Happy Tuesday from OIM!

Sydney Night Noodle Markets 2015

Howdy folks, and welcome back to our never-ending food obsession. This week, we headed out to the Sydney Night Noodle Markets, where we feasted on a large array of Asian street snacks. The Night Noodle Markets come around once a year in Hyde Park, just a short walk from Town Hall station, where all of the popular Asian restaurants, cafes, and dessert bars gather to compete for our appetite and attention. Among the 50 big names present this year were Chat Thai, Mamak, One Tea Lounge, and Din Tai Fung. Dessert-lovers were also spoilt for choice, with favourites such as Gelato Messina, Miss Dipity’s, and a special collab between Black Star Pastry and N2 Extreme Gelato.

Of course, with so much to choose from, it is wise to go in with a pre-game strategy. Ours was two-fold: firstly, we agreed that we would share everything so that we could each save our appetite to try more food, and secondly, we decided to prioritise the food that was created specially for the event over the food that is available at restaurants all-year-round. For example, even though Annette was desperate for the famous ramen burger from One Tea Lounge, she felt safe in knowing that she could try it another time, so she was happy to sacrifice it in favour of other more exclusive options. We ended up with the eggplant skewers from Devon Cafe, chicken yakitori skewers from Toko Sydney, and peking duck fries and pork belly bao from Bao Stop.

Devon’s tempura eggplant skewers were definitely our favourite of the night. They were tasty, slightly spicy, and crisp on the outside with a warm gooey centre. The sauce and herbs worked really well to pull all of the flavours and textures together. By contrast, Toko’s chicken yakitori skewers were slightly disappointing; although the chicken was tender and well-grilled, there was nothing original or sensational about the taste and presentation. The queue for Bao Stop was by far the longest, and we knew we had to give it a go. The peking duck fries were very satisfying and great for sharing - fried potato and peking duck, what’s not to like? And although the pork belly bao was quite small for its price, the bun was very soft and fluffy and the filling was really flavoursome.

But of course we couldn’t forget to try the very food our blog was inspired by. Yes, we mean the sweet, creamy goodness that is ice cream. There was no shortage of ice cream at the Night Noodle Markets this year and in fact we were overwhelmed by all the options which ranged from ice cream 'baogers' to bars of layered exotic-sounding gelato. As the daring ice-cream lovers we are, we eventually settled on the wacky ‘Miso Corny’ also from Devon Cafe. Consisting of sweet corn and miso soft serve topped with red bean paste, burnt butter popcorn, cornflakes and lime and coriander syrup in a plastic pipette, you can see how the interesting amalgamation of sweet and savoury flavours immediately drew us in.

Unfortunately, as every brave foodie knows, there is always risk involved when you’re venturing into the unknown, and this time the odds just weren’t in our favour. Let’s start with the dubious positive: the sweet corn soft serve was palatable, and the red bean paste was pleasant when eaten in isolation. The cornflakes gave it a nice crunchy texture, and the lime and coriander syrup was a saving grace as it transformed the strange, disparate flavours into something more fruity and recognisable. Despite this, the elements didn’t really work together, and the best word we could use to describe this dessert is ‘weird’. The miso was undetectable, and we absolutely hated the salty white powder sprinkled over the top, which we guessed to be ground burnt butter popcorn. The texture of the soft serve itself was strangely gooey, unlike any other soft serve we’ve eaten. Much of our time was spent trying out different combinations of elements to find one that was enjoyable, and regrettably, we weren’t able to finish the whole thing. We definitely won’t let this stop us from trying more wacky ice cream desserts in the future, though!

Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the Night Noodle Markets is that collaborations happen on the fly, and you never know what tasty surprise you might find around the corner. Trawling through the blogosphere, we found out about a limited-time partnership between two neighbouring food stalls, Bao Stop and Miss Dipity’s, which apparently resulted in a glorious miso caramel soft-serve bao. By the time we arrived, this elusive dessert was nowhere to be found.

Overall, the Sydney Night Noodle Markets made for a really fun Friday night feast. Although the food was a bit overpriced, this event is as much about eating as it is about trying new things, enjoying the atmosphere and running into old friends (seriously, we saw everyone). And if you’re looking to be introduced to some great new restaurants, or try an original one-off dessert, Hyde Park is certainly the place to be. The Night Noodle Markets close on October 25, so catch them while you can. Happy munching!

Did you miss us? ;)