It’s bitterly cold and I’m about to see a new phenomenon: more puffer jackets in one place than ever before. But, there’s food (including cake!), and wine, and fashion – and that seems to be enough to convince the rest of Canberra to come out at 3pm to New Acton, too.
The Forage is where some of the greats in Canberra’s foodie scene get together, while Hustle and Scout is about bringing handmade, unique fashion to Canberrans. This winter they’ve joined forces, with The Forage taking up the grounds around New Acton (including the Nishi Gallery), and Hustle and Scout taking up two floors in the sustainable Nishi building across the road.
My first aim on arriving at The Forage is to get where it’s warmest – and that’s inside the Nishi Gallery. Boyfriend immediately spots the hot chocolate offered by local gourmet chocolatiers Lindsay& Edmunds, and is in for a treat, with a special chocolate dipping stick accompanying it ($4.50).
Lindsay & Edmunds hot chocolate ($4.50)
I’ve got quite a thing for cake, so um and ah about which gorgeous creation I should indulge in at the Canberra Cake Club stall (you can read about the February and March cake ‘meet ups’ – anyone can go along, so long as you register!), when someone who’s a lot more decisive than me asks for a slice of the salted caramel cheesecake ($4). It is a work of art.
The ooze oozes as promised
I have to get me some of that. So I do.
It’s even better than it looks.
Slice of salted caramel cheesecake ($4)
We brave the outdoors; to make it a little easier to bear, there’s mulled one on offer ($8) at the Bing Bang Bar.
Just two of 10,000 puffer jackets on display
To their credit, plenty of seating’s provided – including this huge tree … trunk?
Other food looks tempting, but I’ve just had Brod Dogs, and we’re going out for dinner… so I hold myself back. I do miss the Pappa Rich delights (and I can’t bear myself to look at another happy photo on Twitter) and the Mocan & Green Grout banh mi… next time.
The Ducko and I have a date at the next Forage
Tempting. So tempting.
With fuller bellies and warmer hands, we head towards Hustle & Scout, which looks remarkably quiet from the outside.
Of course, looks are usually deceiving.
It is ridiculously busy.
Check out the stair traffic!
We detour into the newly opened Max Brenner New Acton store, where there’s a short and quick-moving line to have a piece of chocolate carved off for tasting (free) as part of their opening.
Max Brenner chocolate pieces being carved up / chiseled out
While it’s great to see so many stalls, there’s a dizzying amount of fashion on display.
One of the many successful stores
What cuts through the organised chaos is the music – there’s a duo of a guitarist and violinist (who I later learn are Guyy and The Fox), and they are simply brilliant – keep an eye out for them.
Guyy and The Fox duo
So many people!
Having had our fashion fill, we head back to The Forage to see what else can tempt us.
It’s hard to go past The Muesli Bar, who help you make your own combination of delicious muesli. But they’ve recently tweeted a picture of their chocolate porridge ($5) – I’m sold before I even get a look at it. It’s sprinkled with cranberries, nuts and chocolate drops, which melt into the freshly spooned porridge.
The Muesli Bar
Chocolate porridge from The Muesli Bar
We finish off our journey at The Cheese Project – local, artisan, freshly made cheese which has just launched in the last week or so. The thing with this cheese is that it’s fresh – it’s not your aged cheeses. These cheeses are made the day before you buy them and they’re best eaten in a few days. (I know I’ll have no trouble achieving that!) The salted cheese curd is divine – kind of like a mix between creme fraiche and goats cheese – and a steal at $6 for a small tub. We also snag some truffle butter ($7).
Truffle butter and salted cheese curd
Can’t wait to see what’s in store for these two markets next time!
Date: Saturday, 5 July
Where: New Acton, Canberra
Cost: Varies, but most food $12 and under
Worthwhile factor: Worthwhile
Want more? Head to The Forage website, or Hustle & Scout.
In The Taratory 
Nice wrap up, looks delicious… with those crowds, glad we didn’t go…. don’t think I could safely manoeuvre the knee scooter. $8 for a mulled wine is a bit steep! Love the Max Brenner chocolate… that might be a mid morning week day visit for moi at this stage. Yum.
Great write up! Captured the day perfectly 🙂 And hope you enjoyed the cheesecake 🙂
Ugh, we totally missed the Hustle & Scout part! Didn’t even realise it was connected. Goes to show that the Forage side of things was well-advertised, not so the Hustle & Scout. We turned up at 4:30-5ish and Forage was well oversubscribed. For an event that was advertised as 3-7pm, to have stalls running out of food was pretty disappointing, and no thought seems to have been given to the movement of people in and out of such a small space. That being said, I thought it was a great crack for a first time event and sincerely hope it happens again, just with a little better planning next time.
We arrived later, but was still packed with people. So impressed so many Canberrans supported local producers in such bitterly cold weather. Loved the artisan cheese place too!