Sun Soaked Taste of Auckland Festival Draws Foodie Crowd

19 November, 2013

Sun Soaked Taste of Auckland Festival Draws Happy Foodie Crowd

The crowds thronged, chefs cooked, wine flowed and music played throughout the weekend as Taste of Auckland put on its best and most appetising event yet.

Festival organiser Rob Eliott says it was spectacular four days in the sun, with fantastic numbers through the gates.

“We had more than 23,000 people attend from Thursday night through to Sunday afternoon – we’re five years strong now and the appetite for Taste of Auckland just keeps growing.”

“The beautiful weather really was the icing on the cake,” he says.

Nearly 70,000 dishes in total were served up over the four days of the festival.

Among the most popular was Depot Eatery & Oyster Bar which reported on their facebook page that they sold 800 dozen oysters and 6,000 sliders over the four days.

Michael Dearth and Ben Bayly of Baduzzi and The Grove were also on the leader board serving up 11,000 meatballs and the meat of 25 goats. And between Mandarin Dumpling and Everybody’s Izakaya more than 13,600 delicious dumplings were sold.

Smeet Girish from iVillage at Victoria Park Market, the first Indian restaurant ever at Taste of Auckland, says visitors couldn’t get enough of their food, as they roasted more than 3,600 pieces of tandoori chicken in the tandoor oven.

“People don’t expect an Indian restaurant to be at a festival like Taste of Auckland so we’re really happy to be changing that perception,” he says.

“And they just kept coming back - they really loved our chicken tandoori trio,” he said.

Taste of Auckland’s official charity was Dine Aid, and it was a bumper year for the charity also, as more than $19,000 was raised with all proceeds going to the Auckland City Mission.

Twenty-five hours of music curated by Peter Urlich was very well received with crowd favourites being the Gramophone Band, the Baby Shakes, the Jazz Age and the Peter Urlich DJ set.

Taste of Auckland was just as enjoyable for the international guests, as Australian wine expert and Plumm ambassador Matt Skinner flew out of the country he tweeted; “Home bound after 4 epic days in Auckland, amazing times with inspiring people in one of the most forward thinking and hospitable cities on the planet”.

Eliott says next year is going to be even better.

“We spent a lot of time talking with people about new initiatives, stands and features for the festival and we look forward to bringing these to life next year,” he says.

‘Yes, Taste will be back and tastier than ever in 2014,” says Eliott.

For more information check out www.tasteofauckland.co.nz

About Taste Festivals
Taste Festivals are unique international events at which top restaurants and chefs from the host city gather to present their signature dishes to ‘foodies’ at iconic locations. Taste Festivals set the benchmark for food and drink worldwide with festivals in Amsterdam, Cape Town, Dubai, Dublin, Edinburgh, Jo'burg, London, Melbourne, Milan, Sydney and Auckland. At each event, thousands of visitors enjoy a vibrant festival atmosphere, take part in informative and fun features, taste specialist dishes from the world’s finest restaurants and meet the most loved celebrity chefs. Taste of Auckland is operated by Brand Events & Festivals under license from Taste Festivals Ltd, an IMG company. The event is managed locally by Lemongrass Productions.

ENDS

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