Back to our roots - Taiwanese dessert bonanza

 Dessert stand in a night market in Taipei

You would think that immediately after my return from my home town Taiwan, and having had a gastronomical indulgence while I was there, I wouldn't be in a hurry to sample more of the same in Sydney.... you thunk wrong my friends! In fact, it made me miss the tofu desserts, shaved ice, desserts of various jellies and legumes and things you normally consider as savoury only, but sweet. So Taiwanese (and other Asian) desserts it is!

Lucky for us Taiwanese gluttons, Meet Fresh opened in Sydney a couple of years ago. It's a specifically Taiwanese dessert chain offering classic desserts like sweet silken tofu and taro balls, with a variety of toppings from red beans to 'honey beans', not to mention grass jelly - very much an acquired taste as it has an unappealing appearance.

Let me start with the least visually appealing sweet of the day - warm grass jelly, basically a bowl of black. And it is a thick, half set jelly, highly unlikely that anyone would order it if they didn't grow up with it. Grass jelly in summer is enjoyed cool and helps calm and chill, but consumed warm it helps with the respiratory tracts, protecting it from the winter chills. Sure it looks hideous.... get over it!

Red bean and green tea is now a stock-standard, vanilla ice cream of "Asian dessert" flavours. Again green tea and matcha (powdered green tea) is an acquired taste, and has slightly confronting appearance, but has now become more widely accepted.

Why oh why do Asian desserts have to look and sound scary? Here a first time Asian dessertee braves the black glutinous rice dessert with taro. And what did he think of it? He LOVED it! It is a rich, almost nutty, dessert with a great texture, another fabulous winter warmer.

And the classic "Taro ball" - made of mashed up taro with starch to form a chewy ball, cooked in a sweet syrup base and served with a selection of sweet taro, or red bean, or sweetened lima beans. A dessert and a meal at the same time.

Despite the temptation that is ice kachang, we only really desired something warm - Roti from Mamak! It's a lovely fine pastry that can be taken sweet or savoury. Of course we had a sweet version - pandan sugar and coconut - aromatic, syrupy sweet, and warm ~~~

Apologies but we could not bear to indulge in Passionflower ice cream, for it was cold and windy...black sesame ice cream will have to wait another time!!

YOUR mini reviews

I know, I know. It's about a month late. Much apologies for the late posting - I could have done it in my spare time while in Barcelona (rubbing it in… rub rub rub), or during the last 3 weeks when I had plenty of 'me' time. The real reason was that I just got slack - you may vent your frustration and anger (and maybe envy?), via the cyberspace, and I won't talk back. Promise.

OK so the theme for April was "submit your mini dessert review", meaning that while I indulged during my holidays, YOU the dessertees were my contributing guest editors. And I was really pleased at the responses over the last month. Dear June even posted photos (many thanks)!  Here are her reviews:

"My dessert was voted a favourite at the Restaurant Du Lyceé Hôtelier Escoffier in Nouméa, New Caledonia - Verrine Chantilly A L’ananas et Vanille De Lifou, Tuile Croustillante. Chantilly was the lightest, most delicate whipped cream ever, layered with discreetly mild pineapple and topped by strips of vanilla pod (with seeds!) from the nearby South Pacific island of Lifou. Oh, and the crispy tuile tickled my palate. What an indulgence!" 

"I don't need much encouragement to share this delectable dessert - the infamous Singapore ice kachang. When I was a kid I loved this dessert called ice ball - it was sold by street hawkers who shaved a block of ice into his hand and put a teaspoon-full of kachang (red beans, cooked and cooled) in the centre, before completing to shave more ice to form a ball of ice. Since those nostalgic days, ice kachang is now served on a dish (for hygienic purposes) and buries more delectable tid-bits than kachang. Slurping a hand-held, colourful, syrup-coated ice-ball provided most of the fun experience for a kid!" 

Then it was my list of Sydney favourites - many of the desserts can actually be found in past blogs (see links), and I have deliberately chosen only those that are always available so if you feel the urge to challenge your sugar tolerance, just follow the links …

** Tiramisu - Napoli in Bocca at Haberfield - I consider this the best tiramisu I could buy in Sydney…. knowing how many fabulous home-cooks can now make a ripper of a tiramisu, I don't want to say this was the absolute best in the world!

** Creme brulee - Bather's Pavillion at Balmoral 

** Macaron - La Renaissance/Baroque at The Rocks - No "hamburger" or "pigs blood and chocolate" wackiness here!

** Pistachio gelato - Pasticerria Papa's at Haberfield

** Black sesame steamed bun - Ding Tai Fung at World Square, Sydney. Or any other Ding Tai Fung restaurant - black hero. 

** Croissant - Bourke St Bakery, Surry Hills, or one of their many other locations. Flaky and not dense nor glazed. 

** Passionfruit tart - Adriano Zumbo, Balmain (here and here). 

** Chocolate caramel "goo" tart - Blackstar Bakery, Newtown

** Palmier - La Gerbe d'Or, Paddington

** Espresso - this is hard so here are a few I can remember: Most of the places serving Campos Coffee or Toby's Estate Coffee, Little Marionette at Balmain, Bertoli's at Balmain, Bean Drinking at Crows Nest... 

Contribution from Wallace - thanks and now I have to go check them out!

** Banana Split - Bodega
** Fried Ice Cream - Holy Basil
** Watermelon Cake - Blackstar Pastry

Ness - who doesn't eat a lot of sweet stuff, but comes to DDT anyway so that we could take advantage of her generosity (she'd buy a serving and eat one mouthful, leaving the rest for us to devour!):

"It's been a while since I indulged (and yes, KT, you can laugh when I say "indulge"), but my favourite, favourite, favourite place is still The French House in Waterloo... That passionfruit dessert was delicious (the one spoonful that I had) and most impressively, my teapot and cup and saucer came out on a silver platter, with cubes of sugar and silver tweezers. I think everyone looked at their mugs of coffee and felt hard done by.

PS The black sesame creme caramel at Monkey Magic comes in at a close second, but that's because I also got cocktail of the month with a complete sushi roll (plus I got Katie's dessert wine)

PPS The Boon chocolates were pretty spesh (and exy), but mostly coz I got to share the experience with my dessert-making cousin, Jo... who left me a box made of chocolates full of chocolates after she house-sat."

And from Fran - with some international flavours too! 

‎1. The best maple syrup pie in Old Quebec town, Canada.
2. Lemon tart in Bathurst. 

3. Souffles in the Wharf restaurant.

So if having read through this long list of recommendations you are not tempted, go see a doctor. In fact come and see me - I AM a doctor (not the kind that's useful, but one none-the-less) and I'll fix you up!!!! 

CS

[KT: You missed my contributions... Losing your touch ;) Here they are:

Best hot chocolate: Hannsi Artisan Market, El Hatillo Venezuela - pure
cacao... I was high for a very long time and could stay that high
forever...








Best profiteroles: Antigua Bistro, Caracas Venezuela - crunchy choux,
ice cream centres, amazingly dark, warm chocolate sauce and fresh
toasted almonds







Best millefeuille: Lenôtre, Paris France - sized XXL, no joke! (pic
with CS' eager hand...)








Best pancake: Squzi, Buenos Aires Argentina - thin pancakes filled
with apple slices, flambée with rum, topped with vanilla ice cream








Best tart: (apart from myself?) Bourke Street Bakery, Sydney Australia
- ginger & pistachio crème brûlée tart, stunning! (no pic)