Snapshots from the National Multicultural Festival 2013 - Canberra

I loooove the Multicultural Festival (one of the best things about Canberra!) and basically spend my whole weekend there every time it comes around. This year was no different...

Friday night

A friend introduced me to 'Otai' (a refreshing Tongan drink with coconut cream/milk, pineapple pieces, watermelon pieces, sugar and water) ($5 per cup) at last year's Multicultural Festival. It was so good that I had to have it again this year!!

We had never tried Yemen food before so decided to give it a go! (despite the massive queues)

After much deliberation, I settled on the 'Yaman Style' ($10) - Mellawach rolled with puree tomato (it was actually more like a tomato salsa), boiled free range egg, fetta and ricotta cheese, olive oil, zatar (mixed herbs and sesame seeds), zhug (mix of coriander, chilli, garlic, olive oil, spices).

The crunchy and flaky roti-like pastry went so well with the delicious fillings. It was a match made in heaven.

We also decided to share a 'Yaman Super Sweet' ($12) - Mellawach rolled with banana, caramel, chocolate and coconut flakes...

 

It was finger-lickingly good. Napkins highly recommended!

Being allergic to coriander, my friend got a 'Mellawach Plate' ($13) - Mellawach stuffed with spinach, fetta and ricotta cheese, olive oil and zatar. Served with puree tomato, zhug and boiled free range egg on the side.

Below is a snap taken while we were enjoying some live music. I didn't blink an eyelid when the mother hoisted her son up onto her shoulders (so he could watch the band playing). But I was amazed when the dad swiftly did the same thing!

Saturday afternoon

Incredibly flavoursome German sausage ($7) from the WunderBar stand...

And from the stand next door, we sampled the Turkish Gozleme ($10) (hand-rolled pastry filled with mince meat, spinach and feta cheese, cooked over a griddle)...

Sunday afternoon

Couldn't go past the Kransky on a stick ($5). I didn't manage to get a photo of it, but the Vienna sausage with mustard ($5) was fantastic too.

I had a bit of a sweet craving and had been scouring the whole festival for the Polish stand to get a paczki. But alas, they must have sold out and packed off.

But then I came across a Turkish dessert stand and locked eyes on these...

Very similar to the Greek 'loukoumades', the Turkish 'lokma' are also balls of deep fried dough soaked in honey syrup. When you bite into these bite-sized morsels, honey syrup will explode in your mouth!

Who else is already counting down the days for next year's festival?!

Ricardo's Cafe - Jamison, Canberra

In case you've been wondering, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! (Work, uni, social life etc have all been crying out for attention lately.) But I have exciting news...I've been working on a new website for the blog! Hooray! You will be the first to know when it's up and running.

Enough rambling, back to more important matters.

 

Ricardo's Cafe is one of my favourite cafes in Canberra and I highly recommend it! Located in Jamison Centre, Ricardo's is perfect for a casual brunch, a cake and a coffee, or something fancier like high tea. And don't get me started on their macarons...

Order the eggs benedict when you go for breakfast, you won't regret it. Poached free-range eggs with deliciously creamy hollandaise sauce, smoked salmon and spinach balanced atop squares of toasted focaccia brushed with butter. Perfection on a plate.

Of course, the cake display was annoyingly distracting...

So I decided to round up some recruits and come back for high tea ($35 per person).

 

The tower of goodies included an assortment of different-flavoured macarons – bubblegum, jaffa, chocolate, salted caramel, cherry ripe, pistachio, lemon, blueberry, strawberry, and peanut. Someone in the kitchen needs a calculator though, as unfortunately, two in our group missed out on a macaron each. (Wouldn't want a macaron-induced kerfuffle to break out in the middle of the cafe, now would we??)

Chocolate sponge, coconut dacquoise, chocolate ganache and mocha cream made up the opera cake below. The sponge could have been a bit more moist but I loved the coconut dacquoise layer.

 

The swan was a French choux pastry filled with cream patisserie, custard and strawberries. The custard was silky and delicious...

The shape of the apple cheesecake is adorable! And the apple and cinnamon crumble centre gave a surprising texture element to the cake.

The gold mousse cake (chocolate mousse, pistachio and raspberry cream wrapped in gold nuts) was particularly memorable due to the unique flavour of the cream, which may not be suited to all tastebuds.

The caramel praline mousse cake was my favourite. The delightful hazelnut-flavoured mousse was wrapped in almond sponge, and topped with almond praline. The mousse had body, but managed to be light and fluffy as well.

The blueberry scones were served with delicious strawberry jam and cream in mini cappucino mugs.

The smoked salmon sandwich had generous slices of the key ingredient. The cucumber slices were nice and crunchy, and the smear of cream cheese was just enough, not overpowering.

The egg salad sandwich was made with free-range egg mayonnaise, and the alfalfa sprouts lent freshness to the sandwich. I did, unfortunately, find a small piece of eggshell in one of my sandwiches!

Two rounds of tea or coffee are included in the high tea package. I ordered the Gorgeous Geisha tea (strong and sweet tea with a hint of strawberries) and I wasn't disappointed.

The service during high tea was friendly and our waiter introduced the items on the stands one by one. But our drinks didn't come out quite fast enough, with some waiting a fair while.

Ricardo’s requires you to provide final numbers 48 hours in advance. As the cakes are made specially to order, if there are any no shows on the day, you may get charged for that person (as the food has already been prepared).

For more food porn, check out Ricardo's gallery of photos on their website.