Buckle your seatbelts (loosely) over your stretchiest pants, fellow eaters – we’re in for a big couple of weeks, now that the MFWF has kicked off!
My first event was tonight at the Heat Beads Hawker’s Market, held at the Vic Markets. It’s on for the next two nights too; it’s $45 a head if you book online or $48 at the gate, and you get four vouchers per person that you can redeem for a single plate at any of the food stalls. They do have drinks stalls too (Scotchmans Hill wines, James Boags beer, or San Pellegrino water and soft drinks) but you have to pay cash for those. (Which I think is a bit crap – why can’t you redeem a voucher for a beer if you want? And you should take your own bottle of water, as many dishes are quite spicy but you’ll have to pay $3 for each tiny 250ml bottle of Acqua Panna.)
Anyway, I went with regular dining companions Dan, Noush and J. We had booked tickets for the 8.30pm session, but arrived early so had to wait outside for all the 6.30pm session people to leave. As agonising as it was to wait outside with an empty belly and be smelling all those delicious smells, I recommend you do the same, as we got passed at least eight spare vouchers from people leaving who hadn’t used all theirs – win!
There were 12 different stalls, 30 dishes to choose from. We wanted to try as many of them as we could, so we each took turns going up to get a different dish, and then put them all in the middle and shared.
Get ready… for FOOD COMA.
 Pork cheek from Pan Asian. Quite nice flavours but very fatty. |
 Balinese chicken from Warung Agus. Mmmyeah not bad. |
 Sushi hand rolls from Kenzan @ GPO. These were really quite good. |
 Tsukune (chicken meatballs) from Sake & Grill Maedaya. Not bad, not terribly exciting. |
 Pho from Co Do. Loved this. So fresh tasting. |
 pho accompaniments |
 Beef bulgogi from Hallah. Not great. A bit cold and chewy – needed to be cooked fresher to order. |
 Beef vindaloo from Chilli India. Really tasty. |
 Sichuan BBQ (prawns, pork, chicken) from Dainty Sichuan. Dish of the night for me, especially the skewer prawns, but very very spicy. “I fell into the burning ring of fire…” |
 Funny little skewer things from Dainty Sichuan – tofu, fish ball, some kind of sausage. Didn’t like these. Stick to the BBQ skewers. |
 Cold noodle salad from Dainty Sichuan. At least I hope it was supposed to be cold. |
 I don’t actually know what this was or where it was from. Curry of some kind. Food blogger f ail  |
 Ikan panggang (grilled fish in banana leaf) from Laksa Me. Lovely. Great flavours and the fish was cooked perfectly. |
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 Okonomiyaki and candied potatoes (?) from Sake and Grill Maedaya. It was OK. Getting pretty full by this point so only had a tiny taste. |
 Fried dumplings from Dumpling King. Why on earth did they not have steamed ones? Boo. I skipped these. |
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ABOVE: also from Cookie, a sort of seafood pancake thing with mussels. The pancake was very gelatinous, the texture gave me the willies a bit.
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 This was a banana fritter with icecream from Dumpling King that did not last long enough to be photographed. As you can see, we liked it. |
 Green tea pancake; I’m not sure which stall this came from, but it was awful. Cold, chewy, ick. |
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LEFT: black sticky rice pudding from Warung Agus. It was runnier than other black sticky rice dishes I’ve had before, and we didn’t love the flavour – everyone had a tiny mouthful then left the rest. |
The event wasn’t too crowded, although maybe that’s just because it was the first night (and a Monday). In any case it was easy to get served, except for at Dainty Sichuan where there was a long line all night. Don’t think “I’ll go back later when the line’s not so long”, just suck it up and stand there, because that line ain’t gettin’ any shorter.
We all had a great time, and stuffed ourselves to the gills. Highly recommend you go, it’s good fun.
NEXT: the Thomasina Miers dinner at MoVida!
KATE
Ah great post, now I know what to avoid tomorrow night! Good tip about the water too. Thanks!
Thanks Agnes! Glad I could help
So, the trick is arm yourself with water and head for Dainty Sichuan first for the bbq skewers?!
You certainly covered quite a few dishes, great heads up on what to do tonight when I go.
thanks
That's a very timely post! I only just saw the ad for this yesterday and I'm still mulling over whether to go – how big are the dishes and how is it possible that people didn't use up their vouchers?! You're so lucky!
Jo – yep definitely BYO water, and don't miss the Dainty Sichuan skewers!
Vee – the dishes aren't huge, but four per person is a lot of food.
So much food that you tried. Fantastic post and review. Pity about the babi guling though… gah
Great to hear tat you like the fish. x)
Proud to be the one who grilled it. =]
I'm sure you enjoyed every bits of food that being sold in the Hawker Market. x)
The days after Monday was quite busy.
Good experience to gain.
I ended up choosing a lot of the dishes you had, but damn damn damn for missing the pho! I must go to Co Do sometime.
Probably the only event I'll make it to for MFWF, was really cool. Read your review just before I went and it was most helpful
Oh wow! I wish I was there. I don't care if it ruins my diet. They all look delicious!
oh man i missed out on this :[ great blog by the way ..