Taste of Perth – launch event
On Tuesday night, I attended the media launch event for Taste of Perth, a food festival to be held at Langley Park from 2 to 4 May 2014. Taste of Perth will be the finale for the month-long Eat Drink Perth, which will be held in April this year instead of March as in previous years.
The first Taste festival, Taste of London, was held ten years ago and since then, Taste festivals have expanded to 18 cities around the world, including Cape Town, Dubai, Auckland, Amsterdam, Moscow, Milan and, for the past 7 years, Sydney and Melbourne. This year, Taste makes its debut in Perth, Oslo and Toronto.
A Taste festival showcases the top restaurants of the host city, with chefs serving up signature dishes to festival goers, pop-up restaurant-style. At the launch event, we grazed on dishes from Bistro Guillaume, el Publico, Greenhouse, Lalla Rookh, Nobu, Print Hall and Silks – 7 of the restaurants to be featured in Taste of Perth. More will be announced in the coming weeks; there will be 10 restaurants headlining the event in Perth.
In addition to the pop-up restaurants, there will be master classes, cooking demonstrations, live entertainment, and exhibitors including wineries and artisanal producers. Drinkers will be able to meet brewers and taste local and imported beers at the Beer Hall, take part in expert wine tastings and cocktail master class, and enjoy fruity ciders and DJ-mixed tunes at the Rekorderlig Cider Bar.
To make purchases from the pop-up restaurants and exhibition booths, festival goers will use the official currency of Taste, ‘Crowns’, which will can be purchased in advance with tickets online, or at the event itself. 1 Crown equals $1. Tasting size signature dishes will be priced from 6 to 12 Crowns, with restaurant ‘Icon Dishes’ priced between 15 to 25 Crowns.
Taste Crown cardTaste of Perth
2 to 4 May 2014
Langley Park, Perth
General entry for a lunch or dinner session will be $32 online or $38 at the door, with junior entry (ages 6 to 17) at $20 and children under 5 for free. VIP ticket options are also available. Tickets on sale now through Ticketek – see ticket options.
I attended the Taste of Perth launch event as an invited guest and sampled dishes and drinks with compliments of Taste Festivals. My pictures below depict scenes from the launch event – just a taste of Taste of Perth.
Amelia Park lamb cutlet, olive tapenade and ratatouille from Bistro Guillaume – tender and well seasoned. With a built-in handle, perfect finger food for carnivores.
Steaming pork belly with quivering layers of gelatinous fat – the smell wafting from the steamer was incredible. 
Braised pork belly and lohan fruit served with hollow bun from Silks – a juicy cube of pork in a soft chewy bun that looked like a mushroom cup – the tastiest morsel at this event! I went back for seconds. 
Chef Joel Valvasori-Pereza from Lalla Rookh garnishing panna cotta
Panna cotta ‘vera’, roasted cocoa, walnut crumble from Lalla Rookh
Shaved ice dessert by Silks – there was ice cream right in the centre, a surprise buried under the shaved ice, fantastic for the warm evening. 
The festival will include a Rekorderlig Cider Bar and will feature the newest summer flavour of Apple-Guava
There will be live entertainment at Taste of Perth