March into Merivale Launch Party – Establishment, Sydney CBD
The foodies go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
We photograph food just for fun, hurrah, hurrah
<Humming>
The foodies go marching two by two, hurrah, hurrah
We’ll won’t be full before we’re through, hurrah, hurrah
<Humming>
The foodies go marching three by three,
hurrah, hurrah, hurrah, HURRAH
We’re off to face our destiny, hurrah, hurrah
<Humming>
The foodies go marching four by four, hurrah, hurrah
You’ll find there is a million more, hurrah, hurrah
<Humming>
(Stolen and modified from AntZ movie soundtrack)
The ants may have been marching into battle but so were we! March into Merivale Launch Party was a chaotic battlefield especially for a late comer like myself BUT the spoils of this war were sure worth all the elbowing and squeezing. Pupu and I managed to get there at 7pm (only one measly hour after it started) and it was already as the picture above, full and packed to the brim of Sydneyians all here for some free food and drinks. So natually I charged headfirst through the crowds towards the closet stall which happened to be the delightful Mad Cow. I would like to apologize for the blurry and most unappetizing of photos as there was too much craziness and my camera can only handle so much in one night. I did happen to bump into awesome fellow bloggers Citrus and Candy, Miss Honey, Foragin Otaku and Simon Food Favourites. Other cool bloggers that went but I missed out on catching up on were One Bite More, A Table for Two, Grab Your Fork, Eat Show & Tell and Spicy Ice Cream. So go check out their much awesomer photos and great coverage of this magical night!
Mad Cow (Christopher Whitehead) – Wagyu top sirloin steak with chimcurri
I was thanking the heavens that these tender and juicy bites of pure pleasure were my first canape as they really got me fired up for this party. I was only disappointed that they were disappearing too fast! Even though they had many juicy slabs of the meat resting by the BBQ, I did not manage to get back here in time for more 
A drive-by shooting of Uccell, all that glorious meat hanging mmmmm
I love these bubbly lights!
Since I was driving I could not participate in the free drinking but hopefully the others did enjoy in some bubbly or whatnot. I did find it odd that the soft drinks cost money even though many other drinks were free :S
I thought that Richard Johnson looks very smart in his bow-tie…
Est.
Might as well make the most of my time at the front of the table while waiting for more food
Est. (Peter Doyle) – tartare of aoraki salmon, cucumber, wasabi and ponzu
Woooww this spoonful had an amazing flavour combination with a fresh zing from the grapefruit and ponzu sauce but the beautiful silky texture of the salmon. The food here has a way of being snatched up almost instantaneously so I was a bit wary of putting it down to photograph at first.
Lotus
Dan Hong
Citrus and Candy was smart enough to talk her way into the side of the work table to get some decent shots of the food being prepared because we were seriously not going to get any good photos of the food when they are being stuffed into other peoples’ mouths. These rolls and sandwiches were absolutely gorgeous, I only tried the prawn roll but the creamy aioli mixed with a tad bit of spice from the jalapeno chimcurri made the perfect sauce for a tender and fresh prawn.
Lotus (Dan Hong) – Prawn roll with aioli and jalapeno chimcurri
Ash St. Cellar
I seemed to have missed out on all of the food at Ash St. Cellar *siiiiigghhh* so I got this photo of their menu in hope that just reading it and imagining it would be good enough…. it isn’t and I feel gypped
Bistro CBD
Look at all the freshly… shucked… rock… oysters… *cry*
Simun Dragicevich and the team working hard at Bistro CBD
Bistro CBD (Simun Dragicevich) – Grilled figs, st agur
It was seriously only a matter of seconds between the plate hit the table and the last canape was taken off the the plate.
Bistro CBD (Simun Dragicevich) – Salmon gravalax on rye bread, dill mayonnaise
Pupu and I have some pretty good ninjaing skills 
The fig and blue cheese combination was beautiful! I thought the blue cheese would have been overpowering but it actually suited the fresh fig very nicely. The salmon gravalax was also another tasty canape with fresh velvety salmon and a creamy dill mayonnaise.
Moving into the courtyard area, whheee pretty lights and umbrellas
Teppanyaki
Akira Urata
Waiting for foooooooodd
Hmmm still so packed even though a lot of food has run out… go home people… I want the rest XD
Teppanyaki (Akira Urata) – Crab betel leaves
These were definitely another highlight on this night. The juicy crab and fresh crisp leaf left a refreshing taste in the mouth but oozed flavour and comfort.
Teppanyaki (Akira Urata) – Ocean Trout Sashimi
This sashimi was a easily top 3 of the night. The sweetness of the sauce also had a tinge of sourness but was brilliant with the fresh slice of sashimi. Actually remember back, I think I thought to myself after I ate this that I would would most definitely go to Teppanyaki just because of this canape. Wish I had more….
Teppanyaki (Akira Urata) – Wagyu penny burger
Delightful mouthfuls of soft fluffy bun and crisp veges and melty wagyu beef patty mmmm. Oh and of course chheeeesseeee ^^!
Sushi E
Nobuyuki Ura
Sushi E (Nobuyuki Ura) – Establishment inside out rolls
These were tuna inside out rolls but not just any inside out rolls. Super fresh and tasty, rolled with great precision and skill even though Nobuyuki-san was under pressure from all the screaming fans (mainly Bubbles, Tomatosalsa and Pupu who voted him as best looking nekkid chef) and hungry people.
Me being pushed out of the way by 2 of Nobuyuki-sans fans
Sushi Choo – Shimpei Hatanaka
My one and only fondest memories of Sushi Choo was the orgasmic spicy tuna handroll. They were sooooo good I have to go back for some more… mmmmm.
Lonely piece of Kingfish nigiri because they kept getting snatched up as soon as they were made. I even saw some rude guy grab the Kingfish sashimi off the pile that Shimpei-san was using to make the nigiris :S
Live DJ
Soft Shell Crab
As we were making our way back to Uccello, a random plate of this crunchy and delicious soft shell crab floated by. There were not much to begin with but as soon as the plate stopped people were swarming on it like… well us foodies 
Uccello
Shaving the prosciutto with bits flying off in all directions mmmm
Piggy Head with lemony fresh breathe!
Uccello (Massimo Bianchi) – Prosciutto
Mmmmm nothing gets better than shaved prosciutto to end the night!
The view before I left, just as packed if not more so than when I entered but the only difference now is that all but Uccello has run out of food!
March into Merivale Launch Party was a great way to grab everyones attention, especially to promote their other March specials like $33 lunches and dinners which I will have to try ^^!
Oh also on the way out Tomatosalsa managed to nub one of the hats hee hee
March into Merivale (03/03/2009)
Establishment Bar
252 George St
Sydney 2000
Check here for other events at Merivale
FFichiban
March 5th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Haha I like the poem at the beginning. Looks like an absolutely brilliant food fest! I wonder how many people attended as it looks huge and hey all that free food is bound to get all of Sydney knocking!
March 5th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Some funny comments
Thanks for the signage and crowd shots. Gave a different perspective to the evening than I’ve seen in other blogs.
What was your overall favourite restaurant/food of the night?
March 5th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
hey you got some different food compared to most of us too! Omg, a Wagyu penny burger!!!! Gosh that looks so good! Should really have stayed till the end of the night!
March 5th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
haha love the poem!! the bubbly lights are like the larger version of the ones in guylian cafe so cuttee
March 5th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
You got soft shell crab? Dammit! I couldn’t convince my friends to stay – the crowds were too much for them.
March 5th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
heh heh i like that shot of the ‘oysters’
March 5th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
hehe – bonus of being tall = ability to get crowd shots. all of my “crowd shots” ended up being the backs of people’s heads. *ahhh shortness!*
and boo for not seeing you! i was there til just before you arrived i think!
March 5th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
This even looks like such a strange combination of classy and free-for-all.
March 5th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Hehe good for us who stuck it out towards the end although I still didn’t get to try Sushi Choo and Sushi E. Damn crowds! Great to see you again R and nice to have finally met ‘Pupu’!
March 7th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Lorraine – Hee hee too bad you missed out!
But you have to make up for it by going to their other event 
!
Simon – Hee hee thx! Hmmm that is hard, the wagyu from Mad Cow was awesome but the so was the ocean trout sashimi from Teppanyaki hmmm choices choices!
Billy – Haha yes next time stay and eat til you are full!
Betty – Thx! Yup yup bubbly lights are so cool and fun to photograph.
Forager – Ahhh we were very lucky, as they just suddenly appeared near the elevators I think. The crowd actually swarmed! as you can see all the hands -___-
Chocolatesuze – HAHA thhxx
Shez – Haha you are not that short
At least it’s easier for you to squeeze our way to the front of each table hee hee. Yeah stay longer next timmmmeee XP
Arwen – Hahah true true Battle Royale indeed!
K – Yup you guys did very well!See you around at the next event hee hee ^^!
March 22nd, 2009 at 11:03 am
[...] I decided to brave the world and give Teppanyaki a call, it had become one of my must-visits after March into Merivale Launch Party and even more so after reading at ForagingOtaku and Anarcist about their pork belly [...]