Upon entering the venue of Tastemarket Bandung at Paris Van Java Mall in Bandung, one will immediately feel refreshed by its all-natural, mostly wood, decorations. There was even an inviting green artificial grass laid in one corner, transforming the area into a lush meadow -- suitable for the event's theme: “Picnic in the greens.”
This second installment of Tastemarket's three-day culinary festival, starting Aug. 29, was initiated by Trademark, the organizer of the annual fashion event Trademark Market.
Trademark Market basically gathered young and innovative local designers and fashion entrepreneurs to sell and introduce their products to an equally young market.
According to Tastemarket spokespers
on Decil Prapanca Ikranegara, Tastemarket is the culinary version of Trademark Market.
"This year's Tastemarket offers a total of 104 exhibitors; only around 40 of them are from outside Bandung," said Decil.
"This is where young ‘foodpreneurs’, who mostly don't yet own a store, usually introduce their products to segmented larger markets and gain more popularity through social media like Instagram."
In addition to the market, live music and DJ performances also enlivened Tastemarket with today's entertaining indie music.
"Tastemarket is such a young, unique and innovative event: a must visit!" said foodie Nurul Wachdiyyah, who attended the entire three-day event.
Nurul got to watch the performance of Mustache and Beard, which played romantic folk tunes, and commented that the band had indeed instilled a romantic mood in the air.
She also found enjoyment in many of Tastemarket's food stalls that offered unique and delightful dishes.
She mentioned Teppanice as one of her favorites: a unique ice cream vendor from Bandung with a display that allowed visitors to watch how the dessert was “cooked” at the ice cream grilling station, starting from the original milky dough.
"It was fascinating to see ice cream prepared in the Japanese teppanyaki-style. It successfully made the stall really popular and caused a long queue," said Nurul.
Fatbites, another stall from Bandung, also stole Nurul's heart because of its refreshing Summer Fling, a beverage consisting of milk, yogurt, dragon fruit and a large chunk of mango.
Other food stalls that attracted long lines included Greenlab (a smoothie stall selling healthy fresh juice from fruits, vegetables, cereal and honey), Dr. Freeze (a stall selling ice cream made with liquid nitrogen), Karokun (a delicious sate stall that sold wagyu beef skewers), Ima Mobs Kitchen (a stall operated by a young male crew that offered infused vodka and a Dutch menu item called Blinde Vinken that tasted amazing) and Jago Warung (a stall that offered chic and well-designed food packages as souvenirs).
Other than being the most “happening” event last weekend in the West Java's capital city, Tastemarket also had its flaws.
According to one of the tenants Royal Stag Bistro Citra Sadiqah, although the culinary festival successfully featured a merry and joyful atmosphere and indeed offered a great way to boost its brand awareness, the venue was rather small and thus was quite uncomfortable to visit, especially during peak hours.
On Saturday night, for example, Tastemarket reached its peak with more than 10,000 visitors attending, making the place too crowded and too hot to stroll around in comfortably.
The lack of signage placed around the Paris Van Java Mall was also an issue upon which many visitors commented. The mall is famous for its hard-to-reach location and is surrounded by congested streets, especially during weekends.
However, all agreed that Tastemarket was a unique and attractive event and must be repeated annually to help boost the city's creative industries and its young food entrepreneurs.
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