Bairro Portugues - Petersham Food and Wine Fair

It was a dazzlingly warm and sunny day and Audley Street was closed off to traffic and jam packed with stalls and wandering foodies.

Hey we recognise this stall...

Street mural by Portuguese-born Australian artist Luis Geraldes.

Smile!
Portuguese chicken gets a basting with plenty of piri-piri sauce. And yes, the air was thick with charcoal smoke!

Chorizo, kebabs and ribs sizzle enticingly.

Hungry punters
The sights and smells of yummy food were making us hungry! As usual, most stalls were family run and a little chaotic and many couldn't keep up with demand. After spending 15 minutes in a queue, we eventually had success with some delicious booty...

Lunch!
[Clockwise from back left]: Feijoada (red bean casserole) $9.00;
Rossoes de camarao (prawn rissoles) and bolinhos de bacalhau (cod fish cake) $2.50 each;
and sardinhas assadas com pimentos (grilled sardines with capsicum) $10.00.
To start, an entree of Portuguese dim sum :-P

Bolinhos de bacalhau (cod fish cake) $2.50 and
Rossoes de camarao (prawn rissoles) $2.50
Inside the crescent-shaped prawn rissole was a thick prawn paste with (I suspect) mashed potato. Nice, but it didn't really knock my socks off. I've had these a few times in the past and I always seem to forget what a letdown they are for me.

Inside the prawn rissole
The bolinhos de bacalhau was much more exciting though. Bacalhau served whole is mega-thirst inducing with its heavy saltedness. Shredded and moulded into a little fish cake though, the cod is delightfully tasty with a pork-floss like stringy but tender texture.

Inside the cod fish cake
I've never had feijoada before and was delighted to find it a kind of peasant-like hotpot of red kidney beans, carrots, vegetables and pigs trotters. I haven't had pigs trotters too often in the past, but these were wonderful. Lots of bones, lots of skin and plenty of fatty goodness. Yes I am a chicken feet fan!

Feijoada (red bean casserole) $9.00
The sardines, of course, were tasty too. Barbecued to a smokey tastiness even if we did have a little trouble forking away the flesh from the fine bones. I wasn't sure what the bread was (some kind of soda bread?) but we didn't much care for it in any case. A little too heavy, dry and sour but maybe that was just because it had been sitting out in the sun.

Orange soft drinks (non-carbonated) imported from Portugal washed down our meals.
There were plenty of sweets available...

Bolo de mel rico (madeira honey cake).

Chocolate-iced shortbread men.

Bolo de feijao or almond and hazelnut pies
And lots of entertainment too...





The Bairro Portugues or Portuguese Food and Wine Fair runs every year in about February/March.
The 2005 Festival was held on Sunday 13 March.
Check the Marrickville Council events website for confirmation of dates.
Related GrabYourFork posts:
Petersham Portuguese Food Festival 2006
posted by Helen (AugustusGloop) on 3/26/2005 06:00:00 pm


6 Comments:
At 3/26/2005 11:58 pm,
Ben said…
The feijoada looks great. Wish I had gotten my act together enough to et along to Petersham.
Incidentally, I'm having a little but of trouble with your template at the moment. The text box is coming up as a dark green that has little contrast with the text colour. No worries about it - the problem's probably with my browser; just FYI.
At 3/27/2005 1:36 pm,
Helen (AugustusGloop) said…
Hi BHR - Yeah I always try and make it to any festival involving food!
Not sure what's the problem with the template. I've had some funny bugs lately but I'm not enough of a technophile to er... actually know what to do about it. But so far no problems with colour contrast. Er, let me know if you have any tips.
At 3/29/2005 5:36 pm,
Veruca Salt said…
The sardines look so yummy. Must try them properly some time. Scabbing off R's plate that one time just did not give me enough of a feel.
Where are the dessert photos. Need more sweets please.
At 3/30/2005 3:31 pm,
Helen (AugustusGloop) said…
Hi VerucaSalt - Sardines were good. We had them barbied on Monday by the resourceful R and there were scrumptious!
I thought you were the salt-a-holic! :-) Pics of our Sweet Belem goodness after the Petersham Festival coming soon...
At 3/16/2006 11:40 am,
Marisa said…
Where is Petersham? I would love this festival to be in Gold Coast Australia........darn, I was after the bolo de mal receipe, but the one that my aunty makes has flaked all around the outside of it. I suppose I will have to get it off her.
Marisa
At 3/16/2006 11:46 pm,
Helen (AugustusGloop) said…
Hi Marisa - Petersham is in Sydney. Alas not on the Gold Coast. But hey, you have a Portugese aunt... even better! =)
Post a Comment
<< Home