beaufort street festival
What do you do when there’s no traffic on Beaufort Street? Roll out the fake lawn!
It was an unseasonably hot spring day but droves (100,000 people apparently!) turned up for the Beaufort Street Festival. Closed from Queens Crescent all the way down to Lincoln, this is Perth’s biggest, most impressive street festival. If you choose only one community festival to turn up to, make it this one.
Of course, parking was a bitch and it was hot (really hot!) but we came to eat – and eat we did. However food wasn’t the only focus of the Beaufort Street Festival. There were plenty of arts, music, shopping and family friendly entertainment, making for a well rounded day out.
Left: There were lots of quirky street entertainers. Right: Jumpling’s duck dumplings.
It was a probably too a hot day to eat steamed dumplings but we had to see what the fuss over Jumplings was about. The dumplings were not bad, I especially liked the duck dumplings which were juicy and actually tasted like duck (not some mystery meat).
Was definitely a day for parasols. I love this shot, how they’re watching the guy eat his (presumably) first macaron.
Butty’s cheesy fries.
Perth has a new food truck. If you’ve been around to Freo or the Twilight Hawkers Markets lately, you would’ve seen the Butty’s fire engine red truck peddling American style ribs and burgers. I couldn’t resist the crinkle cut fries oozing with elastic, melty cheese sauce. We were licking our fingers after eating this bad boy.
Left: Gelato and ice cream stalls made a killing on the day. Right: The Red Bull DJ spinning the tracks. Felt sorry for him – it was already hot in the shade, so I can’t imagine what a black car in the sun would’ve been like.
El Asador’s beef ribs cooking away. LOOK at the size of those kettle barbecues!
We can never pass up El Asador’s short ribs (love their chimmichurri sauce!). Cooked on the biggest kettle barbecues I have ever seen, the plumes of smoke and racks of ribs were a sight to behold. The ribs were juicy and deliciously charred from the hot coals. Slathered with the herby chimmichurri the ribs were no doubt, pretty good.
Short ribs with chimmichurri sauce from El Asador.
Raah’s hot food stall.
Hot pink flamingos!
A quirky swan in a boat (?!) and umbrellas offered respite from the sun.
El Publico’s meat taco.
I don’t think they could’ve squeezed another body into El Publico that day. The place was heaving with smart people looking for some of the best cocktails in town and air conditioning. However, we got a bite to eat from the El Publico stall, a little taco of shredded beef, cooling cucumber pickle and white onion, wrapped in a soft taco.
Musicians providing tunes for the Must Winebar garden.
Another place that was immensely popular was Must Winebar. They had set up a wine (beer?) garden complete with white picket fencing and fake lawn, where you could down some freshly cooked paella straight from the pan. It looked lovely – will be sure to get in here, next time.
Jurassic Park at Empire.
Teas with jelly and sugarcane juice at Daily Supermarket.
Daily Supermarket were pressing fresh sugarcane juice on the day. With a wedge of cumquat, it was super refreshing. One of the first oriental stores in Perth, Daily’s a Beaufort Street icon that’s still going strong.
More flamingos!
Margaret River Burger Bar’s beef wagyu burger.
Out of all the food we ate, this Margaret River beef burger was our least favourite. Maybe we’re spoilt by Perth’s influx of burger bars, but I found the beef patty to be average. It wasn’t far from a roadhouse version, to be honest.
Delish Ice’s too cute vintage caravan.
Bunga Raya’s murtabak.
Shakshuka bubbling away at Authentic Moroccan Cuisine.
Olé Paella Catering’s seafood paella looked fab and was thoroughly studded with seafood. Regretfully I never have the patience to wait for it to cook.
For $10 (or around there), you’d get this rather large, piping hot quesadilla from Chef Nimrod Kazoom’s stall. Topped with chilli powder and sour cream, it was a good value.
Marcelita’s Empanadas.
We dropped in to Marcelita’s for some of their empanadas. They were certainly worth the wait – the pork and lime empanada dipped in the acidic, piquant sauce was a winner. If you haven’t tried them before, the empanada dough is made with very fine corn meal, so when it’s deep fried the texture is like a fluffy corn chip, if that makes any sense.
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A temporary garden of everlasting blooms.
Soul Pop’s mango and passionfruit icy pole.
I’m a bit sceptical about buying icy poles for four or five bucks, but by the end of the day, after walking from the lawn bowls to Lincoln Street then walking all the way back up the hill, I caved. I tried one of Soul Pop’s mango and passionfruit pops and boy, was it good! It tasted like it was (and probably is) made from 100% pure fruit juice. A great way to cool down after a hot but fantastic day.
Overall the Beaufort Street Festival was a blast, eating our way through small vendors and producers. It was surreal experience walking down Beaufort Street with no traffic, no less with loads of other people with the same thing in mind: to know the community and area a little better. It was an amazingly well organised festival, with something for everyone. We’ll be back for next year that’s for sure.
| {2 comments} |
I was so disappointed I missed out this year (I was in Singapore) but you have captured the spirit of the day perfectly!
Martine @ Chompchomp – At least you missed out on the hot (hot hot hot!) day and you were in Singapore!! What a divine foodie destination. (And the shopping!) I can’t wait to go back and smash my face in some chilli crab. Needless to say, the plastic bib is sadly, a necessity for me. :( Thanks for dropping in, Martine!