The Canberra Day long weekend was a good excuse to go down the coast. Given it is just past summer, I decided venturing south would be adequate and save the northern trips for when the season is colder. What sold me on Merimbula was the lucky timing of the annual Eat Merimbula festival. Lots of stalls were created along the fishpen area with a nice view over the waters.
Unlike a lot of food festivals in Melbourne and London and around the world I've visited, this one was particularly good as it wasn't overly crowded, there were bins and people were using them, people were friendly, smiling and engaging and the entire festival was dedicated to local produce. Additionally the food was actually very good and the prices seemed quite reasonable (as compared to the recent Enlighten Noodle Market with apparently $15 noodles...)
- Locally roasted coffee with Tilba Milk by Ragino Coffee Wyndham and Pambula ($4.50) - unfortunately Tilba milk turned out to be Woolworth's Select milk in a very average coffee;
- Beef short rib on puff pastry with beetroot, green bean salad by Hardcore Carnivore ($10) - soft pulled meat on a cold but still nicely chewy pastry with a balsamic salad;
- Brioche buns with marinated mushroom, ‘’soft style’’ Ivy Farm eggs with pinenuts and fetta by Small Feasts Catering ($8) - reasonably soft cold brioche bun with a mildly flavoured omelette;
- World’s best oysters by Sapphire Coast Wilderness Oysters - natural of varying flavours $15 for 12 (Pambula was the nicest and simplest with creamy centre, Merimbula a lesser version, Wonboyn stronger and Wapengo sweeter) but all were good quality and Japanese $10 for 6 (with wakame and mayo) which I didn't like so much the combination;
- Steamed Eden Mussel’s with house-made bread by Merimbula Wharf Restaurant ($8.50) - large mussel flesh sweetly cooked in tomato and chilli. Really excellent. They also had a homemade marshmallow square ($2) which was extraordinarily soft and not as sickly sweet as the typical packet ones;
- Temaki Sushi with local purple sea urchin by Zanzibar Café ($8) - really delicious but only mildly flavoured uni (2 pieces) although the price couldn't be justified;
- Peach, marscapone and passionfruit crepe by KnR Catering @ Glasshouse Restaurant ($6) - more tangy with passionfruit seeds with limited sweetness (surprised they didn't sprinkle with castor sugar) which I don't mind.
I also hoped to finish my market with handmade ice cream using local fruit and nuts by Cobargo Homemade Ice-cream. Unfortunately after seriously considering asking them to put aside a blood orange tub at the start, by the time I got back after eating everything else, they sold out whilst I was 3rd in line. Even though it was advertised from 10am-3pm, it was unfortunate to see that by 1pm two stalls were already sold out (one was already sold out by 1130am!!). When I walked past the scene at 7pm the area was spotless.
It's a little far to go back just for that festival but I'd highly recommend it.