Johnston Street Fiesta 2007

I had never heard of the Johnston Street Festival before, but a friend alerted me a week ago that it would be on. Being the professional foodie that I am, I had to go and sample everything and report back for fellow foodies. I was initially just going to go alone, since I like to wander around slowly and sometimes other people get a bit bored with this. However, when Kin rang me in the morning, I asked if he and Jo wanted to come along as well. They said yes so off we went.

By the time we got there, it was already about 1:30pm (we're all late starters on weekends, especially after a few too many drinks the previous night), so we were starving. There was a very healthy crowd along the street as it was a glorious day.


We started to work our way through the stalls and everything looked so good. The first thing we went past was Paella, seafood paella to be precise. How could I pass that up, so we got a box to share. It was delicious, with the rice being beautifully flavoured. The only way it could have been improved was if it contained some chorizo.


So missing our chorizo, we next got a Churrasco Plate. It had a mixture of pork wrapped in bacon, chorizo and beef. It was all yummy, served with rice and potato salad. The only problem was, we still didn't have enough of a chorizo fix.


So while we went and grabbed some refreshing home made lemonade, we eyed some chorizon cooking. We went and got chorizo in a roll with caramelised onion and a salsa (the salad that is, not the dance). The sausage was yummy yummy yummy. The salsa with it's slightly acidic flavour went great with it.


We were all getting full by this stage, and got a shaved ice dessert. I still spied all these pastries and bbq meats that I must try next year.




To finish off, I had wanted some churros. But I guess it wasn't meant to be. At one stall where I was lining up for ages and was finally second in line, the churros machine BROKE. There was outrage, people were waiting for their churros. The crowd was ready to revolt, but nothing could be done. The technician was trying to fix it but to no avail. Hence I had to drop my head and walk away from it. The meant everyone walked over to the other stall that sold the churros. The queue was so large and I was feeling the effect of the sun from lining up the first time so I decide churros would just have to wait till another time.


Instead, we settled for Dipping Dots. They're ice cream, but in tiny droplets. I think they're probably made by dropping ice cream into liquid nitrogen or something. They are ultra cold when they hit your mouth and start to melt instantly. It's pretty cool since each drop is a different flavour and you get different combinations of flavours depending on which drops you had together. After a while though, the novelty started to wear off and I decided that they weren't as nice and normal smooth ice cream.


Finally, with our bellies full, we made it to the end of the street where they were judging the winners of the dance competition. There was a massive roar from the crowd when Peru was announced as the winners. They then went on to perform their winning dance.


After soaking up some more sun, it was time to go home and digest all the sights and tastes of the day. A final stop in some shops along the street saw many interesting things like antique furniture to Christmas decorations. A very enjoyable and relaxing day.