School's mini foodie precinct of city shares good stories, promotes business

He and his school mates Zach, Seb and Bryce have recreated Saigon Allee as part of a mini, bustling Ballarat foodie precinct at St Patrick's Primary School.

Grade five and six pupils have been exploring the concept of stories this term, which led to wanting to learn more about the cultural stories in town and the role food plays in sharing such cultural stories in Ballarat.

So, they hit the pavement and have been calling in to different restaurants about the city, especially in the Armstrong Street foodie precinct, to recreate what they learned for junior pupils and families at the school.

Business owners have shared their immigration stories and foodie inspiration.

St Patrick's teacher Marney O'Brien said pupils also began to better understand how tough it was for hospitality in the region. This had been sparked by interest in how the community had rallied to save The Forge Pizzeria after its struggles to stay afloat became public earlier this year.

Already families have been started to explore some of the restaurants and food outlets that have been studied for this project.

The girls who have launched the mini-Forge have planned a special end-of-term dinner later this week to try the most popular pizzas on the menu. They say these are the Shearers, Margherita and the Nutella and Strawberry dessert pizza.

The Forge invited pupils in to try kneading their practice dough. Time4Thai offered a demonstration in wok food and had pupils making spring rolls. Others offered exclusive tours.

BELOW: Take a closer look at some of the shop fronts

Lily, Pippa, Payton and Holly said the new Pancho location, which opened on Mair Street in early 2024, is fantastic.

They met Jose, Simone and Anna, who are running the restaurant as friends, just like them.

Lily loved the colour and brightness in the restaurant and they learnt so much about Latin America, which was made up of 34 countries and that boasts more than 370 languages.

The girls also pointed to lots of cool Latin American celebrities, such as Jenna Ortega, Selena Gomez, Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and Bruno Mars.

The group was particularly impressed by the food.

"We have tacos, nachos and guacamole and there is [Venezuelan national dish] pabellon criollo," Payton said. "It was very fun working with them. We sent them letters and they were nice and kind and inviting in writing back. It's been a wonderful experience."

There were lolly, clay and paper models of most dishes in the 18-strong foodie precinct, which also featured Ballarat favourites like Olive Grove, Campana's, Il Piccolo and Raggazone.

For those seeking an unbiased food review, the replica Tokyo Grill House was serving up superb mini sushi rice rolls.

Businesses were bustling when The Courier visited and yes, parking in the precinct was a bit of an issue with pupils chasing down lollies as they explored shop fronts.