Sunday, July 19, 2009

Aroma Festival @ The Rocks, Sydney

Today we went to the Aroma festival at The Rocks in Sydney; a celebration of 'coffee, chocolate and spice' that definitely fits well with the cold Sydney winter weather.

Unfortunately the crowds were ridiculously big and given that I have a terrible head cold I wasn't in the best of moods. It was difficult to get at many stalls and by the time I left my medication was wearing off and so was my patience with people stopping in front of me and parents driving double wide prams headfirst into crowds.

Given that it was free to attend and in the city I don't regret going and I had a good time but my mood didn't make it the best day despite the excellent crisp weather. I think if anything my largest complaint is that the festival was so close to the Good Food and Wine Show and shared many of the same exhibitors.

There was quite a bit of coffee and tea going but there's only so many hot drinks you can put in yourself so you'll note that most of my pictures are of various sweets; most of which I brought home rather than ate as I had that "sick, don't want to eat" feeling and instead held out my stomach space for soothing vegetable ramen after the festival.



Just a few people, the crowds like this stretched for about a kilometre.



Anyone need sweetener?



The Pony Lounge



Gumnut gourmet chocolates $6.50 for 3

Gumnut Chocolates lured me in with free samples and we walked away with Chilli Cinnamon Chocolate and the Coffee Lovers Trio



Voodoo slices $2.50

Voodoo make a range of classic slices that are to die for including a rich creamy caramel and my favourite; a lemon and coconut slice with a crisp citrusy icing that I can never go past.



Voodoo Dark Hot Chocolate $4

This hot chocolate was amazing and I suspect that it was simply watered down couverture. Thankfully the boy and I had agreed to share a cup because by the end this was getting a little too sweet but it was warming and sticky and delightful for a sick person!



Italian nougat and gingerbread



Flavoured marshmallows from Sweetness the Patisserie $12 for a mix pack or $3.50 for two large marshmallows

Sweetness are a bit of a local legend and make a variety of seasonal fruit marshmallows, I walked away with some gorgeous passionfruit mallows containing real fruit and a fresh tangy flavour.



The Cupcake Bakery $3.50 per cake

I walked away with a Red Velvet cupcake and a Carrot Cake cupcake but there was a chilli chocolate that looked right up my alley; at 3.50 a cake though you really need to pick your flavours.



Giant cupcake!



Ghermez Cupcakes $3.80 each

I think Ghermez suffered for being at the far end of the festival past multiple other cupcake vendors, sadly by the time I got there they were sold out of all the flavours I was interested in but they certainly looked worth a future try.

2 comments:

  1. FYI Gumnut chocolates are at the Eveleigh farmers markets every saturday :) (or every 2nd saturday, can't remember)

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  2. Looks like a nice day out. I haven't been to an Aroma festival in years but I remember one of us usually had a cold being in Winter and coffee and other things warmed us up :)

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