Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival Is About To Bloom

Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival, NSW's largest flower festival and Australia's premier celebration of Japanese culture and cuisine is back for 2019.

Set against the made-for-Instagram canvas of the Japanese Gardens, the festival runs from Saturday 17 August – Sunday 25 August 2019 at the Auburn Botanic Gardens.

This year the festival will celebrate Japan's rich culinary traditions and cultural exports (fun), the splendour of the Cherry Blossoms and Auburn Botanic Gardens (flowers) and Japan's unique contributions to health and well-being with practices like "forest bathing" (feel good).

In 2019 festival organisers are delighted to announce that Japanese food expert, author and television host Adam Liaw has been commissioned to create the first of its kind Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival Bento Box.

"Eating from a bento box is a huge part of celebrating Cherry Blossom season in Japan," Adam Liaw, an Official Goodwill Ambassador for Japanese Cuisine, said.

"Cherry blossom viewing and food go hand in hand, and across Japan people gather with friends and family to see the blossoms bloom, but also to picnic and have a good time.

"There's even a Japanese saying "hana yori dango," which roughly translates to "dumplings over flowers", which means to appreciate good food even more than the beauty of the blossoms.

"The bento box is the Sydney Cherry Blossom Festival in miniature - a celebration of the meeting of Japanese and Australian cultures, creating something dynamic and new just like the first blossoms of the new season."

If you need something to wash your one-of-a-kind bento box down with, look no further than the Festival's very own izakaya (Japanese pop-up bar), serving sake and internationally recognised Japanese craft beer label Coedo beer.

For the full program of fun, flowers and feel good, click here.