Good Food Month - Night Noodle Market at Hyde Park

Being steered away from the first week and the second week of this event part of GFM by daunting weather and pre-arranged obligations; I found myself with a clear schedule on the last Friday of the Night Noodle Market, so ventured with C to the abodes of Hyde Park.

Whilst mindlessly circulating the circumference of the park looking for car parking, it was surprising to see that crowds had already started to gather and reserve tables for their parties to come. Armed with a wealth of different stalls to try from reviews of other bloggers experience with this year's NNM and a ever-going appetite, C and I lined up at the stalls that caught our attention.

First up was a spicy beef and cheese okonomiyaki ($8) from Japancake: minced beef was still hot when served; leaving a mild hint of chili after-taste that complemented the portion of cheese. Though there wasn't as much cheese as I would have imagined, this dish was a good starter for the many to come...

Scallops and Prawn Skewers Combo from Squidlicious: the scallops were juicy and slightly watery underneath the fried battery, the prawns were great in terms of value and tasted good with the accompanying sweet-chili sauce. The salad and prawn crackers were left untouched as they were both dry, lacked any purpose and were probably just for aesthetics.

Here the next few stalls that we tried were motivated by my sweet tooth over savory dishes. After reading previous years reviews, I decided to give a scoop of Fig, Honey and Pistachio ice cream ($4) from Serendipity Natural Ice Cream a go: mildly refreshing with a deep flavour of honey made this the favorite item overall at the NNM 2008. The fig was a great coupled with the pistachio flavour as both have a nutty crunch, which I believe works well with ice cream (e.g. Green Tea ice cream and corn flakes).


Assorted desserts from Yai Surry Hills. I actually intended to try the coconut juice after reading erique's blurb on eat like a cow, but sadly it was not available. Instead we opted for the sticky rice with coconut and sticky rice with taro (if I can remember correctly). The sticky rice with coconut had strands of coconut which were a delight and left you wanting for more (at just $1!). The sticky rice taro (sadly without a cross-section picture), was authentic and arguably the better of the two.

Lion dancing, which I couldn't agree more with efo's sentiments: "I'm terribly sick of lion dances - which is IMHO the most exploited, overused, and ubiquitous of Chinese cultural performance."
I guess it would have made a little bit of sense if the NNM was in Chinatown; what does Hyde Park have to do with lion dancing? Also, it's not like the chinese cuisine was the most predominant at this year's NNM ... malaysian/south-eastern asian cuisine had a majority of stores in my opinion.

To finish off our circuit, we headed over to Poffertjes Please for a plate of Mini Dutch Pancakes with strawberries and caramel sauce. When the last pancake had been devoured, I made a decision that over the Christmas holidays, I would perfect such a great dessert - small pieces of bliss with the accompanying condiments.

Night Noodle Markets
5 - 9.30pm, free entry
Location:

Sydney - Hyde Park North

Event Dates:
October 13th - 17th and 20th - 24th

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