Street food lovers, follow your noses to Hamilton's James Street Plaza this week.
On Friday and Saturday nights (July 7 and 8), 5pm to 9pm, the suburban hub is being transformed into a "hawker-style" Night Noodle Market by Hamilton Business Association. Association chair and MasterChef Australia alumni Reece Hignell, who owns Hamilton bakery Cakeboi, hopes it will become an annual event.
"If it works, if the numbers are there, if it's a good injection into the economy, if the local businesses and the community love it, then we'll do it every year," he told Food & Wine.
For the kids, there will be fun activities such as face painting, balloon twisting, Megamania rides and Mad 4 Mini Figures. Frank the roaming Wish Dragon will be making an appearance on the Saturday night, courtesy of the creative team at Curious Legends. There will also be Chinese dance demonstrations by the Blue Sapphires, The Pretty Amazing Jono will be up to his usual circus tricks, and musicians Abbi Yeo and David Javier will be performing live.
As for the food line-up, it includes Overtime Cafe Malaysian, Trinhy's Vietnamese, Yen's Yumm Banhs, Andy's Dumplings, Let's Do Yum Cha, Newcastle Spiral Spuds and Clocktower Coffee & Cakes.
When asked about Cakeboi, Hignell says the bakery is "killing it": "I'm loving it so much. For me it's balancing the shop with other things, like television appearances, which have started to kick off again. I'm also writing another book. It's good to be at the same pace I was three years ago. It's a nice feeling. I feel like what I tried to do, worked. And I tried to solely invest in Newcastle."
Hignell is filming an episode of Taste of Australia in Newcastle this month with host (and good friend) Hayden Quinn. It will air later this year.
Bare Chefs open on Monday
The Mirosevich brothers are opening the doors to Bare Chefs on Honeysuckle Drive in Newcastle on Monday, July 10. A soft launch of the healthy and nutritious "grab and go" cafe is taking place tomorrow. George Mirosevich says it's "coming together very nicely" and has been positing photos of dishes on social media (a natural yoghurt with berry compote and granola; grilled tiger prawns with Chinese broccoli, crispy shallots and spiced ginger butter; seared eye fillet with rosemary roasted potatoes, salsa verde and seasonal greens; and a caramel slice). Takeaway lunch or take-home dinner, or even a mid-afternoon snack, sorted.
Read more: Mirosevich brothers branch out with Bare Chefs at Honeysuckle
Food Fight recap
The 2023 Food Fight at Rydes Resort Hunter Valley last week attracted more than 300 diners and raised close to $50,000 for Hunter Culinary Association's hospitality scholarships. Flotilla's head chef Jake Deluca cooked the dish of the day, as voted by diners. It was the second of four courses: barbecued octopus with smoked bone marrow, potato foam, gremolate and crispy shallots.
Association chair Gus Maher says it was "a pretty special day".
"Awarding Brett Graham (via live cross to London) our honour of Outstanding Contribution by an Individual, and having his mother in the audience to accept, was a highlight. So too was our (surprise) $10,000 donation to Soul Hub, which recognised that while we are all fortunate to eat well, there are many less fortunate who Soul Hub takes care of.
"We also awarded six first-year apprentices an Emerging Apprentice scholarship worth $2000 and comprising some special knives and dining vouchers to the region's restaurants. Colin Fassnidge was his usual entertaining, energetic self and was joined this year by Novocastrian muso and food buff Boo Seeka."
Short and sweet
Choux Patisserie has a new menu which includes the likes of stewed rhubarb and apple with French vanilla, lemon ricotta cheesecake, and winter strawberry with basil. You can find them on level two at Charlestown Square, near Pandora.
Wests New Lambton's bistro has a new children's play area called The Tree House.
The Crown and Anchor Hotel in Newcastle has new owners - Jacque and Tom Brown - but they are by no means new faces, having used the hotel as a base for their catering business for many years.
Songbirds & Semillon is on Sunday, September 10, at Emma's Cottage in Lovedale, featuring the vocal talents of Max Jackson, Anna Weatherup, Piper Butcher, Amy Vee and Chloe Gill. Tickets are on sale now.
FiFi La Femme at Charlestown Square has closed. The Westfield Kotara store remains open.
Mayfield French Hot Bread has updated its banh mi menu. It not only looks the goods, prices are reasonable too ($8 to $12).
Bistro Eden is now open on Sundays, 8am to 2pm.
Freebie of the week
Let Yumi Stymes and Simon Davis help you with the irritatingly repetitive question, "what's for dinner?", in The Food Fix: Real World Dinner Solutions for The Exhausted. Yumi worked as a cook before going into broadcasting and Simon works in food publishing, and they have a popular podcast, The 5 Minute Food Fix. The Food Fix is out now through Murdoch Books, RRP $39.99. Food & Wine has a copy to give away. To enter, send the words "The Food Fix" with your name, address and number to freelunch@newcastleherald.com.au. Entries close on Monday at 9am.
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