I’ve been gorging on seafood and booze all weekend and today is the final day of the Auckland Seafood Feastival. Please note, it wasn’t until late afternoon that I realised that it was a feastival rather than a festival.

On a blue skied Saturday, I attended with my three of my friends at the opening time of 11am and we didn’t leave until closing around 6pm. I would say we gave it a mighty good bash.

Scampi Street

I’d been raving about Scampi Street since last year so we grabbed two plates of BBQ scampi to share. Scampi Street was slightly relocated this year and didn’t have the same “street” or alley feel.

I recently learned that scampi are known as langoustine so if you know that term for it, you’ll know that these are sweet and fleshy and can be good eating. The scampi were smaller than last year’s and were not cut in half (crayfish style) for easy eating. The result was messy and a little disappointing. After I’d hyped it up so much, I wish I’d kept my big mouth shut.

Click here to see last year’s glorious scampi.

Over the course of the day we tasted:

• Mussel Mania’s hot steamed mussels with creamy wine sauce
• Cafe O Catering by chef John Oyagawa’s coconut prawns
• Cafe O Catering by chef John Oyagawa’s scallops wrapped in bacon
• Cafe O Catering by chef John Oyagawa’s salt pepper squid
• Paua on rewena bread
• The Whitebait People’s West Coast whitebait fritter
• Bluff Salmon’s salmon seviche with red onion, coriander, pawpaw and mango salsa
• New Zealand long fin smoked eel fillet
• Pane & Vino’s deep fried calamari

We gave the Wild Food Challenge a miss this year, though I’m glad I did it last year, it’s a great way to tick off some boxes on your seafood bucket list. I saw many people tucking into their challenges though and for $12, it’s a good way to try six unusual seafoods.

Yum

The tastiest thing I ate all day were the scallops wrapped in bacon. I guess it’s hard to go wrong if you love scallops and bacon.

Budget

This year I spent $57 which included 4 dishes and 4 drinks.

How did it compare?

I felt like last year’s event was more festive in general even though I drank more this time around. Last year there were more nautical decorations and more stalls. There was entertainment last year including beautifully dressed stilt walkers as well as world class buskers. It felt more like a show or circus. We felt sorry for this year’s volunteers that walked around all day carrying heavy balloon mascots.

See my tips on the Auckland Seafood Feastival here: https://bunnyeatsdesign.com/2013/01/17/plump-sweet-scampi/