Food tours and smokey flavours at Bites

Clear your plates, skip breakfast and make sure your stomachs are empty for the mouth-watering Bankstown Bites Food Festival, on Saturday 27 July, at Olympic Parade, Bankstown, from 10am-5pm.

There will be dozens of food stalls this year, including the popular 2 Smoking Arabs, which recently won two awards at Meatstock for its succulent smokey brisket.

Owner, Nawaf Refai, said the secret to his success was keeping it simple.

"I use salt and pepper. That’s it. None of those fancy rubs. At first I was doing 12-13 hour briskets, but I’ve worked out the secret to doing it in 4½ hours now," Mr Refai said.

"We’re excited to come to Bites. There’s never been anyone like us there before, so we can’t wait to show-off our smoked meats and be a part of the event."

Items on the menu at Bites will include their famed slow-cooked Brisket Burger, Brisket Box, Brisket Pie, Sliders, Beef Ribs and Beef and Brisket Boxes.

There will also be a number of tantalising food tours available at this year’s Bites.

The tours, which run for 60-90 minutes, cost $10 (plus booking fee) per person and will start at 11am and 2pm. This year’s tours are:

Middle Eastern tour – Taste of Egypt, Bankstown Lebanese Fruit and Mixed Business, Nourished Organics, Sweet City Cafe and Cafe Amoura;Bankstown Delights tour – Loving Hut, Melt 27, Vbites, Nhu Y Juice Bar and Chehade El Basha & Sons Sweets;Taste of the World tour – Pho Sua Restaurant, Valley View Continental Groceries and Spices, Miami Pizza, Jenkins Cake Shop and Cafe Nho;Indulge your Senses tour – Inspiration Coffee, Fujiyama Japanese Cuisine, La Moosh, Phamous Vietnamese Restaurant and Nature Care and Acupuncture Centre;Bankstown Sports Food tour (18+) – Cornerstone, Lucky Cheng’s, Peking, La Piazza and Brewhouse; andBankstown RSL tour (18+) – Star Buffet and Twisted Noodle.

For more information about Bankstown Bites, or to sign-up for one of the food tours, visit cb.city/bankstownbites