Culinary Carnivale, Fairfield 2015

First it was the smell of charcoal. Then it was the heart-stopping sound of drumming. There was no doubt we'd found Culinary Carnivale, the annual Fairfield festival celebrating Spanish and Latin American cuisine. We stopped by last Saturday for the event, lured by the promise of an 8.2m-long parilla or South American barbecue complete with asado beef ribs. The air was thick with the smoky sizzle of barbecue meats.


Comparsa Yauguru Uruguayan cultural group

But first there were dancers and drummers, part of the Comparsa Yauguru Uruguayan cultural group, making more noise than any Chinese lion dance. It was hard not to get caught up in the hip-shaking sounds of the candombe, a Uruguayan music and dance rhythm that has roots in African slaves from more than 200 years ago.

The parade of drummers and dancers of all ages may have been in a Sydney suburban shopping centre, but if you closed your eyes, you could have convinced yourself you were on the streets of Montevideo.




Kids playing chico candombe drums (the smallest size in the range)




Piano candombe drummers 


Dancing keeps you young at heart! 


Seafood paella

And then there was the food. Much of Smart Street was closed to traffic, the road lined with food stalls selling everything from paella to giant churros to yerba mate, a type of tea popular across South America.


Paella foundations of rice and sofrito


Pastel de choclo from South American Flavour $5 
Minced beef and corn casserole

We call in at the South American Flavour stall, a takeaway shop that has a Chilean focus in its offerings. Ask any Chilean and they'll probably nominate pastel de choclo as their favourite dish. Often translated as corn pie, this tastes similar to a shepherd's pie with the mashed potato on top replaced with creamed corn. The corn adds a pervading sense of sweetness to the casserole, but I find it strangely addictive against the melange of minced beef, tender chicken, raisins, black olives and slices of boiled egg.

Humitas creamed corn in corn husks  $8
and sopaipillas pumpkin bread $1 from South American Flavour

And I'll take anything if it's wrapped in a corn husk. Humitas are the Chilean version of tamales.


Steamed creamed corn (humitas)

We peel back the corn husks to find a piping hot pillow of creamed corn seasoned with onion, basil and lashings of butter. This one is super sweet too but it goes together beautifully with the heavily salted sopaipillas pumpkin bread rounds.


Asado beef ribs on the barbecue at Parilla Argenchino

We're inevitably drawn to the barbecue action of Parilla Argenchino, a line of four barbecues piled up with asado beef ribs, chicken wings, pork belly and blood sausages.


Smoky goodness

The smoke is thick and heavy but the barbecue guys battle on regardless.


Porky bits from Parilla Argenchino $14.50

We hoe into the porky bits, hot and juicy slices of pork belly that come with a side of chimichurri sauce.


Asado beef spare ribs $14.50
and chimi wings $6.50 from Parilla Argenchino 

The chicken wings, cooked to a golden char, are tossed through with chimichurri but it's the asado beef spare ribs that make us stop, pause and look at each other with our eyes wide open. It's not easy to cook beef ribs on the barbecue but these slabs of beef are impressively tender, hidden with bonus pockets of fat that make my heart shudder.

Culinary Carnivale might be over for this year, but you can get yourself to South American Flavour in Fairfield for your own Chilean feast. Keep an eye out for Parilla Argenchino at other festivals - they're also available to hire for catering gigs.

Culinary Carnivale was held on Saturday 24 October 2015. Grab Your Fork attended anonymously and independently paid for all meals in this post.



Parrilla Argenchino Catering
Tel: +61 (0)408 783 688

South American Flavour
34/35 Smart Street, Fairfield, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9723 4700
Opening hours:
Monday to Friday 10am-5pm
Saturday 10am-4pm