Sydney Eat Street: The best treats at the Cherry Blossom Festival
From a special ‘Tokyo lamington’ to bubble tea and creme brulee, here are some of the best treats to sample as the Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival at the Auburn Botanic Gardens, August 20-28.
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As the picturesque Cherry Blossom (Sakura) come into bloom, Auburn Botanic Gardens will play host to the annual Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival, a celebration of Japanese culture and traditions.
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Tokyo Lamington
From sushi trains to drift racing, Tokyo has had a pointed influence, on Western culture, but Min Chai (N2 Gelato) and Eddie Stewart (Black Star Pastry) have taken it on a rather unconventional path and applied the balanced flavours of Japanese cuisine to an Aussie icon, the lamington.
“Believe it or not Tokyo Lamington was at actually born in Japan in 2019,” says Eddie noting how he and co-owner Min have such an affinity for all things Japanese so pairing that with their past pastry experience was inevitable.
In the past two years, their moist and more-ish sponge-cakes have developed a cult-following with fans flocking to their petite inner-west shopfront, however that wasn’t their intended location.
Were it not for the crushing Covid lockdown they were on track to set up shop in the back streets of Tokyo, instead, they’re flourishing in the side streets of Newtown, offering Sydney-sider their cubed-creations.
But from August 20-28, it’s the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Auburn Botanic Gardens that gets all the attention.
“Sakura (cherry blossom) is that special time for the change of season,” Eddie says.
“Cherry Blossom time in Japan is the best as it’s stunning. Our Sakura we use in store is imported from Japan. It’s picked the previous season, then the flowers are preserved in a sugar syrup. The flavours and aroma are amazing.”
While you’re out wandering under the canopy of pink and white flowers, be sure to pick-up some of their seasonally-inspired lamingtons ($7.50 each) including, cherry blossom, melon pan, matcha strawberry, and Okinawa Boba tea as well as cherry blossom cheese, tiramisu chocolate, and yuzu tarts ($9 each).
Pull’n Shots
Boutique coffee cart, Pull’n Shots has your caffeinated needs sorted in the loveliest way possible adorning their coffees with pink heart-shaped latte art. And keeping blossom-coloured theme, they also have pink bagels with pink cream cheese the stars of its festival fare.
Pull’n Shots owner Alyse Amata says: “Cherry Blossom festival is our favourite event of the year, and we really can’t wait for it to be back again after a couple of missed years. The event is local to our business.
“We love the vibe and all the delicious pink food options on offer. Every year we try to create a new and exciting menu item to offer to be all things pink along with our coffee and can’t wait to show everyone what we have come up with this year.”
Bubble Tea Truck
Take the joy of blowing iridescent bubbles with the refreshing taste of cold sweet tea, and the fun of sucking up creamy tapioca balls (thus bubbles) through an oversized straw, and you have the delightful Bubble Tea.
For those yet to experience the phenom, the appropriately themed Sakura green tea with strawberry popping pearls from the Bubble Tea Truck is a must, while veterans will be glad to see lychee green tea with coconut jelly; mango green tea with mango popping pearls; each green tea with coconut jelly; and matcha milk tea with matcha pearls. And you’ll be glad to know that they’re swapping out a single use plastic cup for reusable bottle, decorated with cherry blossom flowers.
Torch Me Crème Brulee
For Wendy Kuoch, owner of Torch Me Crème Brulee, Sydney’s Cherry Blossom Festival isn’t just a celebration of nature’s beauty; it’s a state of mind.
“I wanted to take part in the Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival because I’ve been to Japan and the Cherry Blossom symbolise a new start and fresh beginning,” she said.
“It’s such a beautiful festival seeing all the pink from the trees. We’re really excited to participate in this year’s event and we’ve even made some treats exclusive to this year’s festival: the matcha custard Brulee with red bean topping; and four Mochi ice cream flavours including green tea, strawberry, mango, and Vanilla.”
While Crème Brulee isn’t a traditional Japanese dish, Wendy’s use of traditional flavours makes for a unique and tasty experience. It’s no wonder Torch Me Crème Brulee has such a legion of fans at festivals and markets.
Onigiri Lab – Bankstown
Nikita Nguyen and Helen Trong’s, onigiri (triangular rice balls) venture, The Onigiri Lab is a wonderful metaphor for a festival that celebrates the blossoming of a flower. The high school friends started their business together during the Covid pandemic and now will make their festival debut just two years later.
“We’re both really excited to be a part of this year’s festival, it’s the first time we’ll be hosting a food stall and we love the Japanese theme of the festival,” said Helen.
“We’re inspired by Asian cuisines, especially Japanese food. We just love the freshness and flavours, and we want to bring a little bit of Japan closer to home. We love making Onigiri for our friends and families so we figured we should start a business.
“We started the business during Covid, the customers really enjoyed it, so we came up with different flavours every week.”
At the Cherry Blossom festival, Nikita and Helen will some of the favourites that made them so popular, including some customer the crab mayo, prawn tempura, salmon mentai, and our homemade milk tea which compliments the Onigiri.
— Instagram: @theonigirilab
Food Trap
Axel Tang and Grant Landry have one trap you’re sure to revisit: a doughnut trap and they can’t wait till the Cherry Blossom Festival to lure in customers with fresh and fluffy creations. “We’ve attended the festival previously and we’ve always loved its looks and feel,” said Alex
“It’s very multicultural and we’re both fans of Japanese culture. So, we thought we should give it a go and add our own flair to the festival.”
The pair will be offering Japanese/Asian-inspired flavoured doughnuts including yuzu meringue, miso caramel, and Thai milk tea, alongside their classic flavours like Cookies and Cream, nutty Nutella, cinnamon sugar, Biscoff, and strawberry sprinkle as well as Asian drinks including Yakult green tea, shimmering yuzu Lemonade, and The Blue Hawaii.
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