The one thing that I adore about winter, apart from the hibernation, the feeling that I don’t need to leave the house for anything beyond sustenance and my job, is shoving a heap of comfort food in my gob. Even better is someone else preparing it for me, so the Poutine Festival in Melbourne’s Ascot Vale is sure to absolutely slap, my friends.
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Hot chips with gravy holds an immense amount of nostalgia in my heart; of buying and eating them by the ocean as a kid when the weather was a bit shit, so knowing that my new city has a whole festival dedicated to poutine – the Canadian sibling to my Aussie childhood comfort dish – gets a big chef’s kiss from me.
The Ascot Lot in the city’s inner north-west is playing host to a whole bunch of Canuck-inspired food trucks on August 21, who will be trying their hand at whipping together the famed curd-heavy snack. I wish to taste them all, so please form an orderly line with your gravy-laden wares, friends.
With teams from The Poutine Project, The Pickle & The Patty, Chris P. Bacon’s Crispy Bacon, and heaps more bringing their offerings to the table, you’ll probably want to eat nothing but vegetables for about a week after.
Pairing up with the big cheesy chippie event is Kona Brewery, who will be slinging cheap beers all afternoon. If you’re not into that, there will be Canadian Club cocktails going as well, to really get into that maple syrup-loving, ice hockey-obsessed, forever-apologetic spirit.
The whole thing is dog-friendly too, so there’s no reason for you to leave the pooch at home for this one – go on, grab the lead cos you’ll probably want to go for walkies on the way home to work off all the carbs.
The Ascot Lot’s Poutine Festival kicks off from midday on Saturday, August 24 which is great because I’m going to need to lie down for at least a day afterwards.
