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Sydney Festival is well and truly over… Note to self, work on timing.

Luckily it’s never too late to look at photos of delicious, mouth watering food.

It was a balmy Thursday night when we ventured to Sydney Festival, set up in Hyde Park. Porteño and Messina were our main targets. We made a bee line for the stand and promptly ordered Chicken and Waffles, Philly Cheese Steak, Chilli Cheese Fries and a Salmon and Cream Cheese Bagel (for something light of course). From the Messina counter, we went with the Not Chicken and Waffles and a Not Cheeseburger.

The Chicken and Waffles were delicious and my favourite of the selection. Fried crunchy chicken, crispy bacon on top of a sugary, crusted Belgian waffle. The dessert was slightly underwhelming for all of the hype, but in saying that, deep fry some gelato on a waffle or slap some chocolate gelato on brioche bun and you can’t go too wrong.

Although Porteño and Messina set out to be the best in show, a left field quiet contender stood out as the shining, cheesy star. The Cheesesmith.

Tucked quietly in the back corner of the Hyde Park set up, was this gooey, mouthwatering, delicious, glowing beacon of cheesiness. Their fresh looking cheese plates were tempting, but my eyes were set on their cheese toasties; 3 cheeses with an optional 4th cheese. The definition of optional went out the window when I saw this “4th cheese”. The half wheel of Raclette sat toasting under its own personal grill, warming itself for the next order. Once it had developed a layer of bubbling, oozing mess it was removed from its home and the molten cheese was scraped on top of an unsuspecting 3 cheese toastie. I chose the Le Grand, which consisted of Spanish Manchego, Truffle Infused Cheddar and French Blue Cheese. Add a schmear of quince paste and this was the highlight of Sydney festival for me.

Because “That’s too much cheese” – Said no one ever.

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