Festival Italiano + Glenfield Night Market

I had my weekend all set and planned – finish all the house chores, do grocery shopping for the week, and cap the day off at the Glenfield Night Market so I can sleep in and have Monday to myself. Not until I saw somebody tweet about Festival Italiano just a few minutes before I dozed off.

Festival Italiano is an annual celebration of all things Italian. This year they turned Osborne and Kent Streets in Newmarket pedestrian only from 11am to 4pm to celebrate “Italian culture, music, food, design and everything that il Bel Paese can offer in Aotearoa.”

Balloons with the colours of Italy’s flag lined the streets leading to the venue like Hansel and Gretel’s breadcrumbs. It wasn’t easy to miss coming from the Newmarket train station. There was a good mix of stalls with 38 exhibitors, most were selling food, drinks, and artisan products.

I knew I wanted to get my hands on freshly cracked Parmigiano Reggiano but had to satisfy the qualms of my hungry self first so we headed to Gusto.

Gusto’s service was quick and very organised. Sean Connolly was there as well.

Polpettine (Meatballs), Soft Polenta, and Parmigiano, $8. Easily my dish of the day.

Stumpy’s stall was right beside Gusto’s. They had a big sign and a fairly manageable queue. We’ve never been to Stumpy’s before so we thought we’d give it a try and were pleasantly surprised with how our pizza turned out.

$12 Margherita

Stumpy’s story is printed on the box.

Sabato

$6 per 100g

Lalele Organic was there as well. I wanted to get a popolato but the queue was crazy! I decided to let it go because I can buy from the Queen Street store anytime anyway.

We were already full after sharing a calzone and decided to have drinks at Bambina because my fiancé wanted to try their lovely chai latte (I never really stopped talking about it since this post). But I spotted these guys and saw that they were selling gnocchi.

Pasta & Cuore’s $8 gnocchi

It wouldn’t be correct to say that the Glenfield Night Market is my favourite market because I haven’t been to any other. But from what I heard, it looks like the one in Glenfield’s pretty good. There’s a predominant asian population in this suburb, this is also where most Filipinos live, so it is expected that most food stalls are Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. I was happy to see two stalls selling typical home cooked Filipino food, there’s also Fat J’s, a food truck specialising in sliders owned by Filipino guys.

Savoury food will dominate your options but you won’t find yourself wanting in dessert. The popular Torro Churro is a mainstay, I saw a Southern Maid stall, soft serve ice cream, crepes, and several sweet juices. There’s ample seating because a few people buy food to takeaway. Although, I still recommend going early, the stalls open at 5:30pm, so you won’t feel rushed and hangry.

I don’t even know the name of this stall but I wen’t straight here because I know they sell grilled squid. $5 for two sticks.

$12 meal: $2 Sprite, $5 for 15pcs pork dumplings, $5 for 3 beef balls and 3 siu mai.

I never leave without having these.

I’d give the beef balls a miss next time.

Filipino Food from Tita Virgie’s (Aunty Virgie’s). I thought about getting Bicol Express for takeway but we promised no more takeaways from this weekend.

The Glenfield Night Market happens every Sunday from 5:30pm ’til 11:00pm at the lowest level of the Westfield Mall carpark.