Paella in the Park - Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2011

Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2011 had started 5 days ago. After staying here for 5 years, we finally got our act together and attended some of the events. Today is Day 6 of the festival and I already managed to squeeze in 3 events (planning to write all). But there isn't any plan to attend more till the end of festival.



Paella In The Park was the 1st event we attended. It was held at Bridges Reserve in Coburg last Sunday 3rd March 2011. Mr. loved Paella and it had never occurred to me to give it a try cooking in my own kitchen yet. Just felt it's a dish not easy to master.

Melbourne was blessed with fantastic weather during the weekend. The day was hot, sunny, clear blue sky without a single cloud in the sky!!!! In fact I found myself with a tanned line that evening by just sitting in the sun for 2 hours.

Without entry fee required + nice weather + outdoor venue + live entertainment, it was a very family friendly event. The crowd was already building up when we arrived at the venue with H, our new found friend + makan kaki.

There were quite a few stalls set up but all by Spanish Gourmet Caterers. This was the 3rd time that I came across to them. 1st was the Suzuki Night Market at Victoria Market and 2nd was Johnston Street Fiesta. There were a few varieties of paella available :  Squid Ink, Pork and Mushrooms, Chicken and Chorizo, Vegetarian, Seafood all selling at $10 per plate.

Lucky there were 3 of us, we were able to split the job of getting the food. Each of us with a paid coupon in hand, queuing at individual stall line to buy our chosen paella.



With team work, we were able to combine the jointed effort and tasted all 3 different paella side by side. My attentive Mr. got me and H a glass of ice cold Sangria each.

 I got the Seafood Paella.

 Mr. Vegetarian Paella.

 H got Chicken and Chorizo Paella.

Make a guess which one stand out the most. It was the most unexpected Vegetarian Paella. It was sweet. We got another plate to share after finished all 3. The most disappointing was the Seafood Paella. Couldn't taste the "sea" in the rice till you take bite on the mussel. As for the Chicken and Chorizo, it had the strongest taste of all. Think it's because of the chorizo. Overall, it wasn't too bad.

With our full tummy, we found a nice spot in front of the stage and waited for the live performance, Flamenco to start. Spotted a coffee stall next to the stage and bought a cup of coffee to try. We were hoping for Spanish coffee but it only served Italian coffee. The nice coffee did make up for it.

Simply Spanish

During my parent's visit, we bought them around for international food cuisine : italian, thai, indian, vietnamese etc. The recent trip, we introduce them to Spanish food.





Simply Spanish at South Melbourne Market is the only place we being to for paella. I'm still hunting for other alternative to make a comparison. But at the meantime, we are enjoying the paella served here.


Simply Spanish served 2 types of paella. 1 is the big pan paella which they cook outside the store. We always have that, cost $10 for a box take away. They seem to be pretty popular as they have two big pans cooking at the same time. I even experience having to queue and wait as the demand was high. The other kind of paella is the small size seafood paella (enough for 2) which will take them 40mins to cook after ordering.





Since there are 4 of us and with time to spare, we ordered 1 serve of Big Pan Paella and another Seafood Paella all to share. Good chance to try taste what's the different between the two.


 Big Pan Paella


The Big Pan Paella was 1st up since they just finished cooking the 1st pan for the day. It has a mixture of mussels, squids, chicken pieces, chorizo etc. Dad and Mum enjoy the dish too :-)



While waiting, we also had Chickpeas with Spinach. The chickpea is cook with some spices. Can't really remember what spices but I like the dish. We also had some complimentary bread with olive oil.


As for drink, I tried their Spanish Coffee. It's very unique! I'm guessing the milk on the bottom of the glass is condensed milk. But the ration of milk : coffee is just right! It's not too sweet and the coffee is strong. At the end, we ordered another 2 glasses. 1 for CL and 1 for Mummy.


 Spanish Coffee


It didn't really seem that we waited very long for the Seafood Paella. Think because we being eating non-stop plus chatting. 


The Seafood Paella potion is huge. Definitely able to feed more than 2 people. The prawns are huge and fresh!!! The taste between the big pan and seafood is quite distinguish. Guessing because both are cook with different stock.


 Seafood Paella


Both paellas are winner to me. But if time permit, I will go for the Seafood Paella coz I love seafood more than meat.