks and milk pudding samples


Steamed cassava to sample

For many tour participants, this was their first time trying steamed cassava. There's not much flavour, tasting much like a fibrous sweet potato.


Purple Tour Stop #2: R&R Mini Mart

The cosy little R&R Mini Mart held a huge amount of stock. We sampled squares of the store owner's homemade cassava cake, cooked with sugar and condensed milk and baked to an almost butterscotch sweetness at the edges. "It's my specialty!" she said with obvious pride in her voice. It was so good I bought a tray to take home.


Homemade cassava cake $4.75


Kalamay ube
Contains glutinous rice, coconut milk, sugar and food colouring


Cuchinta

Made with lye water, flour, sugar, water and food colouring, this isn't as sweet as it looks.


Sliced pimientos

I'm always intrigued by Filipino cuisine which has such an intricate mix of Spanish, Latin American, Chinese and American influences.


Young tamarind leaves bottled in jars


Curly Tops milk chocolate cups


Dried agar agar sheets


Brittle Pilinuts $4.70

I was first introduced to pili nuts by Mrs Ed. Pili nuts are native to the Philippines and have a mild taste much like almonds although more crumbly in texture, almost biscuit-like. These are covered in a toffee brittle, and are terribly addictive!


Dilis crispy fried anchovies


Frozen baby milkfish


Champ-O-Rado chocolate rice porridge mix
Just like a chocolate milkshake only mushy?


Coco Jam with jackfruit

I bought a jar of this and whilst it tastes like liquid coconut candy, it doesn't have as strong a jackfruit flavour as I expected.


Barquiron with cashew nuts

A traditional Filippino sweet, these are like little wafer rolls filled with a crumbly mixture of cashew nuts, buttermilk and sugar. They taste a bit like sweetened milk powder.


Saba squid tins


UFC banana sauce - apparently this tastes similar tomato sauce


Antonio Pueu Rollos $4.65

This packet contains 8 tablets of cacao, sugar and skim milk. The entire roll is dissolved in hot water and mixed with evaporated milk or cream to create Spanish hot chocolate, or so the packet promises. I nabbed a roll immediately, and am looking forward to a decadent night featuring Spanish hot chocolate soon.


Purple Tour stop #3: Sierra Food Market

There's no way you would bump into this African grocery store, almost hidden down an arcade on Restwell Street. The shop is small and unassuming with not a great deal of stock, but owner Francis is ultra friendly and there are some unusual items here.


Banku mix - to make fermented cassava and maize dumplings


Hausa koko - millet porridge


Fresh chillies - super hot


Tinned aubergines - I love that these are called garden eggs!


Dried African hot chilli powder from Nigeria


Bitter leaf powder from Sierra Leone $6.00


DVD movie selection


Huge 3kg tins of granulated beef booster


Homemade dishes for sampling


A little bit of everything

We enjoyed a taste of homemade African cuisine, a mixture of curries on rice with steamed cassava and taro. The green stew was made from bitter leaves and tasted like a more complex version of spinach. We also relished the quiet heat of chilli underlying the dishes.


Orange Tour A - Treats from the Middle East

Orange Tour stop #1: Bankstown Lebanese Grocery and Mixed Business

The tour here was the most organised, our lovely host welcoming us with a little speech and taking us on a quick walk-through every aisle with brief explanations on the stock on offer.


Fresh vegetables on display


Borlotti beans


Fresh figs


Rose water


Corn oil - has a very high smoking point which makes it ideal for deep-frying


Goat yoghurt


Kingdom country cheese - on the shelf in jars


Loose olives


Cotton candy in flavours of green apple, strawberry and orange
- loved the cheerful packaging


Lebanese bread chute from the ceiling

The shop makes Lebanese bread upstairs and everyone was impressed with the time-saving chute installed. Whever more Lebanese bread is required, they simply press a buzzer downstairs and voila, replenishment stock is pushed down the chute and directly onto the shelf.


Homemade Lebanese fare for sampling

We feasted on freshly made Lebanese bread with dips of toum, baba ghanoush and hoummos as well as lamb sambouseks, kibbeh and homemade tabouli.


Kibbeh - burghul croquette stuffed with lamb mince and pine nuts


Homemade tabouli


Lamb sambouseks


Orange Tour stop #2: Bankstown Lebanese Halal Butchery

We only had to head next dor for the second stop, a family-run butchery that stocks halal meat.


Our host at the butchery


Kafte (kofte) mince


Butcher at work


Samples of Lebanese sausages and kofte


Orange Tour stop #3: Chehade El Basha & Sons Sweets

Desserts - my favourite!


Kanafeh


Pre-packed gift baskets of pastries


Ladies arms


Mafrouki


Ashta - a clotted cream made from skimming boiled milk

Pink Tour - Sweet Treats


Pink Tour stop #1: Jenkins Cake Shop

Tired yet? Hey, at least you're sitting down!

We commenced our final tour, deliberately scheduled as a sweet one. Last year I did the Lebanese sweets tour. This year I ended up on the new variation which focussed on Vietnamese style sweets and drinks.


Jenkins cake display


Cake samples at Jenkins cake shop


Pink Tour stop #2: Nhu Y Juice Bar


Making our fresh juice blend for sampling


Watermelon and mixed fruits juice

I don't often order fresh juices so I'm surprised by the refreshment of watermelon blended with pineapple, honeydew, rockmelon, carrot and oranges.


Pink Tour stop #3: Cafe Nho

We finish for the day at Cafe Nho which actually translates as "coffee to remember". Still quite new to the area (the cafe opened on February 14 of this year) it is already hugely popular with locals.


Tropical fruit smoothies

We sampled a range of their cold drinks and desserts - I found the jackfruit shake tasted a bit metallic, and the mung bean drink was mild albeit a tad starchy.


Avocado and durian shakes and ice kacang

Already a fan of avocado shakes, the addition of durian added an extra dimension, one that many found a bit too pungent I expect, given the leftovers!


Ruby water chestnuts

Ruby water chestnuts were a surprise addition in the ice kacang. Cubes of water chestnut are coated in coloured tapioca flour and then simmered, giving a slighty chewy exterior that gives way to the crunch of water chestnut.

In amongst the tours we found time to explore the stalls in the festival, the shops in the area, and make a quick visit to my favourite spice shop too.


Kids activity stall - decorating biscuits with ready-made frosting and sweets


Cakes decorated by local youths in the
Bankstown Multicultural Youth Service Cake Off Challenge


Purple sugar cane


Soursop


Mangosteen


Valley View Continental Groceries & Spices


Packed pulses, grains and flours


Instant Bechamel sauce


Loose lemon verbena tea


Dried hibiscus flowers


Spices

It's the spice section I love best. The freshly ground spices are piled into eye-catching pyramids, a sunset of colours that tantalise the eyes, their heady aroma wafting throughout the room.

You'll find fenugreek seeds, falafel spice, sumac, cassia bark, smoked paprika and mastic. Most spices are priced at $16 per kilogram, a huge discount on supermarket prices and probably much fresher too.


Plain curry powder


Ground oregano


Chilli powder

Congratulations - you've made it through 96 photos. And no, this isn't the longest post on Grab Your Fork so far, that would be the 108 photos and 3 videos on the 2009 Good Food & Wine Show!


This year's Bankstown Bites Festival was held on Saturday July 25, 2009.


Business addresses:

Purple Tour - Grocery Explorer
Lotus Spices
8-9 The Appian Way, Bankstown
Tel: +61 (02) 9791 6400

R&R Mini Mart
11/137 Bankstown City Plaza, Bankstown
Tel: +61 (02) 9790 1467

Sierra Food Market
5/12 Restwell Street, Bankstown
Tel: +61 (02) 9708 6898

Orange Tour A - Treats for the Middle East
Bankstown Lebanese Grocery and Mixed Business
287 Chapel Road South, Bankstown
Tel: +61 (02) 9708 3976

Bankstown Lebanese Halal Butchery
289 Chapel Road South, Bankstown
Tel: +61 (02) 9790 1054

Chehade El Basha & Sons Sweets
288 Chapel Road South, Bankstown
Tel: +61 (02) 9796 4818

Pink Tour B - Sweet Treats
Jenkins Cake Shop
1/335 Chapel Road South, Bankstown
Tel: +61 (02) 9796 8659

Nhu Y Juice Bar
44a Bankstown City Plaza, Bankstown

Cafe Nho
64 Bankstown City Plaza
Tel: +61 (02) 9709 6820

Also check out
Valley View Continental Groceries
Shop 40, The Appian Way, Bankstown
Tel: 61 (02) 9790 0465

Related Grab Your Fork posts:
Bankstown Bites Food Festival 2008
Bankstown Bites Food Festival 2005

Bankstown - El Bahsa Sweets
Greenacre - Sabbagh Patissery
Yagoona - Nhu Quynh (fresh tofu and soy milk)
Yagoona - Rodriguez Brothers (chorizo, jamon and smallgoods)