Sugar in the City

Haven't been to the city for so long, I'd forgotten that Sydney CBD is quite a cool place to be. Of course there are tacky pockets, unsavoury corners, but that's the same with every city in the world.

Having to wait for Tim Ho Wan as we couldn't get a booking for their opening day, we head to the city for some sweet delights. To start with, I had to rely on someone else's directions for Lorraine's Patisserie as it sits deep in an alley, well hidden away from the hustle and bustle of George St - which is great for them, I would hate to have the lovely pastries covered in the traffic fumes ... besides, it's not half as pleasant having to pick and choose amongst the traffic and the frantic city pace.

It's takeaway only so on we went in search of somewhere to sit. Decided on Gumption in the Strand - great coffee place with some seating in the walkway of this lovely old building I consider the "mini QVB" but more elegant. So we brazenly opened our goodies from Lorraine (of course, with Gumption coffee): Rhubarb pie (nice and tart, sugary top crust added a nice texture to the otherwise squishy rhubarb filling, and great pastry); a raspberry and pecan cake (this was somewhat disappointing .. 'bland' in terms of flavour, the cake was nice but the only flavour kick we had was the little raspberry at the bottom); the light New York lemon cheese cake (light as a feather, fluffy and airy, with a good tang to it; can eat non-stop!); and the Ruby which we saved for last as it's the heaviest in flavour (orange chocolate ganache was brilliant and smooth, hazelnut dacquoise and cinnamon meringue adding flavour to it; vanilla mousse lightens the heavier flavours of the chocolate etc). Really wished to have tried some of the other offerings (see here for menu) so we will definitely return for the goods! 

Gumption Coffee - I had the Kenyan single origin pour-over coffee which had a lovely balance of acid and body, perfect for the light flavours of our desserts. Good cappuccinos too. Thanks a million for letting us take over!! 

By now, after just the first stop, people are feeling lethargic already. But we were very soon re-energised by the short stroll from one end of Strand Arcade to the other (via the hypnotically aromatic spice shop Gerwuzhaus, Sweet Infinity cafe with the mouthwateringly gorgeous looking lemon curd tart and creme brulee tart; and Cremeria de Luca gelato burger 'pop up')... then we got to our next stop, Koko Black. 

Funny how this works out - on the one end of Strand Arcade, Koko Back. The other end - Haigh's. Both excellent purveyors of chocolates. Best to keep them as FAR AWAY from each other as possible. Really, Strand is the chocolate connoisseurs heaven. 

Oh the gorgeous shiny hand made chocolates. And the selections! At least my affinity to dark chocolate eliminates half of the choices. We had a selection from salted caramel (as caramel, or liquid salted caramel truffle which received a "mm, mmmm, mmmmmm" from a very stuck mouth) to rose jelly (very girly, very 'pretty' tasting) to choc-dipped candied orange slice (great chocolate, must say the orange slice had only sweetness and no more of the orange flavour) .... I am waiting to consume my salted caramel and the dark chocolate mint... savouring it slowly, not so sure when I'll go into the city for them again. 

We then made a quick pit stop at Laduree en route to the Tea Salon at Westfield. Of course, for their macarons. Personally, not my favourite (Baroque/La Renaissance die hard) but still, they're good. This time there is an indulgent version - gold leaf coated chocolate mac. It does not give any extra flavour ... so it's nothing more than just novelty value. Liquorice was very subtle - it was only at the very end that we got the after taste. Real liquorice, not the anise substitute. 

Victoria Room's Tea Salon - set in one of the corners in Westfield, we got to chillax with a pot of tea served in fine dainty china. Not my preferred style (too girly!!) but it made us feel special. With tea one must scone - and this rose scone with a blob of Turkish delight on top was divine. Subtle rose flavour in the scone, accompanied by rich flavourful jam and lush cream. Ah, this is the life. 

While we sipped our tea, discussed life's ups and downs, we saw many trays of high tea go past, and again, vow to come back and sample them another day. 

But wait, there's more! The long tea break gave us the surreal sense of finality for the day, but something else awaits. Something fun, something reminiscent of childhood memories. Aqua S makes quirky soft serve flavours and serves them with quirky toppings. Move over 100s and 1000s or nut sprinkles, the choices were fairy floss (or cotton candy for Americans), or popping candy (!!!), or toasted marshmallow, or caramelised popcorn. The quirky soft serve flavours change every few months, and they only sell 3 flavours at a time.

A lot of fun - the fairy floss is more fun than anything else. Toasted marshmellow was the bomb! While popping candy just makes everyone giggle without fail. 

It was a good walk to help digest the soft serves before we arrive at Boon Cafe at Jarernchai Grocer, run by Chat Thai (not to be confused with another spectacular chocolatier, Boon Chocolate). On offer are Thai style tea/coffees or mocktails and unusual SE Asian style sweets. One of us ordered a "Gunners" (ginger beer and bitters with extra 'Pipo' jelly - don't ask me what this is) which was refreshing as it wasn't sweet, but not recommended for those with an aversion for ginger (like, me). We also got one of the pastries on the counter - don't know what its name is, it was layers of pastry doused in syrup. Sweet and sticky ... quick, gimme black coffee to wash it down. We were most intrigued by the guava and chilli sorbet sandwich, which unfortunately was out, so it was cashew butter and banana/chocolate ice cream with Kakawa chocolate sauce ... ice cream itself wasn't spectacular in terms of flavour or texture... what a shame. 

Burp. Well exCUSE me ... This was a long day with many goodies. Now we'll have to skip April DDT as both yours truly and the CEO will be out of town at the end of April (eating and drinking our way around different parts of NSW) so, how about if you be the contributor of the blog for once? ;) 

CS

Double Bay Delights

I'd forgotten how lovely Double Bay is - the village feel, tree-lined streets, little alleyways that lead from one side of the streets to another, and really lovely, stylish boutiques. Sure it comes at a price tag, but it's lovely to hang around here every so often.

It was a gorgeous morning to ferry in to Double Bay. A languid stroll later we arrived at D'Bee's. We started with a bit of coffee and a green juice (green apple, spinach, celery, cucumber, mint, lime, ginger) which set us up for the day of sweet onslaught. Really good juice, I'd make it myself minus the ginger though!

It was surprising that our dear CEO didn't go for the brioche French toast with bacon and maple ... but we got the ricotta hotcakes, kahlua creme brulee, cherry strudel and trio of ice cream. The cherry strudel pastry was excellent - with crushed nuts in between the layers of crisp pastry and filled with whole morello cherries. I giggled with the ice cream because it was the neapolitan mix of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla, but they were really flavourful. No fighting needed with the vanilla bean ice cream because there was more on the side of the thickest ricotta hotcake in the world: It was a little dry, but very eggy and fluffy. The favourite for most people was probably the kahlua creme brulee - excellent texture, though couldn't taste the kahlua - and the coconut ice cream was very smooth.

Moving on to our next stop - Pink Salt. We were greeted with a very cheerful waiter who sat us inside near the air conditioning - a much appreciated arrangement for a very hot day.

The passionfruit cheese cake and the coconut sorbet was delicious - tangy, creamy cheese cake; coconut sorbet was light and smooth. Apple parfait was a little icy and we couldn't really taste the apple; but pecan shortbread was nice, while the dulce de leche caramel sauce was thankfully not too sweet. White chocolate brownie was not white when it arrived - baked a little brown - and wasn't overly sweet, and the house-made chocolate ice cream was extremely lush. My personal favourite was the wobbly buttermilk panna cotta which was light textured and divine, while the tangy strawberry sorbet was refreshing for a hot day like today.

Cheese - oh lovely creamy dairy goodness - Delice de Bourgogne, a French triple cream cheese; Pyengana clothbound cheddar from Tasmania; Cashel blue - an Irish blue, served with bread and delicious quince and house-made lavosh... heaven on a plate.

After finishing our drinks and the last crumbs of the cheeses we made our way to the new InterContinental Hotel. It took the staff some time to settle us despite having made a booking way in advance. Once we settled, it was an easy choice: We'll have all your desserts please.

We each had our personal favourite so I'll just start with mine. The caramelised blueberry tart with vanilla bean ice cream and lime. I swear there was a herb on top that gave it a special flavour but I simply could not name it. The molten Manjari chocolate and lemon verbena ice cream was smooth and luscious. The Stockroom almond pastilla with chantilly, opalys and honeycomb was another very popular dessert, lovely, light and airy. The peach melba with white chocolate rocks was served with warm rhubarb syrup at the table that melted the white chocolate... and turned the raspberry sorbet into a soup. My least favourite was the apple donut with chocolate sauce .. maybe by the time we got to it the batter had cooled and no longer crispy so it was just a bunch of limp apple tempura with a dark chocolate sauce. Chocolate truffles were bitter sweet and rich, and on a whole, mouthwatering.

It was a shame that seating was a little clunky - the staff were friendly and helpful though it took some time to get our teas and coffees, and as much as the lounge was comfortable it really didn't suit a dessert seating as the coffee tables were small and low, so we have all had to juggle our plates, cutleries and cups.

So went another indulgent day. For our next adventure, we aim to celebrate the opening party of Tim Ho Wan in Sydney ... want to join us? ;)

CS