For the Love of Shepard Avocado Festival

Overview

If you're in the camp of people who've chosen avocado over a home loan, then you might as well go all out, right? Well, this autumn, there's no better way to do that than at Sydney's new two-week-long avocado festival For the Love of Shepard.

Celebrating all things to do with the Shepard avocado — the Hass avocado's greener, lesser-known sibling — this festival will see Cuckoo Callay in Surry Hills pay tribute to Australia's favourite smashable green fruit with a limited-edition lineup of special avo dishes.

For the purists (or those not so keen on pushing their limits), you can keep things simple with an Avo-colada smoothie ($10), made up of Shepard avocado, coconut milk, honey, spinach and pineapple. If you really love avocado and don't want any accompanying elements, we'd perhaps recommend the cafe's slightly confusing 'You're the avo to my toast' avocado toast — which comes without toast, unless you pay $6 extra. It's artisan sourdough though, apparently.

For the real enthusiasts, go ahead and gorge yourself on Shepard French toast ($26), complete with avocado mascarpone, lemon meringue, lemon curd and caramelised white chocolate topped with Shepard avocado ice cream.

The limited menu from Cuckoo's executive chef Oliver Hughes is available from Monday, March 14–Sunday, March 27 — whenever the cafe's kitchen is operating. If you're keen to experiment in the kitchen at home, Cuckoo Callay will also be creating a digital step-by-step recipe guide for the Australian Avocados website.