Foodies ready for 2023 Parramatta Lanes food festival from October 11-14
A smorgasbord of food, more than 120 musicians and artists are set to ignite western Sydney for the annual Parramatta Lanes food festival. Here is a sample of fare you’ll want to devour.
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A smorgasbord of food, more than 120 musicians and artists are set to ignite western Sydney for the 12th annual, jam-packed Parramatta Lanes food festival.
Fifteen locations across the CBD – from Centenary Square to the Eat Street carpark rooftop – will host food vendors ready to tantalise the tastebuds from October 11-14 - free four-day program regarded as Parramatta Council’s flagship event.
Expect delicious food from every corner of the globe including Filipino halo-halo-inspired desserts from Mix Mix Co, Japanese pizza okonomiyaki, Malaysian hawker food, bao dao, dumplings and dishes from Hyderabad House.
Indulge in a giant prawn cracker from Prawn Star and satisfy your dessert desires at Dessert Boxes, Yiayia’s Honeyballs, Stroop Bros, Dolce Baccio Gelato and Kurepu crepes.
Newcomers BlackBear BBQ and Fratelli Pulcinella will join old favourites including KOI Dessert Bar, Hoy Pinoy and FirePop.
Here is a sample of fare you’ll want to devour.
Fratelli Pulcinella
It’s no wonder Alessio Zullo makes a mean pizza – he grew up just an hour from the fabled food’s birthplace of Napoli and his brother Simone is a multiple world champion pizza master. But Sydney is where his dream to run a pizzeria came true.
He started Fratelli Pulcinella at Gladesville, then Ryde and for over a year he has been firing up his wood-fired oven in a North Parramatta backyard where wooden chairs and tables are casually set up while diners dig into a host of toppings – from traditional to kebab flavours.
The popular eatery will make a debut at Parramatta Lanes where Zullo will churn out the delicious pies from a trailer using the skills he has honed since childhood.
“We have a history of pizzas since childhood,’’ he said.
“My mama was in the kitchen and I was always the little child next to my mama learning what she was doing.’’
Pizza lovers can expect light, beautifully blistered pizzas which fold.
“Like any work, it’s patience,’’ Zullo said. “It looks easy when you do it because it’s quick but it’s very, very hard.’’
BlackBear BBQ
Bigger is always better at BlackBear BBQ, which will make its Parramatta Lane foray in dramatic fashion atop the Eat Street Carpark rooftop.
“The smoker’s literally getting craned onto the rooftop on a big crane,’’ BlackBear co-founder and pitmaster Scott McCoy said.
The business went gangbusters on its debut in the Blacktown industrial area six years ago when hundreds queued for two hours on a cold, rainy night to get their meat fix.
Fast forward to 2023 and multiple shops later, McCoy and his carnivore-loving cohorts are expecting the same warm reception at Parramatta Lanes.
“Parramatta is our target market because western Sydney loves meat,’’ he said.
“We’re renowned for our brisket and the pulled brisket cheeseburger is amazing – it’s simple but amazing.
“Every so often I have it and go ‘this is why people line up’.’’
BlackBear’s meats are cooked using ironbark and diners can expect to snap up its brisket box with a coriander and corn slaw, along with smoked beef sausage hot dogs and possibly “something fancy” for the festival.
KOI Dessert Bar
Luxe desserts have always been KOI‘s claim to fame and no cost-of-living crisis is going to stop customers conquering those cravings at Parramatta Lanes.
KOI co-founder and MasterChef star Reynold Poernomo expects 1000 of the handmade delicacies – from signature Nomtella celebration cake to the spring collection newbies – to be snapped up quickly as in previous years at the Lanes.
“Even though at the time the cost of living is going up, they still want to celebrate, they still want to indulge,’’ he said.
“I would rather spend money on quality products instead of spend money and enjoy something that’s not nice.’’
Those treats include the classic Nomtella cake with salted caramel and espresso mousse on a chocolate brownie, and the strawberry pillow with mousse and lychee on an almond biscuit base.
Spring collection debutants include the heavenly-sounding orange blossom with strawberry and almond biscuit base.
As construction around Parramatta Square and the light rail network clears, Poernomo says it will entice even more festivalgoers and hopes to one day expand KOI in the CBD.
Burger Head
Don’t worry – the beloved burger chain’s Sydney shops are shutting but the wheels are still turning on its trucks with a tank full of fuel ready for the Parramatta Lanes festival.
“It’s a bloody brilliant event,’’ Burger Head co-owner Josh Deluca said.
“Parramatta Lanes was crazy last year, it was wild – just the atmosphere and the way they had it laid out across the city. It’s held after winter when people want to come out and about.’’
This month, it was confirmed Burger Head – established by Deluca and his mates Timothy Rosenstrauss and Richard Borg in 2017 – collapsed after Covid, inflation rates and the cost of living crippled the business.
But Deluca has seen the setback as a thickshake half full. “It is s– t but we’re actually excited in a sense because it has been tough for the last year and a half and it’s a chance for us to reset and refocus,’’ he said.
Fortunately, the business has done “phenomenally’’ well with trucks and has a schedule full of community festivals where they can belt out burgers, fries and shakes.
“The margins are substantially different to the shops and for the most part we do a lot better in our trucks than in our shops,’’ Deluca said.
“At the end of the day we were working for the taxman and we weren’t getting anything out of it.
“You can do in one day with a truck what you can do with the shop in one week. We always try to look at the positives.’’
The team also relishes the morale working in a truck provides, thanks to the constant stream of crowds at events.
Deluca says Parramatta Lanes was one of its best performing events last year, alongside Penrith’s Real Festival.
Parramatta Lanes runs on October 11-12 5pm to 10pm and October 13-14 October 5pm to 10.30pm.
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