Buddha's Festival

After a movie at the southbank cineplex, we headed for the annual Buddha's Festival. We strolled around the Suncorp auditorium where the main events are held and thought to ourselves that the turnout this year looked rather sad as compared to previous years. As we walked towards the performance arts theatre where the food tents were anchored, then we realised where the real crowd was all this while ;p

 

There were more food stalls than ever before and surprisingly, we spotted one or two stalls selling meat. Perhaps mock meat?...looked like the real deal though. Anyway, Mr food hunter decided on the $11 feast from Hare Krishna.

The feast consisted of cardamon rice, vegetable curry, kofta balls in a delicious sauce and Halva (dates and semolina).  Mr food hunter couldnt taste the cardamon but Miss food hunter could, either way the rice was fluffy and teamed well with the vegetable curry that was simply delicious even for meat hungry Mr food hunter!  The kofta balls had good flavour but werent great as they became cold quickly.  Halva was a new experience and was surprising to discover it as a dessert on the plate with the rest of the items.  The taste was very sweet with the dates and added sugar but the texture of the semolina was appreciated in this unusual dessert :-P

Miss food hunter had a bowl of Vegetarian Mee Sua (thin wheat noodles) in thick soup. The soup was subtle in flavour and there was plenty of shredded black fungus, shitake mushrooms and bamboo shoots. This is most probably the vegetarian version of the infamous Taiwanese Oyster Vermicelli that has a typical bonito flavour.

Miss food hunter also had a fresh spring roll consisting of a sweetish fried mock meat, omelette, lettuce and crushed peanuts. Eaten with a sweet red sticky sauce it was Yum! The spring roll wrapper is esentially that of a Popiah wrapper. Made fresh from simply wheat flour and water, the wrappers are thin and stretchy. When eaten rolled into layers, it has somewhat of a chewy texture.

It was a fine day to be out at Southbank, soaking up the sun, the buzzing atmosphere and the waft of scrummy food in the air. We look forward to more festivals this year!