It's nearly Newtown Festival time again, that glorious day of community building, live music, markets and park hang times that amps up the Day-Glo on this already pretty colourful corner of the Inner West. And this year the Newtown Locals, a collective of bar and restaurant operators, are making sure that you will eat like a king at the festival – no more chips on a stick.
To keep things interesting they've paired off members into collaborative snack teams to see what they come up with. The results are not something you should read on an empty stomach.
The gang at 212 Blu have teamed up with Continental Deli Bar and Bistro, Oscillate Wildly and Stanbuli to tackle fancy kebabs. You can get one with skirt steak, red sauerkraut and dill pickles, or one with grilled asparagus, black bean harissa and ricotta. If gluten isn't your pal you can also have charcoal grilled skirt and asparagus with simple and seasonal accompaniments (it's probably a salad). Black Star and N2 Gelato are making a raspberry lychee smash, which involves Black Star’s signature Raspberry Lychee Cake smashed through N2’s nitrogen chocolate gelato.
Bloodwood and Fleetwood Macchiato are taking sandwiches to the next level and frying a club sanga. Yep, they're packing bacon, steak, cheese, smoked pineapple jam and pickles into white bread and then chucking it on the barbie, alongside a veg version with tofu, cheese, smoked eggplant relish and pickles. If yours is a god-like hunger you can get it with a fried egg on top for an extra two bucks.
Hartsyard and Mary's are responsible for the lamb barbecoa tacos with Oaxacan salsa (hot tomatillo and tomato salsa) and queso fresco, and the spring vegetable tacos; Rising Sun Workshop and Stinking Bishops are doing cheesy asian hot dogs and vegetarian smoked carrot dogs; and if you just need caffeine, Brewtown, 212 Blu and Fleetwood Macchiato have got you covered.
Newtown Festival (Sun Nov 13) is always a great day out and with this menu in the works it's only getting better. Not bad for a 38-year-old community festival.
Oh, and you can eat everything with a light heart (even the fried stuff) knowing that all money made at the Newtown Festival goes straight to the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, which helps those sleeping rough and having a tough time in the Inner West.
Photograph: Kate Disher-Quill