Bite Size: Five New Things in Adelaide You Need To Know This Week – May 3, 2023

A taste of Town Square
If you didn’t make it in to Tasting Australia’s Town Square over the weekend, you’ve got five more days to do so. The festival hub has a huge mix of street-food-style snacks on offer, from vendors such as Hubba Hubba Hummus, The Filipino Project, One Sneaky Cheetah, Kuti Shack, Shubui (which is serving up lamington fried ice-cream!) and more. It’s a leisurely way to take in the Tasting Australia festivities (and lighter on the wallet). Get a taste of it here and see our gallery from the festival’s opening weekend here. Plus, remember to purchase a reusable enamel plate – available at any Town Square vendor – for $1, which will go towards the State Emergency Relief Fund to help those impacted by the River Murray floods.

Making friends

Adelaide’s new artisan market Friends of Friends is coming back to Pirie Street’s InStudio & Cafe for its second outing on May 13 – right in time for Mother’s Day – with a line-up of locally handmade objects including ceramic dinnerware by Aburi Ceramics, one-off furniture pieces by Peter Fong, glassware by Bailey Donovan, metal jewellery and knitted accessories by Sisi Studios, garments by designer-maker Jason van Hamburg, knitwear by Tricote, and more. It’ll run from 11am to 4pm and there’ll be coffee and pastries available, too.

For another local Mother’s Day gift idea, Etikette Candles is opening up its Bridgewater studio to the public on May 13 and 14. Fragrance lovers will be able to peek behind the scenes and experience the art of candle making as well as score market prices across the brand’s entire range of soy candles, eco reed diffusers and refills. There’ll also be pieces by local ceramicist Mandy Herbert and fresh flowers by Georgie Bloom, plus coffee by Stirling Cellars and Patisserie, which will be raising money for Catherine House, which supports women experiencing homelessness.

Brews news
Adelaide Beer & BBQ Festival has announced its most extensive beverage line-up to date, with over 80 brewers, distillers and producers hitting the Showgrounds this winter. Twenty-four of them will make their festival debut: among them, Bracket Brewing from Sydney’s inner west; fellow Sydney brewery One Drop Brewing Co; Perth’s Nowhereman Brewing Co; Victoria’s Co-Conspirators Brewing; and Adelaide’s new Tiny Fish Brew. Returning visitors include Banks, Batch (VIC), Mountain Culture (NSW), Fox Friday (TAS) and Range Brewing (QLD), who’ll be pouring alongside local favourites Big Shed, Uraidla, Bowden Brewing, Mismatch, and more.

There’ll also be a crop of distillers including The Gospel, Storytellers and Mad Monkey, plus drinks from Mollydooker, Tin Shed, Lobo and Hills Cider. Outside of the tasting shed, there’ll be a “Doof Dome” for raving presented by Victoria’s Noodledoof Brewery, a Red Tin Tavern, the return of Gilbert Street Hotel’s International Container, and a hidden bar called Secret Pickle Saloon.

Chardonnay May
I, for one, think every month is chardonnay month, but for the next four weeks the white wine variety is under the spotlight in the Adelaide Hills. Choose from almost 40 chardy-themed events happening across May at a clutch of cellar doors. There’ll be tasting flights of new and cellared vintages, long lunches, high teas, educational masterclasses, and a French disco. See the full program here.

The rest is history
Another event happening across May: History Festival. Presented by the History Trust of South Australia, the program features over 520 events, including a talk on the coming Voice to Parliament vote, a queer history tour of Adelaide, a panel discussion on Adelaide’s history of pride marches, and an intimate evening celebrating the history and heritage of Penfolds (glass of wine and canapés included). See the full program here.