The annual Scallop Festival in Whitianga is a special event for seafood lovers. Started in 2004, the festival is held in August/September each year to celebrate the start of the scallop season. I was fortunate to attend the 2013 Scallop Festival on 14th of September, along with three of my friends. This was my third visit, having been previously in 2006 and 2010. The tickets this year was $40 each person.
As the festival was on Saturday, we flew up to Auckland on Friday afternoon, and drove to Whitianga in a leisurely pace.
Whitianga is located on the east side of the Coromandel. From Auckland, it is about 2-3 hours' drive to get there. It is a nice scenic drive, although quite windy closer to Whitianga. So if you are prone to car sickness, you might not want to sit in the back.
Whitianga and the other Coromandel towns are popular spots for summer holidays. The holiday houses and camping grounds get pretty full in the summer months. In August/September, Whitianga is generally on the quiet side. However, the place came alive during the Scallop Festival.
On the day of the festival, we walked down to the esplanade where the the event was held. The grassy waterfront location was perfect for a festival. Plenty of space for all the stalls, and a gorgeous view too. At the entrance, we were each handed a free souvenir wine glass, come complete with a shoestring holder, offering the hands-free drinking experience!
After we got in, we went straight to the Cathedral Cove Macadamias stall. This had to be one of my favourites at the festival. Juicy grilled scallops with sweet crushed macadamia nuts. I fell in love with this dish the first time I tried it in 2006, and have been coming back ever since. And it's not just me, the stall has been voted best dish of the festival every single year. The last two time I visited, it was just grilled scallops with macadamia on skewers. This year there were three options, the classic macadamia crumbed scallops, macadamia Asian scallops (top right), and macadamia garlic butter scallops (top left). We tried all three dishes, and were impressed with them all. Lovely scallops with great flavours, can't go wrong with that!
Next, we spotted some fresh oysters. Yes, it's not only scallops on show here. There were also lots of other seafood, all ready for us to indulge in. The fresh oysters with lemon were beautiful, although I understand they are not for everyone. We also got some tempura scallops with dill, lime, and coriander dipping sauce. These were perfectly deep fried with a light batter, and a tasty dipping sauce.
To continue the deep frying theme, we joined the queue for the beer battered scallop kebabs. Another delicious dish, well worth the wait!
At the end of the tents, was the live shucking stall from the Hot Water Beach Surf Lifesaving Club. Fresh scallops, kina (sea urchin), and oysters were shucked on order and served fresh. As we already had oysters, we only got the scallops and the kina. The fresh scallops with a drizzle of lemon juice was beautiful, although not everyone likes raw food. Kina is another acquired taste. I really like kina at Japanese restaurants, creamy and sweet, and it's great with the saltiness of seaweed and soy sauce. The fresh kina here was not bad, but as we were eating from the shell, it was hard to pick the eatable parts from the other not so eatable bits. And I really could do with some soy sauce and rice!
After all the raw food, we moved on to some hot food. We were intrigued by the sound of scallop Yorkshire puddings. These were filled with creamy scallop mornay and topped with fresh grilled scallops and beef rump. Due to the large quantities they were selling, the puddings were not home made. But they were still very nice, and something a bit different too.
Next to the Yorkshire puddings was a long line for paua and whitebait fritters on Rewana bread. I had the whitebait fritter which was very yummy, and the Rewana bread was a nice change from the usual toast. I also got to try a little bit of the paua fritter. This was also nice, although quite salty and I would've had trouble finishing the whole thing by myself.
We kept walking pass the Paella stall and saw the amazing giant paella pans at work. We finally got our own paella, and ours was the mixed seafood and meat paella Very very yummy with great seafood infused rice and lots of meat and seafood. It was a bit messy eating this, but well worth the effort.
There were two woodfired pizza stalls at the festival. We ran out of room for these, but I quite like the sound of a Scallopina pizza!
We saw one stall selling crayfish but no price label. We found out they were selling at $50 for half and $100 for a whole crayfish! Really not cheap! I think we'll just stick with the scallops.
There were plenty of wine and beer available to wash down the food. Each year different brewery and winery would be showcased. This year it was beer from Boundary Road and wine from Mills Reef, Vidal, Tohu, Vilagrads, and Volcanic Hills. I'm not a big drinker, so I didn't have any. But my friends enjoyed the variety of beer and wine on offer.
There were 3-4 water stations, but disappointingly the water ran out by early afternoon. For the non-alcoholic alternatives, there was a coffee cart, and I also spotted a juice station. Fun juice anyone? I also liked this cheeky poster (right) for scallop shots, although we didn't try any.
After all the savoury, we were craving something sweet. My friend was delighted to find the Real Good Brownies, which she has tried before at another festival. The stall was selling old fashioned artisan style brownies, gooey and delicious, like cake fudge and chocolate all came together. We also had some mini donuts sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Always nice warm, although the ones here were slightly under cooked.
Other than food, there was also entertainment at the festival. Walking around the grounds, were the comical diver in ancient diving gear and a tall sea creature. Live music also was playing at three corners of the event.
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| Scallop Festival 2010 |
A very noticeable absence from this year's entertainment line up was the Scallop Band. I was really looking forward to seeing them again. This brilliant under the sea band all dressed up as scallops and other marine animals. And I really love the scallop customs!
At the cooking stage was cooking demonstrations from a few of the New Zealand's celebrity chefs. Above was Gretchen from New Zealand's Hotted Home Baker. A good place to sit down and rest while digesting the food. And to get some ideas and recipes for cooking scallops at home.
The festival was also a good opportunity for local businesses to do some advertising. We spotted lots of yellow duckies on show, and had fun having our photos taken with the giant duck.
At the end of the festival was the Whitianga Coast Guard fresh fish charity auction. It was fun watching the different fish on show, and the eager buyers calling out their prices. There were a couple of funny pictures. On the left was the giant live crayfish hanging on to the show girl! On the right is the funny looking John Dory.
The weather this year was not the best. It had rained the previous few days, so the ground was quite wet and muddy, we even spotted people with gun boots. One moment it was nice and sunny, then it would start drizzling the next. But I guess it was better than raining the whole day. And thanks to the rain, we got a nice rainbow on our walk home.
We had a great time at the Scallop Festival and enjoyed all the great scallops and seafood. I have to say, compared to my previous visits, this year's festival seemed to have down sized. There were not as many stalls and not as much variety of food. But it was still a great experience, and the seafood lovers would not be disappointed.
Next year will be the 10 year anniversary of the Scallop Festival! The date has now been set for Saturday 6th of September 2014. Make sure you book the accommodation early as they can be booked out months in advance!
Scallop Festival
Whitianga
www.scallopfestival.co.nz
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Whitianga-Scallop-Festival/91091149913?ref=ts&fref=ts
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