Divine Dessert Tour

Torrential rain at Pier

2012-02-02T23:03:00.000-08:00

To welcome our dear CEO, Sydney really turned on the weather for her ... unfortunately, it was the faucet that was turned on, rather than the blue sky... No matter, we were under cover and enjoyed our experience there - beautiful service, artfully presented plates of sweetness, lovely experience albeit a little damp!!

The menu - take your pick!

Creme fraiche parfait - light, refreshing granita, summery citrus and nutty salad almost

Apricot souffle - must be had first coz the flavours are very soft - that hole is after the warm apricot sauce had been poured in. Perfect souffle fluffiness with subtly fragrant apricot.

Valrhona chocolate cremeux - its chocolatey what needs to be said? The date and fig honeycomb ice cream hidden in teh center was probably the best part of the cremeux, perhaps there were too many parts' to make it a bit crowded, but of course Valrhona chocolate always wins.

Kiwifruit vacherin - this could be my personal favourite except the blueberry violet crumble was just too cute to ignore. The fresh herbs set this plate aside from the usual dessert choices. Even though this should be tasted after the apricot souffle but before everything else, the flavours still manage to hit the senses after each mouthful. Perfect for a hot summer day - or a windy rainy one in our case.

Blueberry violet crumble - it could be classified as sickening sweet (from the white [fake] chocolate :p) but one spoon would draw out the little girl in everybody. The flavours of black grape and the cherries were buried under the white chocolate but the juices made for a yummy thick shake. The tapioca noodles turned gummy-bear like on the cold plate so extra chewing was required. I kept sighing 'awwww' before finishing the shared plate.

Lemon blancmange - in order of consumption this should have been #3 but by the time the plate reached me, I'd been won over by "cuteness". Maybe this is an excuse for me to go back and taste it again .... I won't object!

Let's have a drink to celebrate 4 years of indulgence...

2011-12-09T20:18:00.000-08:00

How time flies. It never ceases to amaze me how far we've come in life. And does every year go by quicker than the last? How is it possible that we've had 4 full years of indulgence already?!

Let's do some maths: if each piece of indulgence contains an average 500 calories, and I have 3 items per tour, that's 132 indulgent experiences ... ok let's skip the calorie count already...

To celebrate 4 full years of indulgence, and that it's again close to the end of the year, we decided to have a drink to it ... more precisely, have a dessert WITH a drink or two in it - Alcoholic dessert home bake! To make it more challenging, our dear CEO came up with the rule of "4 ingredient dessert" that includes the alcoholic ingredient... significantly limited what we could do. But then again, who could resist strawberry and champagne (or sparkling white, now that Champagne should be reserved for bubblies produced in Champagne only) to go with a flaming crepe suzette? See, that's an alcoholic dessert to start your day ....

So we started the day with an affogato: freshly brewed espresso, liquor of your choice (suggest Frangelico, or Kahlua, or Bailey, or something sweet and sticky but not fruity), and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. You'd think the coffee will be masked by the ice cream and the liquor, but no, a good coffee always comes through, as does good quality ice cream (recommend Connoisseurs vanilla bean ice cream, but if you have many guests any creamy ice cream will do).

It was suggested to us by a non-participating dessertee to have a sparkling white spider - ie bubblie + ice cream - but somehow we didn't think the prosecco was working (except MB who thought anything ice cream, and anything alcoholic, was divine), but Tempus 2 golden botrytis worked better.

This is my 'guilt free' dessert - making Italian zabaglione is a little bit of hard work, as you need to whisk the egg yolks over a bain marie manually until it's light and fluffy ... half an hour later, light, melt in your mouth golden botrytis zabaglione was ready! I reckon I burnt off all the calories from one serving of zabaglione with the half hour of whisking. Well worth the effort.

At any dessert experience, there must be chocolate. Our visiting dessert aficionado JT, all the way from South Africa, brought us hand made truffles with liquor. Gorgeous, professional and absolutely divine, beautifully tempered dark chocolate. All she needed was a box, and she's ready to sell!

So the rest of the afternoon we just chilled, nibbled on ice cream, and chocolate, sipped prosecco, topped ice cream with Kahlua, or coffee, thinking about our future dessert adventures... next year will be interesting for you DDDs, as there will be a European and South American DDT experience in 2012 - stay tuned!!!

CS

[KT: South American experience? Are you only referring to Eze's presence? teehee]

Sugar Hit 2011: a 4 part sweet shot!!

2011-10-27T05:26:00.000-07:00

October has been one of the most exciting months of the year for one fabulous reason: it is the annual Sydney International Food Festival - food is all around us throughout the month, and for us dessertees, it's a matter of multiple choice questions with multiple answers: which ones do we opt for?

This year though, we found the variety somewhat lacking compared to previous years: it used to trouble us trying to narrow it down to 5, but this year we found it hard to select for one SugarHit per week.... but of course, we did eventually.

The Cortile at the InterContinental is a frequent SugarHit destination as they usually offer creative desserts. This year the bitter chocolate vacherin sold me: it's a mousse like dessert but isn't as airy. The blood orange custard sandwiched within gave an exciting citrus explosion, a well-combined contrasting flavour to the mild bitter chocolate. The pistachio however paled in comparison (in my opinion). The plate was decorated with sprinkles of wattle seed dust - it's aromatic but not so keen on the texture as everything else was delicate. The mini chocolate and bergamot macaron - delicate, fragile, lovely flavour ... I heart thee.

In one of the previous home bakes we had a theme of sweet and savoury, which confused/intimidated/scared many, at the same time we had willing and daring creations that charmed us all. The gorgonzola panna cotta at Ocean Room was probably not a popular dessert pick, blue cheese is very much an acquired taste to start with, and to have this in dessert? Then again, I did once have a brilliant sweet savoury dish of roasted fig with gorgonzola and honey, as well as red wine poached pear with gorgonzola, maybe this SugarHit pick will add to my gorgonzola dessert repertoire?

When the wobbly plates of panna cotta were carefully placed in front of us, I knew it was going to be good: Smooth and fragile, it was drizzled in caramel sauce, served with caramelized banana, and citrus jelly. Perfect consistency for panna cotta (lush, creamy, but not heavy at all), and only a hint (but definite) of gorgonzola , giving this creamy dessert more body. Caramelised bananas, well, not a personal favourite dessert, but it was rich and complemented the panna cotta. The flavoursome citrus jelly was a surprising delight, I could have this jelly (or jam) every day. Wine: Think it was Brown Brother's sparkling moscato - the kind of stuff I drink too quickly and makes me sing and dance unashamedly... (lucky for Ocean Room, I didn't)

Getting a table at Hilton's Glass Brasserie was a pain. In fact the same thing happened last year and we ended up skipping Hilton altogether. Then we turned up to find the Glass Brasserie quiet and spacious - booked out?! Really? Or is it that the managers simply didn't want the classy restaurant packed with fanatical sweet teeth with cameras and annoying flashlights?

Never mind all that. We were drawn here by the milk chocolate bavarois with tonka bean creme brulee and caramel sorbet with salted beans - definitely more popular and readily accepted than the gorgonzola panna cotta the previous week. Each mouthful divine - the subtle sweet savoury flavours rocked. Silky smooth texture in the caramel sorbet, with a surprise hit of crushed nuts. The bavarois-creme brulee layers were like a semi-freddo in texture, with delicate flavour leaving us wanting more. Coincidentally it was similar to the vacherin (see above) in texture but definitely not flavour.

I left Cafe Ish's "Create your own" dessert to last, partly because after 3 divine Sugar Hits we should have better ideas of how to construct a dessert ... On the way there, we were guessing how it was going to work, and thought it's likely that we'd have elements of both Australian and Japanese desserts on a plate, and we'd basically be challenged on our plating skills. Was there gonna be Anzac biscuits and green tea flavoured stuff, and maybe red bean paste and meringue .... the mind boggled!

Surry Hills is great. As we circled around looking for Cafe Ish, we kept pointing out interesting looking cafes/restaurants/shops along the way - lucky residents! It's a mixture of the funky, the classy and the creative. DDT must return to spend a day in this neighbourhood.

Our dessert came on an artist's palette, and we were given little spatulas, brushes, droppers and forceps - tools to be creative with. Sauces were in little dips on the palette, so were the berry and red bean paste; A scoop of wattle seed ice cream sat in the middle, an Anzac biscuit, tiny piece of meringue and a biscotti surrounded the ice cream. Cubes of jelly were stacked in the other little dips of the palette. Really, the presentation on its own was so lovely, most of us just wanted to eat it straight away! Besides, the ice cream was melting ... had to just eat it...

But no. Not I. I'm not Adriano Zumbo, but I am a scientist (what's the association here??) and I have a graphic designer sister. I MUST play with my food ... and my mum never had to tell me to stop playing with my food (never had to - always a good eater). First thing was to move the ice cream onto the plate. Then I just stabbed the (red) spatula into the ice cream. Anzac biscuit was crumbled and scattered on top of the ice cream. A couple of droplets of custard carefully placed next to the ice cream ... having decided that it was too pretentious, I just smeared it a little and left the brush where it was. Then I drizzled the custard on the meringue. And stacked the jelly on the tuille biscuit.

No I didn't have any design in mind, really I was just playing with my food.

It was fun. Ice cream was fabulous, Anzac biscuit was nutty and crumbly (not tough and chewy like some others)... but that was all I could say about the dessert. The concept was great, but the contents ordinary. The biscotti was rather tough. There was not enough of the authentically Japanese flavours: Where was the green tea? I was also hoping for some mochi, or maybe black sesame (though technically it's Chinese, but then again fusion cuisine is meant to be borderless). And we were somewhat disappointed that our lamington was absent from the Australian dessert component. And what's with the yellow stuff I thought was custard ... it tasted weird to me, almost garlicky!! What the....%$#@ It was a great night nonetheless.

That concludes the Divine Dessert Tour's attempt at Sugar Hit 2011. Many lovely memories: I was asked which one was my favourite, but I really couldn't say - scroll up to see for yourself the first 3 divine offers and you will understand why it was hard to choose a favourite. Of course I may be biased by my personal preference for delicate and sophisticated, French influenced flavours ... then again, which dessert aficionado isn't?

Around the world in Enmore!

2011-09-24T18:10:00.000-07:00

I had to have a huge appetite.

A couple of days leading to our culinary round-the-world trip, I had 3 DDDs cancel (one going home leaving Sydney that day, one had to be at the other side of Sydney [in this rain? Not pleasant] and another one has a last minute thing pop up). As I'd offered to eat their share of sweet indulgence for them (plus KT's ) ... I had to eat for myself and 4 others today.

Let's just say I'll have a food baby by the end of the day ... or food quadruplet, more like.

My parking luck was truly legendary. Untimed parking across the road from Pickwick's! It wasn't the result of my painstaking street-parking research but through pure luck.... rainy day demands good parking spot!

I did not hesitate to order the brioche French Toast (with ricotta, lemon myrtle honey, cinnamon sugar, strawberries and fresh raspberry compote). Coulis was fresh crushed raspberry, layers of brioche bread soaked in custards, generous and sweet fresh strawberries piled up on the plate ... And, bonus - good Toby's Estate coffee.

I decided to skip Ocean and Cow & The Moon as it was too cold for icy desserts and I didn't want to miss out on the famous Blackstar 'goo' chocolate tart (they sold out early afternoon last time we came). And I found parking just outside Black Star - AGAIN! I was free from any parking problem in Newtown ... that's unheard of!!

Black Star is phenomenal because despite the miserable weather, there was still a queue out the door and the chairs outside the bakery were still occupied! From a large selection these were cherry picked: a canelle (a French dessert that looks unassuming but has a lovely caramelised flavour), a goo tart (KT: uh, they won't know what DDD asks for coz WE call it the goo tart haha. It's the chocolate & caramel tart!), and a beautifully constructed strawberry watermelon and rose cake.

Strawberry watermelon and rose cake was melt-in-your-mouth moist and fragrant, the texture more like trifle because it was so moist; I have never had a dessert with a slice of watermelon in the middle - it was lovely but although the flavour was great, I question the texture as the rest of the cake was so fragile and tender. I love this dessert nonetheless. Canelle is a classic baked dessert that isn't eye-catching. It's something you must have tried to appreciate it. Slightly crispy on the caramelised surface, slightly doughy centre, very fragrant. And then the star of Black Star - the chocolate caramel 'goo' tart , gorgeous, decadent, gooey and luscious, pinch of salt to cut the sweetness, but the caramel was so sweet it overpowered the chocolate - who would have thought! [KT: compared to the pic from 2009 it's not as GOOEY the chocolate... the cold weather? change of recipe?]

Next time I have a chance to visit Black Star, and if they still make it, must try their salted caramel panna cotta.

Had to battle the rain and again find parking, and again I had the good fortune of finding free parking just around the corner from the next destination! Pity about the rain, it didn't matter where we went, it was miserable.

Decided to fast-forward to Luxe Bakery and finish the day early - Funky warehouse style interior, a wall of (nearly sold out) organic sourdough loaves, and a cabinet of tarts and pastries perfect for the afternoon. Creamy smooth tangy lemon curd on flaky pastry similar to that of Bourke Street bakery, highly recommended. The loaves were so tantalizing I had to take one home.

A real shame about the weather - would have been a lovely day otherwise Hopefully we'll have a good October for Crave International Food Festival!

[KT: Line your tummies, ardent dessertees!!!!]

Hidden gems in Marrickville

2011-08-29T03:48:00.001-07:00

I actually hoped to go to Newtown this month - Black Star's "goo" salted chocolate and caramel tart had been calling me - but got the neighbouring suburb instead, thanks to the superb organisational skills of our CEO from exactly the opposite side of the world. The route of our Marrickville adventure spans about 2.5km from start to finish, which meant either a lot of walking (useful for working off our sugar high) or carpooling (if sugar isn't a problem for your blood). It was a lovely sunny but cool day - the chill of the tail of our winter lingers - quite perfect for a stroll, really.

Miss Petty Cash Cafe was an unassuming place around the corner off the main street, but I found it packed with locals. It really was quite lovely sitting by the sidewalk, watching the world go by... and being off the main road, it was VERY pleasant.

Lovely breakfast selection on the menu - of course the chocolate brioche French toast was selected, as well as buttermilk pancakes with fresh fruit and maple syrup. Was it too early for a chocolate brownie? NEVER!

Light, fragrant and syrupy pancakes and piles of fresh fruit adorn the generous plate. The raspberry friand, chocolate brownie and "chocolate friand" (which tasted more like a brownie) were moist, chocolate brownie decadent (KT, come back ...). The highlight was the chocolate brioche French toast though - the waiter said "you might need a box for the left-overs"... to which I replied "you have not seen me eat, obviously".

What else can I say about this tower of brioche stack with chocolate ganache, chocolate sauce, praline and ice cream apart from simply indulgent? Yes. The brioche was a tad dry. Pity, otherwise a beautiful dessert/breakfast to die for. [KT: note to self, Sunday breakfast at home in BA. *drool*]

Perfect day for a stroll - a little nippy in the shade, but we were armed with chocolatey goodness so fearlessly we headed to the next spot - one of my all-time favourites - Bourke St Bakery. But it's not at Bourke St. Who cares really, if I could get my brulee tart and other delectable goodies, I will happily have it anywhere.

As always, beautiful pastry - either the tart base or the flaky Danish. I will always order a brulee tart from Bourke St Bakery, although I usually opt for the strawberry brulee tart rather than the ginger brulee tart. However there was nothing to hate about the ginger tart - it was just as creamy and luscious. Our favourite was the simple date and custard tart - everyone took one mouthful and said, "mmmm!" because it was just such a simple, subtle but flavoursome treat now added to my "must have" list from Bourke St Bakery (strawberry brulee tarts, chocolate and raspberry tart, croissant). However I'm not quite sure about the cherry and fennel seed sourdough ... excellent bread, just not so taken by the flavour.

Cafe New Deli's cake display cabinet housed some rather unusual tartes and tortes - Belgium chocolate and meringue tart, for example - who has seen a non-citrus meringue tart before? The chocolate ganache was decadently dark but with the meringue, it felt rich. Linzar tart was filled with at least two punnets of berries - a tart of a home made berry jam, it's tangy and packed with flavours, highly recommended. Cafe New Deli makes fresh juices of your choice, I chose an apple, pineapple and lime juice - would have loved to have more lime, but it was still very refreshing.

Our final stop was the sweetest spot of Hellenic Bakery, where we knew we will have all things syrupy. We wished for more company as we entered, there were so many cakes and biscuits and custards and other Greek specialty sweets to choose from. We ended up with just a couple of custard desserts and a take home pack of syrupy nutty citrusy biscuits. Very rich, in need of coffee to wash them down!!

Pity Old Thanh Huong which was just across the road was closed, otherwise I could have used the icy 3-bean dessert drink to refresh myself. Then again, I don't think my body would appreciate the ice on this cool late winter afternoon.... Another lovely day had, as always!

CS

ps it never ceased to amaze me how we always managed a table everywhere we went - but given our next spot is the always busy Newtown/Enmore, we shall try our luck!!

Caffeine addicts unite!! Aroma Festival 2011

2011-07-31T04:16:00.000-07:00

This is what 100s and 1000s of people came for!

I've been to every single Aroma Coffee Festival. At least, if not, I've been to every event since I found out about it. Of all these years, it was only dampened by one rainy day! It's always a good day out, but the last few years it clashed with our usual "last Sunday of the month" dessert outings. So why not combine my two loves?

The Rocks boasts some of the BEST restaurants in Australia. But we are not here for them - maybe another time, the Snow Egg is ever so tempting - we are here for two of the best patisseries in Sydney.

La Renaissance has been an institution in The Rocks. Tiny unassuming entry lined with constant long queues, the display cabinet filled with temptation, delicate little cakes always hard to choose from, even just a plain croissant would induce satisfied smiles. Their baguettes are so beautiful - skinny, crusty, unlike the "baguettes" in a round-the-corner, pedestrian bakery. In fact La Renaissance was the place that got me obsessed over macarons - the light, airy, melt in your mouth French almond meringue sandwiches ever so tempting and divine.

Breakfast for champions!

Sidetracked, again ... Breakfast at La Renaissance, even on a busy Aroma Festival day, it was surprisingly easy to hog a table or three at 10:30am, but the queue had already started. Of course we had to have pastries - chocolate croissant, pistachio snail, almond croissant (yes KT!) and a lovely apple almond tarte... Just to start us off! Then we indulged on a tangy, smooth lemon curd tart, and a light-as-a-feather mango/passionfruit mousse cake; also, a must - La Renaissance salted caramel macarons - the ultimate in macaron goodness (at least in Sydney).

The breakfast indulgence had to end; caffeine uptake must commence (if it hadn't already). We were rather disappointed that all of our favourite roasters weren't there! Vera Nero, Voodoo, Grinders ... ARGH! Now where do I get my coffee... I was now "forced" to try different brands to discover more favourite blends. Also no coffee machine display, or the coffee art - cups of coffee from the lightest cafe latte to long black making up a giant picture - what a shame. But it's still a great day out for those who love a festival, there are still some lovely coffee stalls and beautiful cookies and sweets.

And some mediocrities ... what's Gloria Jeans doing at a festival that was dedicated to obsessive coffee connoisseurs ... and why are people lining up to get GJ coffee? Of ALL coffee places, on the annual coffee festival?!?! I'm not a smart woman, but I know what good coffee is!! [KT: sacrilegious!]

Enough whinging... we still have Baroque to look forward to. It is a patisserie as well as a bistro, serving authentic French meals done beautifully. Pity for some we're only there for desserts - very tempting was their 9-hour slow roasted pork, or a juicy bit of flank steak....

... Could have taken 2 more shots - one of the toppled mini macaron, and the final empty plate

Zulu - "Valrhona 'araguani' 72% chocolate mousse, 'Araguani' ganache with salted caramel, chocolate biscuit base finished with mini chocolate macaron" - lush, rich, not too sweet thanks to the high chocolate content, and that blob of salted caramel ganache - oh yeah, OOOOH YEAH. The quenelle of pistachio ice cream was silky smooth - love.

Gift-wrapped!

Voltaire - cold set vanilla cheese cake with mixed berries wrapped in Valrhona Ivoire white chocolate - a pretty present for Neil, though we were not quite impressed. Still love a baked cheese cake more.

Rich and decadent

Fleur de Lys - Valrhona Guanaja 70% chocolate mousse with crunchy praline - another rich, decadent chocolate dessert - smooth and lush, an all time favourite. Just can't have too much in one go :p

I wasn't so sure when 'violet crumble' was on the descriptions - so this is what they mean by violet crumble! :D

The only dessert ordered off the dessert menu - salad of winter and preserved fruits, violet crumble, elderflower granite - it was absolutely GORGEOUS both in presentation and flavour! Light, fresh, luscious and delicate - give me ten such plates and I will devour them all. A very sophisticated dessert of great range of texture and flavour.... surprises with every mouthful.

After the two dessert stops for the day (plus sampling the flavour explosion of honey cinnamon cookies, chocolate coated coffee beans, nougat of various flavours, and filling my neural receptors with caffeine ...) we called it the day. A perfect winter's day, indulgent desserts.... Guess it could be better, but I would be greedy if I asked for more, wouldn't I!?

All the pretty flowers!

2011-06-26T06:12:00.000-07:00

As we get to our 7th home-bake, it is getting harder to find an original theme. Last time we had "salt" - which confused many, but after just a little bit of research, it wasn't that hard, was it!? Same thing with "spice" - the previous theme - demonstrating that these themes though challenging are far from impossible, and a lot of fun.

Flowers have been used in cooking for a very long time, the classic example is rose water, the byproduct from distilling rose essential oil. This sweet and gentle scent was used in desserts in many cultures, while other flowers in the form of extract (orange blossom flower, another classic example), fresh flower (zucchini) or more frequently dried flowers (chamomile tea, anybody?). Floral fragrance quite frequently appears in our lives. So this became the lucky 7th theme of DDT home-bake!

Everyone who attended had stretched their creativity and ability to use their floral flavour in a style of dessert of their choice - there was plenty of lateral thinking and experimenting, not to mention trying to incorporate the subtle floral flavour into the dessert such that it isn't over-powered by other components of the dessert.

Jasmine creme brulee - I think I went overboard with the whipping and this became a sabayon rather than a custard. Oops. Next time I will be a little less vigorous in my whipping :P But the jasmine flavour was there in the creme :D [KT: due to the newly developed biceps from revamping your kitchen? gentle!! hehe]

Rose water shortbread - in the shape of caterpillars (very fitting - thanks MJ!!) - sweet and gently rosy, no wonder rosewater is such a popular dessert flavour. Also from MJ, to achieve her favourite colour - lavender meringues. Good amount of lavender scent in the meringues, pity the colour didn't quite turn out as she'd hoped. Still yummy.

For someone who doesn't cook and finds cooking stressful, her shortbread was probably one of the best I've had (I'd pay for shortbread of this quality!)! [KT: FedEx a box? pretty please...] Lovely shortbread with osmanthus syrup brushed on top, a little light, but next time we will know how much osmanthus to use in the syrup.

Another lavender offering - beautiful lavender jelly in trifle - pity the presentation is immediately ruined as we dug into it.

First timer JD - welcome!! - created a version of San Bo Luong, a classic Vietnamese sweet drink, using chrysanthemum infused jelly - containing Chinese dates, lychee, seaweed, white fungus, and pearl barley - good enough to eat as a meal - deliciously hearty. It should be enjoyed icy cold, but I think it would be beautiful warm too. I'd never had seaweed sweet, must say it's better than savoury :P

Poor VH's dessert is left to last because I personally voted this one BEST of the day - wild hibiscus syrup infused poached pear - OH MY GOD it was gorgeous! Melt in your mouth pear with simply gorgeous colour, hibiscus flavour is subtle (slightly acidic - the flower described as "rhubarb and raspberry") but it was just a pleasure to consume. Not to mention a lovely colour :D

And to accompany our desserts, our drink of the day also matched the floral theme - Elderflower cordial in soda water - lovely fragrance, definitely refreshing and will become my pantry standard for surprise drop-in guests.

There you have it, we have explored many different floral flavours, but this had barely scratched the surface!! Orange blossom water was absent, as was violet. Given the possibilities out there, why not keep exploring and experimenting some more?

CS

I said love, I said pet, I said DARLO!

2011-05-30T15:06:00.000-07:00

Rainy. Gloomy. I sometimes hate Sydney winters but that gives me an excuse to indulge on a warm, hearty breakfast … and sweets. Like I need excuses to. Having had a break from dessert in April (because yours truly was having fun demolishing her old disgusting kitchen), we had to have a double dose of dessert in May!

Le Petit Crème started our May DDT with a warm toasted home made croissant (crusty and buttery) and coffee (good coffee but nothing out of the ordinary). Toasted brioche (this one's for you KT!) was oh-so-delicious, with or without jam and butter.

KT please stop reading this now - Brioche French toast was even better - warm maple syrup, brioche soaked with egg custard (except maybe the thickest part in the centre, which was compensated by soaking up copious quantity of syrup). Then there were these lovely little cupcake things - we're told they're yogurt madeleines something or other which was just fabulously light! "I'll take 2 to go, thanks!" [KT: kill me now!!!! ps they look awfully like massive Dutch poffertjes!]

We missed out on their crepes - both because we needed to save room for further desserts, and that there was no more room on our little table. Never mind - next time!! Ambience was OK, because it was so busy the wait persons were a bit rushed but never without a smile. Definitely will return. [KT: you mean you didn't let greed get the better of you!? last time I checked this was DDT right!??]

I walked past Strawberry Cream many times in the past, but never stopped by despite the temptation. Finally I have a chance to sample their goodies - and with company which are fabulous for sampling many goodies! The cabinet offered many tantalising choices - macarons, tortes, tarts, slices, petit fours, profiteroles … it was fun just watching customers agonise over what to get.

Lemon tart was one of our favourite picks here - tangy and creamy. Creme brulee was average - could be more brulee'd, could be thicker, at least it was smooth. Petit four was extremely sweet so I couldn't taste the vanilla in it. Lucky it was tiny. The St Moritz was a pleasant surprise - nothing like the St Moritz at Lindt chocolate cafe (which was rich and decadent) but fabulously light. Excellent flaky puff pastry, light sponge and chocolate creme patissier, smooth chocolate ganache. Cherry strudel also had lovely flaky pastry, tangy sour cherry filling. But take it easy on the icing sugar!! The Japonaise was layers of chocolate ganache, meringue surrounded by almond flakes - it was a bit "is that it" to most people, as it would be nice to have some dacquoise (almond hazelnut meringue) to add texture and flavour.

The big macaron with cream and raspberries was a disappointment - dense shells snowed under icing sugar (my pet peeve - icing sugar should be used sparingly, if it covers anything it is simply to cover imperfections). Which also meant their macarons would be sub-standard - with so much hype over macarons all over Sydey, you'd think a French patisserie would take pride in perfecting macarons?

Boon chocolate was planned as a "look and buy chocolate to go" stop which turned into "look at these gorgeous exquisite chocolates for half an hour and let's sit down and enjoy a shot of chocolate" stop. Excellent ambience with chocolate-coloured wall paper (of course!) and jazzy music. An extensive menu included hot chocolate, chocolate shot, chocolate mousse, iced chocolate and any other chocolate variations imaginable. "Caballeros de Manila" chocolate shot set will give anybody a chocolate high - rich, velvety, bittersweet chocolate with an amazing spicy flavour ("75% chocolate with coffee, nutmeg, paprika, muscovado sugar with note of lapsang souchong tea and tobacco notes"). With each chocolate costing $2.50 it is a little hard to justify the indulgence but they were exquisite. Select flavours were sampled : Mira (white chocolate with Tasmanian mountain pepper berry and strawberry - what should pepper berry taste like? All we could taste were the strawberry and white chocolate), Balsamico (balsamic vinegar with strawberry praline - couldn't taste the balsamic vinegar though?), Isabella (dark chocolate with Mexican chilli - mmm spicy!!), Jasmin (dark chocolate jasmine tea - lovely fragrance), there was also a honey caramel I couldn't remember the name of (gorgeous honey flavour that didn't overpower the caramel or vice versa), and a lime zest one which only had a hind of lime.

It was simply a gorgeous shop. We weren't allowed to photograph the store but we promised to come back and sample more, despite the $2.50 per chocolate price tag. [KT: Me 3!!!]

Have we had enough? Well a normal person would have given up by now but we soldiered on. Frozen yogurt on a cold drizzly day doesn't sound appealing, but the taste was worth it - the lightly tart frozen yogurt sort of cleansed our palate and it was a refreshing break from the rich chocolate. Surprisingly I finished the whole serve without trouble even after being officially overdosed on sugar from the previous stops. The upside-down cow provided some amusement…. Wowcow!

Planning a bakery for the last stop was strategic - it makes sense buying a loaf of organic crusty sourdough at the end of our tour so we don't need to carry it for the whole day. Apart from excellent loaves of bread, Infinity Bakery also have some gorgeous looking pastries - cute mini lemon meringue tart (good pastry, tangy lemon overpowered by extremely sweet Italian meringue - nice overall), wholesome almond orange zest slice (could have that as breakfast if I wanted to), and probably the best tart for the day - fresh raspberry and vanilla creme tart with wonderful short pastry and rich creamy creme, topped with fresh raspberries. A freebie pumpkin bread was appreciated though my guess was that this was a failed experimental batch as it was tough. Ah well, freebie is always welcome!

Overall, an awesome day as always. A little disappointed with Strawberry Cream but all the other places were more than enjoyable, even towards the end when everyone was on a sugar high and didn't think we could have more sweets. If that was not a double dose of sweets making up for April, I don't know what was. Sorry KT, you missed out - again - and for the rest of this year - on some fantastic sweets. [KT: D'oh!] And the firemen we walked pass a couple of times!!! [KT: Double d'oh!!] Welcome newbies - Jo all the way from South Africa (here to do a pastry course - of course you had to be here!!) and Martyn all the way from level 9 of Kolling with a sweet tooth and keen on a good tart!![KT: If I was Martyn I'd take that as an insult...]

Next month is our half yearly home bake DDT - the theme will be FLOWERS. NOT things that are SHAPED like flowers. But sweets with a floral flavour. Believe me it's not TOO hard - tricky as always, but there are more edible flowers out there than you realise. Start your creative juices and see you end of June!! (but don't everybody do something rose-flavoured … I beg of you!!)

PS you ought to be relieved I didn't accept the suggestion of "Heston's Feast" for a theme … yet. muhahahahah!!!

Mambo Italiano at Five Dock

2011-03-31T18:00:00.000-07:00

After a long, satisfying and indulgent day, I secretly decided I should organise our future tours to include a decent walk.... reduces guilt factor by 15%. Maybe.

Previously we have had our Italian-themed DDT (Haberfield). For a very long time before the DDT experience, Haberfield had set the bench mark for what I considered the best tiramisu and wood-fired pizza (both at the same place - Napoli in Bocca). And then we found the best biscuits (S&P Sulfaro's), best pistachio gelato (Pasticceria Papa) and the best lemon gelato (Dolcissimo's).

Can Five Dock beat Haberfield?

We started at Pasticceria Tamborrino. And an espresso is in desperate need for yours-truly as I karaoke'd with a bunch of labrats until wee hours of the morning ... where was I, oh Tamborrino's - showcasing a wall-length cabinet of biscuits, pastries and cakes.

Clockwise from top left: Pistachio shortbread, sfogliatalle (don't ask me to spell or pronounce this word!!), almond biscotti and ricotta canoli

There were so many choices, and many of them in little bite-size portions, it was hard not to sample as many as the first DDT stop could handle. I had 5. I loved the melt-in-your-mouth shortbread. I loved the sfogliatalle (ricotta, spices and citrus peel filled pastry - crunchy on the outside with creamy centre). I loved the canoli (but I'm partial to canolis). Almond biscotti was quite ordinary in comparison, maybe it should have been consumed without comparison?

There were several different fillings for profiteroles - ricotta was creamy but very light, not overly sweet which was great; pastry was light and fluffy. Chocolate custard was somewhat lack-luster - not saying it's undesirable but it just didn't stand out.

KT - Almond croissant!! But take it easy on the icing sugar please. Almond paste was a bit much for me, but it's a personal preference. EXCELLENT donut - great tangy strawberry jam, possibly homemade, with fluffy and not overly sweet donut. What simple pleasure this one was! [KT: I wouldn't have gone for it coz it's not FRENCH... okay, I'm just jealous that I can't have ANY of these... *drool*] {CS: Dear CEO, this was a Mambo Italiano DDT, and you are nit-picking that the donut ain't French?? You MUST be jealous!}

Apple crumble - a breakfast item by Charisma, filled with fruity goodness. I just wonder how they sliced it soooo smoothly??!!

To make a comparison with Pasticceria Papa's phenomenal pistachio gelato, I had to have it when I saw it. Look at the size of this thing - a monstrous scoop for just $3. In terms of price it'd won me over. Flavour? Rich pistachio, not the fake green-coloured essence you get at cheap ice creameries. Smooth, with slight gritty texture. Only dislike was it was too sweet - pity.

Tamborrino served really good coffee with excellent aroma, not the $3 cup of milk we sometimes get at mediocre cafes. I was hoping that the next few stops won't be as rich and flavoursome as Tamborrino's ... so that I don't have to roll myself back into my car.

Marineve was our next stop but as it only did take-away, some of us decided to skip this sampling opportunity. The biscuit and cake counter looked reasonably impressive, but somehow I'm still immersed in the Tamborrino afterglow .....

La Delizioza also featured an extensive cabinet of food, many of which similar to that of Tamborrino and Marineve. But what was very different was the varying quality - Lemon tart did not taste fresh, friands dry and stale, and choc-hazelnut torte was bland. What was also most unacceptable was the forgetful barista - missing 2 coffee orders after it had been paid for. Something the staff should learn would be that getting the order wrong is nowhere near as bad as forgetting the order. This should never happen.

What was interesting and enjoyable was the banana caramel tart, moist and fragrant. Though I think I prefer eating my banana fresh ... it did taste a bit like an over ripe banana mixed with some caramel.

Here's another apple crumble - it was moist but nothing out of the ordinary. The torte was very ordinary - really disappointed to see shortening based cream sandwich in bland sponge cake. Where's the aroma of hazelnut?!

What could have redeemed Delizioza was their florentine - chewy, tasty, nutty, syrupy. Also very cute was the mini tart with grapes on custard. It was fine, but didn't dance on my tastebuds though.

Was I being unfair on Delizioza? I think not, but it certainly would have tasted better if it were the first stop. But the dry friand, poor lemon tart and forgotten coffee were certainly real, while the other orders were not tantalizing nor interesting.

Not a bad idea having a walk at this time of day - our sugar high was affecting our level of judgment for sure! It's about a km to the next stop - so a slow relaxing stroll helped with digestion and increased the appetite - again, yes!

I like the look of Dolcetti's desserts cabinet - they look interesting and fresh. Even the lemon tarts didn't look like the standard lemon tart of flat and tough custard. However it was still a little hit and miss, as the tart pastry was not always satisfactory. The pear and custard tart, excellent filling in a shell that's barely cooked. But the strawberry tart had a chocolate coated shell with a lovely short brown shell.

For a comparison with Tamborrino's excellent jam donut, it was ordered here again. Good dough, but jam was not as generous nor home made.

Another interesting item was an unattractive looking bread and butter pudding which gained varying opinions. I liked that it was moist and had generous custard, but it was not as appreciated by others though.

How we managed 8 dessert places in Surry Hills before is beyond me. [KT: um... 9, you omitted Sparkles which we chanced upon :P] Our bloodstreams now contained more sugar than it can process, after 3 or 4 modest sittings. But with our final stop just around the corner, we soldiered on... as best we could. Trovatino, here we come!

There's a gelato counter that I could only look at and sense despair. Lucky (?) their dessert counter was not extensive, so only a lemon and lime curd tart was requested. Others sheepishly asked permission for a savoury snack, and given they behaved so well earlier in the day, permission granted (hehe will this happen if KT is around? [KT: maybe... I'm getting soft in my old age...]) Must say, the white bait fritter looked fantastic, and sitting next to a rich red aromatic penne napolitana was more tempting than I anticipated. The lemon lime tart? It would have been excellent had it been searingly sour... in fact it was sickeningly sweet. So sweet I thought I could feel the crunch of crystalised sugar ... not right!!!

Thankfully I've parked where the first stop was, so I could walk off the excess sugar.

So glad I finally got to sample Five Dock, the other Italian village. Funny Leichhardt was never on DDT agenda ... but with places like Haberfield or Five Dock, we didn't need to fight with the crowds who don't really know better (SMUG!!!)

Thanks to everyone who attended - long time absentee Stephanie, Ewa, Patricia and Justin (and bub Evelyn!!), and new devotees Phillip, Hoe Yin et al! Thanks for coming back!!

KT: *still green from jealousy* There will be no DDT for April so stay tuned for a double dose of sugar high in May!

Divine dessert goes south - to Banksmeadow!

2011-02-26T03:14:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time since us DDDs graced Sydney South - the last time we went beyond inner city area was to Hurstville, and that was held in our inaugural year of 2008! So it was about time we revisited Southern Sydney, and Mascot/Banksmeadow area it was.

Our absent CEO found Brasserie Bakery and Croquembouche Patisserie in Banksmeadow. This is not the first time our CEO was absent, but this time it is highly unusual for two reasons: firstly she would be away for the rest of the year, secondly ALL of the DDDs (apart from yours truly) are first timers, and they don't know the CEO nor secretary directly ... in fact I am still trying to figure out the connection. But who cares really - a great time was had by all (I presume) and new friendships made (at least on my part!!)

Brasserie Bakery was created by people who are passionate about making artisan breads. For their history go to their website. Since then they have earned awards at the Sydney Easter Show, and have won over a steady stream of customers ... and now they can add DDT to their long list of devotees!

We started at the bakery as it closes at 2pm, and that it has a more breakfast fare which would be more easily stomached by our first timer DDDs. However, despite the generous concession that the first timers will be allowed to order savouries, none of them broke our sacred DDT rule (except a sauteed mushroom and ricotta on toast, but that was ordered AFTER consumption of sweet breakfast!) [KT: these bloody mushrooms should never have made the album!! :P]

Coffee: good coffee, the large latte wasn't just a $3.80 cup of milk!!

Mango eclaire - I had my reservations for the filling but it was simply divine. The choux pastry was light and fluffy - beautiful.

Almond croissant - I was a little disappointed. The pastry was dense, filling dry and very sweet, nothing like the croissant aux amandes I had in Paris. Then again, I had been told off by some Frenchmen that there are different versions of almond croissant ... in which case, I prefer the other styles.

Orange and hazelnut cake (nice and moist, reminds me of Paddington!), apple crumble and chocolate brownie cheese cake. This was one beautiful cheesecake! Light, tasty, like cookies and cream cheese cake but lighter. Voted our favourite dessert at Brasserie Bakery!

Verdict: I loved this place. Fantabulous selection of breads and sourdoughs, and generous pieces of bread for tasting (excellent marketing ploy - if you like the bread you tasted, you're more likely to take a loaf home). They also have an extensive breakfast menu - if you happened to be in the area for breakfast, go for it. Very tempted by their poached egg and smoked Tasmanian trout ... and the egg and soldiers ... and the pancake......

Moving on to our next stop (and making sure we took some goodies home) to Croquembouche. While there were a steady stream of customers, many of them ordered take aways, as well as their namesake, croquembouche. I LOVE sharing DDT with a large group of DDDs - we ended up having one of each of their desserts to share! Again starting with coffee - good acidic expresso, not bitter, very aromatic.

Amazing cutting skill by Hoe Yin, 8 little portions of a standard macaron! However I was not so pleased with the mac, it was dense (gasp!!! One of the mac cardinal sins). Then again I DID have something similar to this texture in France (Olonzac market) - is it possible that macs can also have different styles??

An extremely rich chocolate fondant (KT where are you... I want your fondant!), brioche filled with custard cream (light and fluffy, good breakfast food actually), a smooth Concorde (almond meringue, chocolate mousse and dacquoise base)

Creoles (passionfruit and mango cream on dacquoise) - beautifully tangy, fragrant and light dessert favoured by DDDs today; and a strawberry custard tart.

Verdict: As nice as it was, do I consider this divine? Croquembouche reminds me a little of Christophers, or Laurent Boulangerie, beautiful presentation but I really think it could be better ... also disappointed that tiramisu was on the menu. Was this supposed to be a French patisserie or what?

After the sweet attack, DDDs moved on to a third and unscheduled stop at Bandung Rasa, Mascot, where I wanted to have their 'es campur' - an Indonesian ice dessert - while the others were more than happy at the prospect of a savoury meal. According to Isabella, the food was authentic (but she did recommend Kingsford for a tasty Indonesian meal). I did have my es campur - the most colourful, refreshing and interesting ice dessert, with different textures (of jelly, jackfruit, red beans and shaved ice) completely different from our French indulgence earlier. While I was unable to have a proper meal, I vowed to come back to Bandung Rasa for a proper meal (mental note: and when will I finally visit Mamak?????)

With that, I bid our new friends farewell - and look forward to their company again, at our next DDT!

PS: Thank you Vicky for inviting your friends to our humble event! Welcome Vicky, Olie, Hoe Yin, Phil, Isabella, Els, Charisma, Jackson!

A bientot, Adriano

2011-01-31T21:52:00.000-08:00

For 3 years our beloved DDT CEO extraordinaire KT led our monthly dessert expeditions. However the wind had changed - KT made the incredible decision to follow her heart alllll the way to Buenos Aires!!! To wish her a bon voyage - one last indulgence, as the dessert scene in BA is no where near the sophistication of Sydney - where better than a final fling with KT's wishlist-fiancé Adriano?

The kitchen behind the cafe

Adriano's success was well known to all. Prior to his rise to (national) fame, the Balmain locals plus those in the know (ahem, like us DDDs) flocked to their local secret gem. Now that every second person and their pets in Australia had heard about him, there was no way his little cafe, which was a block away from the patisserie, could cope. We have long heard that he was expanding and opening a new cafe at Rozelle, so now that it has happened, we DDDs must show our presence!

A couple of us turned up at the patisserie and made our selections - as the cafe had a different selection to that of the patisserie - THEN we arrived at the cafe, which was a hole in the wall - it had two benches each seating 5 stools. And there was not a lot of space to cope with the endless stream of customers. Oh how were we to cope with the expected 20+ people?! Lucky KT was organized and found Bridgewater Park, just minutes walk from the cafe, so the string of DDDs bought and brought their goodies and devoured them at the park. Two tables under cover on a hot summer's day - Perfect!

Divving up the goodies!

A few old favourites included almond croissant, pepito (pastry bread with chocolate and hazelnut filling, excellent breakfast), chocolate croissant, palmier, berry brioche, passionfruit tart and a selection of macarons; a few other interesting new items - yuzu, kalamansi and lime tart, mandarin tart - both beautifully citrusy and tasty, but our favourite was still the passionfruit tart; "was are be you me" - wasabi peas, pistachio creme patissiere, grapefruit confit, wasabi balls - I had reservations but it wasn't overpowering with the heat and sting but that lovely wasabi flavour. Light and fluffy pastry, tasty smooth pastry... better than the mustard profiterole "Allesa I like big buns" 12 months ago.

Interesting selection of macarons - including wasabi (VERY nice - see description on the was are be you me); Go-chu-jang Korean chilli (some liked it, I didn't - personal preference); toasted marshmallow (basically sugar filling in sweet macaron shells... sugar on sugar); peach tea (like just like a Lipton peach tea only crunchy!); Other flavours from the main patisserie - rosemary and apricot earned unanimous frown and "hmmm.... interesting!" - not a popular flavour, I'd say.

Old favourite salted caramel was sold out at 10am - we were lucky to have the last two! A new 'favourite' - lime pineapple, tastes like a splice ice cream (only crunchy!), hope they keep that flavour as a regular. Unfortunately due to the warm weather the macaron fillings were suffering, however I must say that these macarons have improved from how I remembered it - they used to have a hard outer shell and an air pocket (gasp!!) between the outer shell and the macaron body, and at times a bit chewy. This time, every single one we cracked open had a fragile shell that just gave in at the slightest pressure, no air pocket, and virtually melts in your mouth! Thank you Adriano - perfect macarons, amazing flavours.

The last 2 salted caramel macs!

We love the Adriano creativity, daring and imaginative flavour mix and match, putting them together into an artistic architecture, a feast for the taste and sight. One thing we all found disappointing was the size of the cafe "expansion" - if it was to allow more patrons, what's the idea of the tiny cafe? The original cafe could at least seat 20, and its menu included some delectable sweets to die for ("Paris" la vie en rose - romantic rose and berry dessert; and chocolate hamburger made with chocolate macaron and chocolate ice cream etc). If only we were able to sit in relative comfort enjoying some of his signature desserts....

With that, we say BON VOYAGE to our dearly beloved KT... Hope you are happy in your journey and we will think of you when we indulge next!!

CS

KT: I had enough Adriano to last me the year... welcome our first time DDDs, Colleen, Scarlett, Shelley, Neil, Lesley and Caroline!

Divine Dessert Tour 2010 finale - Sweet and savoury!

2010-11-29T05:01:00.000-08:00

Divine Dessert end of year Home Bake - sweet and savoury!

To challenge ourselves, and those who are game enough to attend our half yearly home bake, we come up with themes so tricky, that means we have a lower turn out than we would like… then again, us obsessive compulsive dessert perfectionists won't settle with mediocrity … right? Besides, it's the end of the year! Gotta end DDT 2010 with something more than memorable!!

Our theme confused and baffled many. "Savoury? What contradiction! I'm lost for ideas! I'm afraid I can't make it then…" But it really wasn't that hard. The most simple savoury dessert I have had was a chocolate 'goo' tart, with just a pinch of salt to break up the richness and adding a new sensation and indulgence. Or salted caramel, maple syrup and bacon (a classic Canadian breakfast), or simple pleasures of hot chips in soft serve.

Then creative chefs such as Heston brought the art of cooking to a new dimension, messing with our senses further. They created dishes that look savoury, but are sweet; or looks like a chocolate cake, but are in fact maybe a duck liver parfait. Some of us have experienced dessert sushis and Vietnamese spring rolls. In fact, it appears that modern cooking aim to break boundaries and perceptions!!

So come up with something that tastes both sweet and savoury. Or something that looks like a savoury item. Or something that includes ingredients that are normally associated with savoury dishes… Think outside the rectangle of classic recipes and reach for the sky!! (or Google something)

Our brave CEO decided to attempt a chocolate ravioli - yes, pasta - chocolate pasta filled with chocolate creme patissier or peanut butter cream. The flavour was a hit, visually it just looked like very dark pasta (really messing with our perception!!), which unfortunately was a tad tough. I demand a repeat attempt and to be the taster!!

I was ordered to create savoury macarons, taking inspiration from the 2kg macaron recipe book carted all the way back from Lenotre Paris. The idea was to use macaron as the carrier only, ie plain shells topped with savoury ingredients and serve as finger foods. Smoked trout, double cream, avocado and dill adorned a dozen open macarons - visually pleasing, and of course tasty. Although this didn't look as pretty, the maple syrup baked crispy bacon was a hit with the DDDs, it was described as "crunchy and melty and creamy and crispy at the same time". Flavour and texture sensation!! I did cheat and make simple macs with salted caramel/peanut butter. I like them. I make them. People adored them. No complaints!!

One other simple offering: red wine and brown sugar poached pear with blue cheese - sweet and savoury. Phwaw the blue cheese was potent ... an acquired taste that. But the pear was nice :p

June our first time DDD brought along a "Malay Cake" which probably originated from Malaysia, but there are now different versions adapted form different regions in SE Asia. It's a steamed brown sugar cake with deep fried shallots, which is very aromatic and adds a savoury touch to a lightly sweet cake.

Poor Martin. His initial intention was pumpkin pie - which was gunned down by our CEO (KT: I put the challenge to him to make mascarpone souffle and he chickened out!) So he brought along a yam and maple syrup pie with vanilla mascarpone cream topping - OH yum, aromatic flavour galore, and the fragrant luscious mascarpone cream, smooth pie filling, thin pastry. It would be lovely warm too, served with cold mascarpone cream. (KT: Ok, it looked pretty good, I appreciated the vanilla seeds in the cream, but improvement on the pastry next try please! ;)

Eat your vegetables - Zucchini anyone? It was hidden in a moist zucchini, date and maple cake, served with maple cream cheese (I see a certain flavour preference today! Maple syrup doing good business with the DDDs - KT: trying to butter me up?? LOVE maple syrup!). Couldn't taste the zucchini which was masked by the dates and the sweetness, but it certainly made the cake beautifully moist.

Ah I love all foods colourful: Beetroot and chocolate cupcakes with cardamon icing - this would have qualified for the last DDT home bake too - cardamon flavour was just right, it is a strong spice and can easily over power but it didn't; and just like the zucchini cake, beetroot flavour was undetectable except for the lovely rosy hue. Gorgeous cake!

Another colourful offer that was highly unusual - tofu and berry mousse, carefully blended with organic firm tofu, but apart from the texture we could not actually taste the tofu (unlike the tofu cheese cake from Ella's patisserie which tasted like soy). And it was lovely! There you go, ways of getting kids (big and little) to eat tofu and other vegetables. Disguise them in desserts!! A bit of a shame that it wasn't very chilled - Stephanie did come a long way to Chatswood!!

Dessert to wrap up a dessert tour: crispy prosciutto baked with maple syrup, cracked over vanilla ice cream. This one had KT hyperventilating!

That's all folks, another culinary year - we had our ups (Paris!) and downs (canceled DDT for the first time! And it was to Adriano!), desserts that exceeded expectation or desserts that did not meet expectation. But all of our indulgent experiences add to our memories ... so we bid you farewell 2010, and wish that 2011 brings us a new heights in culinary explorations! INDULGE ON!!

CS

KT: Welcome, our first-time DDDs: June and Amy! :D

October Good Food Month!

2010-10-28T05:00:00.000-07:00

Before you read this one, please go to the previous blog - DDT does Europe - to check out our activities in September! CS

Paris, je t'aime!! Having spent 3 weeks just eating my way through Paris, it was sad to return, because now I have to look harder and walk farther to find a good croissant, luscious almond chocolate croissant (if they exist in Sydney), fresh baguette that is just so tasty on its own, pastries and desserts and cheeses and wonderful fresh produce than I could dream to indulge.

But we must pay the bill and that means the holiday must end at some stage... the consolation was, we would be returning to Sydney for the October Good Food Month!!

Being our favourite month of the year (yes, better than Christmas and new years holidays!) October Good Food Month is simply a culinary delight for gluttons such as us. Long before October, and far far away from Sydney, the CEO and Secretary munched French baguettes and indulged on €2 Camembert cheeses, €5 bottles of wine, while cherry-picking five of the SugarHits from this year's Sydney International Food Festival.

I love creme brulees. Second only to macarons, it would be my favourite dessert. Unfortunately I have had poor creme brulees in Sydney - curdled at Santa Cruz (Mexican restaurant in Cremorne), runny (too many places to mention), or solid creme brulees at Paradoxe (Crows Nest, which WAS a paradox because they are run by a French chef!!!). But I could not resist the orange and grand marnier infused creme brulee at Harbour Bar, Park Hyatt, The Rocks. Verdict? Two thumbs up. It was luscious but not overly rich, and I easily polished off 1 and 2/3 portions thanks to fellow dessertee who has a much smaller dessert stomach ;-) Citrusy fruity Brown Brothers dessert wine totally complemented.

Big welcome to Flora and hubby to their first DDT!!

Next stop, desserts with a heavy Asian influence at Monkey Magic, Surry Hills, for black sesame creme caramel with red wine-poached pear, coconut ice cream and pink peppercorn, served with a choice of cognac, or Brown Brothers dessert wine, or Choya plum wine. What also intrigued many of us were their attractive a la carte dessert menu, so we managed to have a variety of desserts on this night - with caramel semifreddo, silken tofu cake with lemon sorbet, banana white chocolate and shiso spring rolls.

Tofu cake was very light, but I could not taste the soy flavour. Quite unlike the tofu cheese cake from Ella's at Hurstville. To me it was a tad bland. Lemon sorbet was lovely, very smooth, literally disappears as soon as you lick it. Very nice. The spring roll was interesting - Not sure I personally enjoyed the flavour, but that's unfair to this unusual and flavoursome dessert. Salted caramel semifreddo was gorgeous and creamy. The black sesame creme caramel was the SugarHit of the night. LOVE. Rich sesame flavour; coconut ice cream light and fresh, but I'm not sure about the pink peppercorns - which I scraped to the side, but others enjoyed the spicy and slightly numbing flavour. And we agreed that the plum wine went best with this dessert - maybe it's got something to do with the Oriental flavour - Asian sweets seem to go better with green tea, for example. One criticism I could come up with was that it wasn't exactly creme caramel, but more a creme brulee without the burnt sugar on top. Not a flaw in my mind.

Tofu cake, black sesame creme caramel, banana white chocolate shiso spring rolls ... sorry but i didn't get a photo of the caramel semifreddo because I forgot to bring my camera!!! :-p
Big welcome to Lisa and Cathy :D What a place to start your dessert experience!

The one chocolatey dessert we chose from SugarHit was the white and dark chocolate mousse in a tuille, with cointreau orange segments, woven caramel nest, and honeycomb pieces on chocolate grenache. It was probably the most average dessert we had on our dessert tour this year, chocolate mousse was not light and airy, there was not enough dark compared to white chocolate mousse, and the tuille which encased it was a little stiff after refrigeration. We couldn't taste the cointreau, the 'woven caramel nest' was simply caramelised sugar. My favourite part was actually the honeycombe - melt in your mouth (except the outside crust) and lovely and bitter-sweet.

Welcome Amy and John!!

The next dessert echoed the Asian theme - Black sesame blancmange served with sparkling muscato at Ocean Room. It was slightly disappointing in terms of the serving size, after being spoiled by Monkey Magic and Holiday Inn, this little cup of blancmange was looking very pathetic. But it was so delicious! Blancmange is like a panna cotta, it's cooked cream set with gelatin, and quite unlike Monkey Magic, this one was very light. Give me 5 - because I can have 5 in one sitting.

Because our CEO missed out on Holiday Inn and Ocean Room, the finale was the Bel Mondo's poached pear and medjool date with hazelnut praline ice cream, spiced french toast and butterscotch sauce. We had last minute cancellations so it was just the two of us, eating 3 desserts - not that we are complaining because it was very delicious (and the head bartender was flirting heavily with us) - the spiced french toast was soaked with eggy goodness, very moist and full of flavour. Ice cream was just lovely - who doesn't like praline ice cream (apart from ppl with nut allergies)?! It took us a while to figure out what was the dark, what looked like the caked-on paste on the bottom of the plate - it was a paste made of dates! Very delicious.

Another month of culinary over-indulgence is over. I wonder what other creations the pastry chefs in Sydney will come up with next? But before they do, November DDT is the half-yearly home bake again!! Get your creative juices flowing and come up with something no one else had had before!! (KT: test it on others first please :P)

CS

Divine Dessert does EUROPE!

2010-10-26T04:59:00.000-07:00

What on earth happened to DDT the last few months?? August DDT was canceled for the first time ever because of poor (non) turn out (to Adriano - WERE YOU PEOPLE CRAZY?!), so our CEO reported her divine dessert encounter in Buenos Aires ... followed by a culinary September where we had our private DDT in where we consider the gourmet capital of the world - FRANCE.

To line our dessert stomach, we headed to the "best afternoon tea" in London, where high tea all started - the Langham Hotel. We opted for the Alice in Wonderland, and chose from their extensive tea selections. It was a lovely touch that we were able to change tea free of charge, if we did not like the taste we could have another one free of charge, though given the price of course it should be!!

Choux pastry with raspberry creme patissier was so light, but with distinct but subtle (how does that work?!) raspberry flavour. The friand with raspberries and pistachio cream was topped with a tiny thin strip of raspberry dark chocolate - even with such a small piece of chocolate you can taste the raspberry flavour. It was amazing. The glittery chocolate ganache covered ball was the best carrot cake I have ever had, with the luxury of gold foil and "bling" of the glitters - cuteness. The whole presentation was just sweet and cute - shortbread on a stick like a lolly pop, glitter on ganache and pink pearly rice bubbles on cupcakes....

The savouries were underwhelming and nothing "wonderland" about them - chicken and tarragon sandwiches were delicious, out of the 4 different sandwiches on the plate. Neither the salmon cream cheese nor egg sandwiches were extraordinary; and I don't get cucumber sandwiches. It is tradition - but if it doesn't give anybody fireworks on their tastebuds, why bother continuing that tradition?

Finally there were the scones and cream and fruit conserves - good warm scones, rich double cream and flavoursome jams. But we were too full to finish our scones - gasp! Oh well.

In hindsight we should have ordered from two different high tea menus despite the other one being £50. Next time maybe (not)? Overall we felt underwhelmed by the food - possibly the hype of the "best high tea in London 2010" award meant we expected a lot. The service was impeccable though.

Paris, here we come! It was exhilarating traversing the English channel and when we reached the light at the end of the tunnel, nous sommes arrivés en France! My first baguette, first plain (butter) croissant, first croissant aux amandes et chocolat, first macaron, first meal of cured duck breast fillet, were all big milestones. And I had it all in the first 24 hours! :D~~ The small boulangerie just down the road sells the best chocolate and almond croissant (not chocolate or almond, but chocolate AND almond), it's moist and fluffy at the same time. And the local patisserie 2 blocks from me, had beautiful macarons and baguettes. Cafe/bar just on the other end of my street, generous, simple and delicious cured duck breast salad. It would have been easy to live here and not venture out, I have my breakfast, second breakfast, lunch and dinner sorted!

Along my Paris experience were many boulangeries (bakers), fromageries (cheese), charcuteries (cured meats), patisseries (cakes and pastries), cafes and restaurants. I had many opportunities to stop and sample, as well as missed opportunities because it was not humanly possible to. But here are the few places of our dessert pilgrimage of Paris - including Laduree, Lenotre, and Pierre Herme - requiring special mentions.

Chance brought me my first Lenotre experience - just walking along, contemplating whether to find a cafe to rest my feet, or catch the metro back to the hotel to rest my feet, then like angels descending on me - ok stop that melodrama - Lenotre. It was a beautiful patisserie, cakes were painstakingly constructed, everything made with love and respect. There were no tables so I had no choice but to buy something least likely to be damaged in transit - macarons. It was the first time EVER I ate 4 macarons in one sitting and not get sick from the sugar - they were so light! And each one had its distinct flavour, not masked by the heavy sugar (such as those often found in Sydney - Eugh!), it was only fair to say - PERFECT macarons, where you could only judge it by whether you liked the flavour.

Perfect macarons from Lenotre - lightly crunchy, melt in your mouth, light and fragile, feet that don't extend beyond the dome, and no air pocket under the smooth dome.

The next Lenotre encounter was also by chance - walking towards Avenue des Champs-Elysees and we noticed the Lenotre school and restaurant (Le Pavillon Elysee Lenotre). A very elegant establishment, the entry hall is filled with designer and specialty kitchenware (I could spend hours looking at them!!), cook books (ditto previous comment). Then, you make a turn, and enter the restaurant in the sun room. Or you could choose to sit at the balcony - weather permitting. The whole atmosphere was relaxed and elegant - ah this is the lifestyle I long for.

This is deviating from the dessert theme but I must mention their 'fish sausage stuffed with minced mushrooms, served with chicken jus and spring vegetables. The flavours were very simple, I love the way the French let the ingredient speak for themselves - Nothing is lost through the cooking process. The salmon tartare was also a hit - served with green tea and mint foam - subtle flavour that just waltzed on the tastebuds!! It intrigues me that the flavours were distinct, but subtle, completely opposite from many other cuisines (such as SE Asian, Indian, Moroccan, Southern Chinese) which uses strong flavours that explodes in your mouth, this style to me is the ultimate in food sophistication - back to basics.

The amazing fish sausage stuffed with minced mushroom, served on a bed of spring veges and chicken jus; the salmon tartare, and green tea and mint foam.

For dessert, we had an XXL millefeuille with bourbon infused vanilla creme patissier, served with raspberry coulis. XXL? Yep, and it was enormous! I have never seen a millefeuille this big (probably 25cm long!). Tasty it was! We also had 2 macarons (part of my set 3 course meal) - lemon and pink grapefruit - tres bon.

Coffee served in a cup with a lid, macarons, and giant millefeuille.

Another famous establishment that has (predominantly American) tourists queuing from about midday onwards - Laduree. They have many shops dotted around Paris and are famous for their macarons and pastry creations. I chanced upon Laduree many times, in the 1er, in the 6eme, on Champs Elysees (afternoon tea in their salon de the).

Laduree salted caramel macaron, shop front, and their heart-shaped rose Ispahan

Again, my comment for the macarons is that they were all perfectly constructed; the only variable to judge by was the flavour. I was not a fan of their salted caramel - it was a filling of rich caramel that wasn't very salty, quite different from my expectation (and comparison to La Renaissance in The Rocks). Other flavours that stood out in my memory was the green apple - slightly tart and fresh, a flavour I will attempt to recreate.

The ambiance of the Salon de The (tea room) was posh, but a little cluttered (to fit more tables?) and therefore noisy. The waiters were friendly, but because they were busy it was difficult to get their attention. We had the pistachio macaron pistachio creme patissier and creme chantilly, and a classic French desset Mont Blanc. The pistachio macaron dessert was practically pistachio on pistachio with pistachio - no doubt it was pistachio based dessert. Highly recommended. The Mont Blanc was a simple dessert of smooth chestnut puree on whipped cream and thin pastry. I would recommend this dessert if you like chestnut puree - which was 80% of this dessert.

I wasn't convinced that Laduree lived up to the hype. I enjoyed the experience, the desserts were tantalising, beautifully created, but somehow, either I've lost that initial "wow" I had on first arrival, or I had been having such wonderful pastries the standard had been raised.

How I will cope with the desserts in Sydney... let's worry about that later.

Pierre Hermes is another well-known establishment famous for his macarons. His signature dessert is (apparently) the rose Ispahan, an amazing creation of rose scented macarons filled with fresh raspberries. I had the fortune of just walking past one, without the infamous queue of tourists, and took the opportunity of grabbing the rose ispahan as well as a couple of other macarons - salted caramel (again not salty enough) and jasmine - which was lovely and fragrant, loved it. Cassis was also a hit with my companion - tangy cassis jelly cut the sweetness of the macaron.

Bliss.

My travel companions opted for something chocolatey - oh my. Chocolate mousse, chocolate ganache, topped with pieces of chocolate. It was simply luscious, but even a chocoholic like her could not finish this!

Chocolate dome; various macarons; and the beautiful ispahan.

It was hard to leave Paris. It was harder to accept that, despite the gourmet culture we have in Sydney, the level of sophistication is simply not comparable to that of France. They do take their food very seriously, and it is so ingrained in their culture that you don't have to go far to find satisfaction (or above). One thing though - would you French people learn to make espresso properly! That PLASTIC cup of watery espresso for take away is simply not acceptable ... Italy is your immediate neighbour - TALK TO THEM! At least, it was tolerable coffee - coffee from Belgium was simply not palatable.

So we leave you with more photos of goodness from Paris - and will come back to Sydney for DDT OCTOBER GOOD FOOD MONTH!

CS

Gerard Mulot in 6eme

Delicatessen and fromagerie in 6eme; and the busy Gerard Mulot

Lenotre *LOVE*

Mariage Frere's tea house - famous for an extremely extensive tea menu. SNOB salad - very snobbish, very delicious!

Grand Marche at the Lafayette department store. Foodie heaven! If I die here, I die happy. All sorts of goodies you only imagined - and they exist!

No Adriano?! High tea in Buenos Aires then...

2010-08-31T04:58:00.000-07:00

This is the first time DDT was postponed due to poor turnout! Adriano, you've lost it... So, with KT and CS both overseas, let's reminisce the high life of Buenos Aires. KT indulged in afternoon tea at the Alvear Palace Hotel in Recoleta last October as well as this August. It is an absolute must if you ever visit Buenos Aires! Here are some photos of what went down her stomach. Stay tuned for DDT in Europe - or come join us ;)

Winter Bondi & Ice

2010-07-25T04:57:00.000-07:00

DISCLAIMER: Due to unforeseen circumstances, KT chaired this DDT alone which means her rudimentary blogging skills will forthwith lay bare for all to snigger.

What conundrum I was in: CS unable to appear at all today; I was nursing a sore stomach; nobody showed up to eat for me until 11.30am... I soldiered on, like a true Dessert Queen with mixed feelings.

Paris Patisserie is only 6 minutes walk from my house, on Bondi Road. How is it that I've never bought a morning croissant aux amandes is beyond me. I walked in and immediately hated myself for not being able to eat much, if at all! Oh, the endless pastries, tarts, gateaux... CS, where were you when I needed you most!? I had to buy something simple and light(ish) so a cinnamon brioche it was. And the little bits that I put in my mouth... mmm... I love brioche and this is good fluffy brioche - even better if warmed, and dowsed with chocolate sauce, sprinkled with chopped almonds... Okay, I'm imagining again. The point is, you all must go there and pick up something and report back due to the lack of variety I managed today!!

On I walked to Wellington Cake Shop, only a block towards the beach from Paris Patisserie. It was very busy - a good sign. This Hungarian bakery has strudels, kugelhupf, sweet cheese pastry pockets - none of which I dared to purchase. Again, I thought I'd better buy something, anything... An apple cinnamon bagel, which isn't in the shape of one but the texture is definitely lighter and more moist than the average bagel. Perfect as a snack; perhaps with apple sauce mixed into the dough but without overpowering cinnamon. This one item per store pattern is beginning to make me cry!

Time to head down to the beach. Seeing as I was alone, I walked past some of the potential hang-outs: Blue Orange, a tad disappointed from my last visit - their French toast brioche just cannot beat those at Flat White Cafe; Le Paris Go Cafe, busy, packed, not much on the sweets menu. I decided to wait for the others at Gelato Bar on Campbell Parade - at least they have heaps of desserts on display! My purpose wasn't to eat them, you see... Being fully aware of my digestive condition, I ordered poached eggs, mushroom with rye bread, plus a pot of mint tea. How BORING! I got stuck into my Stieg Larsson book (the last of the trilogy). When RC & DL arrived, I pleaded for them to start chomping!

As was expected, no one could eat like CS or I. Accepted. So crepes with strawberry & ricotta cheese (was it?) and a cinnamon twist were ordered. The crepes were surprisingly good - the tart strawberries combined with the cheese made great filling for the light crepes. We love pastry so the cinnamon twist was a safe pick. Although I note that the style of desserts here are more Bavarian hence the pastries aren't as buttery or fluffy as those of the French variety. This is also true with the palmier leaf (measuring 15 cm x 15 cm) I collected for CS - not before I broke off a wee bit to "test-taste"!

While the ladies walked through the Bondi Markets, MB & SM strolled to Gertrude & Alice Bookstore Cafe with me. Still packed, but we managed to find some seats at the back, hidden amongst the books. Another "one item per store" event - not happy Jan! However, despite being very tempted by all the homemade morsels, I resisted and only took a bite out of SM's chocolate brownie. And oh baby! This is the best brownie I've had since my own! Yes, I'm blowing my trumpet but once you've found a recipe that is divinely yummy, it's hard to go back to the pre-made store-find mediocrities. This is pleasantly dark, moist, warm, fluffy (mouth-watering as I reminisce) - and I can only imagine that scoop of ice cream made it more than perfect! All the while Row-row kept us entertained by demonstrating how the face eats yogurt. When I recover fully, I'm going back to have my own slice of chocolate brownie...

We walked past the not-so-packed-now Gusto Cafe and wondered what all the fuss was about. The boys ordered their takeaway lattes as there were no seats and I consistently ordered one item: pistachio & almond shortbread. So the coffee is actually very good. Now I understand why the joint is filled with people for hours on end. The shortbread was disappointing as it was not buttery enough to be called shortbread. If it was a cookie, it'd still be just okay. Worth trying the coffee proper next time.

The Winter Festival at Bondi was nearing its end. Apart from the ice rink overlooking the beach, packed with kids, mums & dads, a dozen food stalls were set up. We got excited by seeing Max Brenner flags but on close inspection nothing obvious from the bald man was available. There is one thing that I always love at outdoor events and it's poffertjes, those mini Dutch pancakes. Once in a cafe in Den Haag I stared, drooling, at the enormous baking cast with envious glee. Perhaps it reminds me of Taiwanese egg-puffs which are of similar size but these buttery, hot, fluffy dollops of baked batter, served with maple syrup or chocolate sauce, to them I will always say YES!

It was a fair day. Cruel, but fair. I will make sure my stomach is made of steel by the time CS and I are in Paris for the September DDT *rub rub*!

KT

Spice it up! DDT half yearly homebake

2010-06-26T04:56:00.000-07:00

Every 6 months the DDDs gather to show our skills and knowledge in the kitchen arena ... much like the Iron Chef - NOT! We just gather to have some fun, and taste our experimental outcomes.

This DDT homebake's theme was SPICE. An interesting choice which puzzled many. For a lot of us, we weren't aware that spices were in dessert, but after giving a few examples (spiced fruit cake, chilli chocolate, gingerbread cookies), fellow DDDs were inspired ... and got creative.

Let's start the feast - first, with the lighter flavours:

Clove and pepper infused strawberry soup (KT) - gorgeously fresh and fragrant, excellent palate cleanser between courses too; Spiced ricotta cassata: spiced dessert wine soaked dry fruit in ricotta, encased in sponge and topped with spiced wine fortified with brandy (CS) - raised a few eyebrows when first described to fellow DDDs but then was well received on the tasting table!

Greek rice pudding with cinnamon - First attempt by VH who got creative and rolled them into bite-sized balls too! Excellent effort! Very hearty rice pudding, and was better consumed warm! (though presentation is better cold)

Cardamon rice flour pudding with spice infused apricots (left): Rich cardamon flavour, lightly tangy apricot adding depth in flavour to the silky pudding; spiced chocolate mousse with berries (center): first attempt by RD, fluffy and airy mousse with a hint of cardamon, not too rich and sweet but beautifully chocolatey (use of 70% cocoa chocolate); Greek rice pudding coated with cinnamon and topped with Persian fairy floss (VH)

Poh's layer cake (KT) which involved the use of nearly 400g of butter - mmmmm!! (and CS worshipping her food ... eh, photographing, taking advantage of the sun)

Gingerbread and pear upside-down cake (AvH) - Dense and moist cake and its heaviness broke up by pear slices. Gorgeous! Beautiful flavour and texture mix (welcome Annika and Dave!!)

Chilli chocolate creme brulee (CS) - an encore appearance from the "different unusual but noice" DDD home. It was described as "not as nice as last year" as the creator went overboard with 85% cocoa chocolate (200g of 85% cocoa chocolate to only 300ml cream ... no wonder). The spice kick at the end - Yeah baby!

It was yet another FANTASTIC home bake, and I must say that the DDDs are getting better and better at thinking outside the square and pushing their boundaries. Really really appreciated everyone's efforts especially self-proclaimed non-cooks! You've more than outdone yourselves - in fact you looked as if you've been doing it for years! WELL DONE!!

KT: And of course my Mexican mole which went really well with CS' roasted chicken - and same, went nuts with 85% Lindt but still tasty :D

Flat White - not so flat and full of colours (on their sweets)

2010-05-23T04:54:00.000-07:00

This has to be the most wholesome, hearty, and not to mention short dessert tour ever. In fact it wasn't a tour - it was one single location - but it was divine.

Flat White Cafe, Woollahra, not a new discovery for some, but DDT saw an opportunity to introduce this place to those who haven't been. The single stop was justifiable - servings of their breakfasts were more than generous, sharing was absolutely necessary to allow sampling of their extensive breakfast menu.

Two items jump out of the menu at us - Brioche French toast with maple syrup and bananas, Ricotta hotcakes with straberries and yogurt; and on the specials board, porridge with rhubarb and strawberry compote and brown sugar. On the shelf, muffins, biscuits, friands. Savoury selection - baked eggs, omelette with chorizo, scrambled eggs, poached eggs ... you name it, they got it. And they got it good!!

Beautifully fluffy, fully soaked French toast made with brioche bread. Wonderfully aromatic and hearty. My favourite for the day, but not saying I didn't enjoy the others dishes.

Fluffy ricotta hotcakes - you can see the ricotta in between the hotcakes. Warm, light, hugely satisfying, dare we say it was better than Bills!

Beautiful fruit and nut toast - gorgeously aromatic and nutty and tasty and healthy. Until we melted the whole blob of butter on top. It was so wholesome and delicious at the same time - who says healthy food can't be tasty?

Mixed berry friand - not your ordinary friand, it was so hearty, scoop of mixed berries on top, hazelnut and we suspect toasted oats to give it that wonderful texture. I had to take 2 extra friands home - at $5 a pop they appeared expensive, but they were twice the size and flavour of your normal standard cafe fare. This comes close to my second favourite of the day.

But wait there's more! I have been eyeing the porridge on the specials board, that after the banana french toast, the hotcakes, friand, fruit and nut toast and ahem the savoury items (see below) I ordered the porridge, much to the waiter's delight and surprise. I love a good porridge - it was perfect for a cold, damp winter's day.

Savoury items - yes it was allowed (shock horror!) but, considering there were only 5 of us, and how many desserts have I already mentioned? Yet we were still hungry. One of the stars of the breakfast menu was the baked eggs and chorizo with a salad of fetta and pine nut. It was brilliantly rustic, runny creamy yolks, sprinkle of zaatar, top notch.

One thing about this lovely joint is no booking policy. You want a table, you queue up with your mates and that first coffee. However the wait is worthwhile, food and service were excellent. Must come back one day!

CS

Le petite Paris a Potts Point

2010-04-25T04:53:00.000-07:00

Potts Point is an interesting suburb. At one end of Macleay St it's luxury apartments, sassy residents, gourmet eateries, classy boutiques. At the other end, well, it's officially another suburb infamous for everything portrayed in Underbelly the Golden Mile. But it doesn't detract from the gourmet culture - along Macleay St there are plenty of foodie delights that will keep us DDDs satisfied.

Yellow Bistro started our day, where all 12 of us managed to squeeze around 2 little tables normally sitting no more than 4 people each, and merrily shared our delightful pastries and cakes. A very atypical selection was on offer: lemon curd tart with a puff pastry base, chocolate macadamia and caramel tart; chocolate ganache cake; raspberry and pecan cake; strawberry and mascarpone cake; rhubarb tart; apricot tart; florentines; panforte; coconut coated marshmallow...

Of course we didn't have everything (we couldn't!) so here are the goodies:

Luscious chocolate macadamia and caramel tarts - VERY lush, VERY morish, VERY delicious, VERY luxurious with a gold leaf on top, nutty and fluffy and rich and light at the same time... how was that possible?

Pecan and raspberry cake with a thin layer of tangy lemon icing - delicious, somewhat romantic too - cake adorned with a rose bud on top ... awww love!

Deliciously moist orange muffin (left) and hearty tangy rhubarb tart, perfect breakfast food

Lemon curd tart - deliciously tangy, surprisingly gorgeous fluffy pastry which we cleaned from the plate afterwards :p

And the star of Yellow - amazingly light, fluffy, creamy, refreshing strawberry and mascarpone cake - possibly everyone's favourite from Yellow

Highly recommend Yellow. It was amazing that KT our CEO who lived just down the road from Yellow for nearly a year NEVER visited Yellow (but always meant to)... what's wrong with you girl!!

The gluttons moved on after Yellow and arrived at Fratelli Paradiso, a famous pizza joint that serves lovely pastries too. The manager was kind enough to organise all 10 of us to sit by the pizza bench - though, we had to wait for the pizzas to come out of the oven, cut, and put away, before we could have the bench. And the smell of the pizzas were so mouth watering the DDDs decided to have some pizzas for lunch... inclusive of our CEO who used to ban those who attack savouries on DDT days!! (KT: Rules are made to be broken :P)

Fratelli Paradiso fashioned a funky interior with black walls filled with large scribbles of its Italian menu. Of course what we were interested in were the pastries on the front shelf, which included palmier, cannoli, florentines, brioche with raspberries, lemon meringue tart, éclairs and a good selection of biscuits.

Nicely tangy lemon curd, with marshmallowy Italian meringue on top. And Emily cut it up beautifully for us to share!

Raspberry brioche (left) and peach and ricotta danish (right). Good danish pastry and refreshing change from the usual sticky custard danish.

Palmier (nowhere near as good as La Gerbe d'Or), ordinary éclair, really good florentines and cannoli.

Funky interior ... and pizzas appreciated by almost everyone on the bench. I myself only had a taste of the good slice of salami. Despite people's appreciation of the pizzas, the purist that I am still thought a thick based pizza just doesn't cut it... bring me Napoli in Bocca any time.

Those of us still standing after a big breakfast and lunch moved on to Bottega del Vino deli/liquor shop which stocked some of Adriano Zumbo desserts such as the passionfruit tart. However we didn't end up opting for the Adriano products - we can get them from Balmain some other time - but instead selected a ricotta passionfruit tart, gluten free lemon cake, and a pink vanilla and pistachio Turkish delight.

Very sticky fragrant Turkish delight; light tangy cool passionfruit cheese cake that doesn't look great as it's cracked on top, but one mouthful induced another; and a moist citrus cake with tangy icing.

Ah, 3 down, so many more to go on our list.. it was a tough decision whether to stay on and attack another stop with what's left of our energy or to depart and recuperate. As it turned out the DDT die-hards KT MB and CS ended up at Cafe Sopra for some strawberry and lemon curd pancakes (that looked like crepes but thicker) and rice pudding with honey, spice and Tom's jam (warm and great for breakfast, not so great for a stomach already filled with sweets), and an affogato with vanilla bean ice cream to wash it all down.

Tangy lemon curd, fresh strawberries, very lovely dessert; rice pudding was aromatic and delicious but too heavy for our full stomachs.

So that ended our tour of Potts Point for the day, though, we missed out on several other reputable places we might have to come back for (La Buvette, Igloo Zoo, Spring Espresso, Toby's Estate and Cafe Hernandez). Until next time - indulge on!

CS

KT: First time dessertees include Pieta, Peter, Caryn and Katherine - welcome and don't be shy now ;)

Sweet battle of Waterloo

2010-03-30T04:51:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought, in a suburb like this, within an area of one block, there were so many excellent and indulgent places!

Waterloo was once the industrial inner city suburb in a region that also includes Redfern, Zetland and Green Square, dotted with many warehouses and business centers. It had been through a great deal of residential development in recent years and its character had certainly shifted. Along Danks Street we noticed art galleries, boutiques, gourmet grocers, designer homeware shops, and most importantly, really REALLY funky eateries. Not knowing Waterloo, and initially puzzled at our CEO's choice of suburb, one quick Google took my uneasiness and had me looking forward to our destinations, and counting down the days.

The French House, located on the corner of Danks and Young St, has an unassuming exterior that looks like any cafe with a veranda outdoor seating. But once you get close enough to see the interior, I can't imagine anyone not being taken by it. This patisserie is adorned with beautiful chandeliers, with an extensive selection of cakes to choose from on one side, and tantalising bakery goods on the other. Oh what perfect place to start a divine dessert tour!

Raspberry and pistachio financier was like a good friand, though no firework for the tastebuds. Baked ricotta cheese cake with chocolate swirl was delicious, not a heavy New York baked cheese cake, but fluffy and easy to devour. Gluten free orange cake was very moist and lightly tangy, very refreshing and gorgeously presented. Tiramisu - wait, its not French!! The anally-retentive purist that I am, I wasn't happy seeing it there ... and despite it being a very good tiramisu (comparable to Napoli in Bocca) I still don't like seeing a proud French House with a traditionally Italian dessert on offer. Chocolate eclair - a disappointment, having just come out of the fridge it was too cold, the choux pastry had gone stiff, and with condensation on the chocolate it just wasn't appealing. Triple chocolate mousse - luscious, chocolatey, not too sweet, very enjoyable. Passionfruit mousse in white chocolate - the unanimously favourite - tangy, light and fluffy, mouth watering and leaves you wanting more!

By default I asked for a croissant and cafe au lait (in a bowl), my way of judging the quality of a boulangerie. Croissant was average, while the cafe au lait was a tad weak - I really think the barista ought to serve a double shot in a bowl of milk. Tea was served with a tea pot, mini milk jug, cube sugar all on a silver tray - a very lovely touch. Never mind it taking up all the room on the table! It felt luxurious. Espresso was average, I found it a tad on the bitter side. Another very nice touch is having everything served on fine bone china, that little added elegance makes the slightly higher price tag seem worthwhile.

Dragging ourselves away from this fantastic and relaxing location (both from the warm autumn sun, and after-feed sluggishness) we arrived at Patisse. Patisse chef Vincent Gadan has plucked traditional French recipes to provide traditional French favourites (such as macarons and creme brulee) as well as old fashioned pastries to cater for the likes of us, the DDT gluttons.

Salted caramel must be in fashion - since the "goo" at Newtown (May 2009) we have seen many salted caramel desserts, particularly in macarons, so how can we not order one when it is on offer? Also being a macaron freak I MUST inspect and critique macarons at every given opportunity - just like my default croissant order, and my inability to say no to creme brulee.

Hm.

A macaron needs to be crunchy on the outside, but only hard enough to be carefully handled, crumbles when you bite into it (or if you dare to share, must be skilled with the knife so you don't crumble the whole thing), and melt in your mouth. These macarons were none of the above. It was way overcooked - wasn't crunchy, it was hard! And probably baked on a higher temperature than is necessary, so it had a huge pocket in the macaron shell.

Sacrilege. I hate being disappointed by macarons.

Moving on... creme brulee. Love a rich, velvety creme brulee especially with aromas of vanilla. Or a more refreshing citrusy creme brulee with a light tang in the creme. First mouthful of my creme brulee from Patisse was "ahhh" but then liquid started to accumulate - ie there was too much liquid content (citrus juice) than the creme and egg.

Sacrilege. I hate being disappointed by creme brulees.

Otherwise the other desserts were pleasant: Bread and butter pudding made and served in mini loaf tins (hearty); flourless pistachio cake with lemon icing (nice tang); and a most unusual combination of eclair with green tea custard, which didn't agree with my palate, but that was a matter of personal preference (KT LIKES :P). Bonus tasting 'stick' of chocolate cake was a little hard to swallow as we were full to our throat - butter icing greasy, the cake was a tad dry.

Moving on - yes, moving on, despite feeling heavy and lethargic, we arrived at Danks St Depot, an institution not famous for its desserts but for its slow food movement, and its sustainable and ethical principles in sourcing local produce for its ingredients. We were already stuffed by this point ... so we had a token home made sorbet trio of basil, berries and mango. Yes you read right, basil. It was full of the aroma and taste of basil, a pity that it was way too sweet, but the syrupy sweetness did not mask the basil at all. Both berry and mango sorbets were like eating frozen berries crushed up to a fine paste, but the mango was not as fragrant as we expected, maybe it was made with frozen mango, or maybe they needed a dash of lemon juice to perk up the flavour.

Red wine poached pear and vanilla seed panna cotta was light and delicious, soft "melting" pear as you put the fork through it, while panna cotta was ever-so-fragile wobbly. Just wondered about the vanilla seed though, I have seen vanilla panna cotta with vanilla seed throughout the panna cotta before... maybe that was a thicker panna cotta than this one.

With a heavy heart (and loaded belly) we decided to skip Cafe Sopra, which was always busy on a Saturday afternoon, and boasts an unusual selection of sweets on their menu. But with such great experience on a small block around Danks St, we vow to come back and repeat this experience some more!

CS

KT: Welcome, our first time dessert attendees Alske, Jessica, Wallace & Chaz!

Old (not so old) meets new (not so new): Central Baking Depot and Azuma

2010-02-27T04:51:00.000-08:00

Despite being Sydneysiders who love wonderful baked goods, we have never visited Central Baking Depot in, well, Sydney CBD. We've frequented its sister bakery, Bourke St Bakery for their crusty flaky croissants, all time favourite strawberry brulee tart, tangy raspberry and chocolate mousse tart, and recently a ginger brulee tart. So finally, we have put CBD on our DDT map, with high expectations to be satisfied by hearty croissants, quality coffee, tarts and pastries.

Croissant - my standard order (with a cafe au lait) deliciously flaky, not overly buttery, but the portion is not as generous as that of Bourke St Bakery; Chocolate and poppy seed stick - fantastic, also flaky and morish, I loved it probably because it was the first thing I bit into this morning, though I think it's a simple combination that just works. Chocolate croissant - lovely, like Bourke St Bakery.

"Lemon pillow": croissant pastry with deliciously tangy lemon curd filling (but of course, we have a preference for tangy lemon curd, while many others can't handle the acidity). Like croissant aux amandes, but lemon.

Meringues (Italian) coated with coconut and raspberry (which I thought was rose... a little disappointed that it wasn't), pistachio, or cocoa powder (behind the first two). Hm. Must say, coconut shavings were dry and tough, also we couldn't taste much of the raspberry; Ground pistachio worked well with the meringue and it was giving me ideas (I'm not telling!); cocoa powder and sweet meringue was a good combo but I personally preferred the pistachio. However they weren't that impressive... looked prettier than it tasted. Might it be more interesting with the flavours encased inside the meringues?

Chocolate tart, plum and almond tart. Blackstar Cafe Bakery had set the benchmark for chocolate tarts - it was hard to surpass the quality and the pure lusciousness of their signature, amazing "goo" salted choc-caramel tart. This chocolate tart just wasn't up to scratch, and not dark enough for our liking. The plum and almond tart was not bad. No fireworks but great shortcrust pastry.

While we sat leisurely nibbling the goodies, we watched the bakers oil the pumpkins and season broccoli for roasting, mix the batter and bake the tart shells. It was lovely to watch, and to appreciate their efforts in feeding our gluttony. But we didn't ask them what this thing covered with funnily shaped foil was - our guess was they're empty pastry shells and the foil cover was to ensure they didn't burn and had good heat distribution... Other suggestions?

Personally I think Bourke St Bakery beats CBD in terms of the tart selection, but of course it is always a matter of personal preference. The coffee and pastries were equally good. Bonus of interior space at the CBD, where you get to sit in comfort, but then sitting on the sidewalk watching the life go by in Surry Hills at Bourke St Bakery is also one of the joys of a lazy Saturday brunch.

After the indulging and relaxing late morning that stretched into early afternoon, we strolled over to Regent Place for a "east meets west" experience at Azuma's. It was a fusion of culture, style and flavours, somewhat reminding us of Ella Patisserie (DDT April 2008).

Soy-milk pudding: a very light refreshing dessert much like a soy version of panna cotta, but much softer, with a plummy flavoured jam; "mille crepes": layers of light fluffy crepes and whipped creme, something I'd attempted to make before but was no where as tender and fluffy as this. Also a very light flavour, if you like to taste strong flavours, these two desserts aren't for you.

Green tea and red bean sponge cake: green tea creme with red bean sandwiched with plain sponge cake: The consensus was that Ella's green tea and red bean cheesecake had a better flavour, probably because I could taste the bitterness of the green tea powder. Green tea yogurt ice cream (they really should just call it frozen yogurt) - like frozen Yakult (Japanese yogurt) with a hint of green tea flavour at the end of the palate. I quite liked it, very refreshing.

Strawberry millefeuille: Beautifully flaky puff pastry, light vanilla creme patissier, not enough strawberries though.

Mango and cassis mousse cake: By far the most flavoursome dessert we've had at Azuma, and was everyone's favourite; sharp and tangy berry (black current) flavour topped with fragrant mango mousse. Moist and tasty. Must have.

We noticed that there wasn't the chestnut "mont blanc" as advertised, rather disappointing. Also they have tubs of Movenpick ice cream which we didn't have - highly recommend this very creamy ice cream, great flavour and silky texture. Well made coffee, though the desserts were light enough so tea or coffee wasn't needed to wash down the rich desserts, as it was the case sometimes with heavier (eg chocolatey) desserts.

Beautiful day ... though this time round I was left with the feeling that I could have more, maybe because Azuma was so light it didn't feel substantial for me, but that was the beauty of this style of dessert - you could eat a lot more without feeling weighed down!!

CS

KT: Welcome to our first timers Hannah & Joshua - the savoury palate must run in the family... They're each given a yellow card & expected to pull some REAL (aka sweet) weight next round! ;)

New decade, new year, new start!

2010-01-31T04:50:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010!

While everybody was on holidays, I hope divine dessert devotees had not stopped indulging! Your trusty CEO and secretary ate our way not only through Sydney (at our favourite eateries) but also country NSW and VIC, and persevered with our creative cooking. Many new year's resolutions were therefore along the lines of "exercise regularly" "go to the gym twice a week" "tango away the flabs". Let's just see how long these resolutions can be maintained.

So begins DDT 2010. What is it with DDT and picnic that brings on extreme weather conditions? November DDT "Jazz Picnic" was unfortunately downgraded to BYO dessert to the air conditioned comfort of Kolling Medical Research Institute; while the first DDT of 2010 held at Symphony in the Domain was a gustily day of 42 degree heat followed by a southerly change at around 3, which cooled Sydney down to 24 by 4:30 but then the incoming thunderstorm at 5:30 drenched everyone on site...

AAAanyway, the weather fined up by 6:30, beautiful mild conditions fit for a summer evening symphonic picnic... and everyone started to feel more relaxed to commence nibbling and sharing the goodies:

DDT CEO brought beautiful "delice" from Lindt chocolate cafe... the macaron shells suffered a little from the strong wind as the box tipped upside-down several times in the afternoon. Verdict? I personally will still go for Adriano's macarons!!

DDT Secretary CS and her rose cupcakes with rosewater and rose jam, the box unfortunately tipped upside down many times during the day. But it still tasted moist and rosy.... as vouched by Eze (our Argentinian participant!)

Creation by Alex, a huge box of white chocolate tropical fruit tiramisu (or strictly 'trifle'... if its not coffee its not 'tiramisu', says the purist CS) with berries, sponge soaked with mango juice and cointreau, topped with white chocolate shavings. Rich and decadent!

A light and fluffy "Japanese cheese cake" by Susan. Lovely, unpretentious goodness!

My personal opinion to this dessert experience was that it probably wasn't so "divine" ... It was one less organised DDT, with people trying to find the organisers, last minute piking because of extreme weather conditions, and different people calling to ask "What are we meant to bring? How do we find you?" while DDT CEO and secretary felt flustered with the heat, wind and rain, keeping picnic rugs and items covered during the storm so our guests would have a comfortable spot to sit on arrival, and held fort of an approximate space of 7 picnic rugs. Of course had the weather been more pleasant we would have had a bigger turn out earlier in the day (there was a 20-strong crowd for symphony by 7:30), but we would not have been so close to the stage and the fireworks! It was quite an experience, and thanks to those who made the effort and turned up with goodies!!

Quick mention - many of the participants were here for the symphony, and brought along freshly prepared (but savoury - GASP!!) goodies such as Vietnamese spring rolls and cheese and spinach triangles still warm and crispy from the oven... many thanks for feeding us late afternoon/early evening!

CS

PS Welcome! Our unofficial DDT secretary for Buenos Aires, Ezequiel Donati who force-ate his way through Sydney and country VIC/NSW with us during his visit! Hope this inspired you to explore the sweet world of desserts!!

DDT finale 2009 - picnic that wasn't meant to be...

2009-11-22T04:49:00.000-08:00

Jan/Feb saw DDT on "holidays" as our CEO was on holidays (didn't stop her and others in indulgence), but we made up for it in Newtown (chocolate caramel 'goo' tart), Balmain (Adriano - enough said), Glebe (chocolate lasagne), the amazing mid year home bake ("interesting, unusual, but noice"), Paddington (favourite palmier), Northside (relaxing afternoon at the park), Adriano again (because we can), Good Food Month (5 SugarHits in 2 weeks) and finally, the finale, Jazz dessert picnic at Berry Island Reserve.

Except we didn't have a picnic. Weather forecast of 41 degrees Celsius resulted in a last minute scrambling change in location - from a outdoor jazz picnic to an indoor smorgasboard of desserts. Reluctant as we were, it was the smart decision, as air conditioning, comfy chairs and tables, fridge, ice blocks, cold drinks aplenty... and Jazz on the laptop.

16 DDDs were present at the dessert, and we have a heavy lean towards chocolate-based desserts (what else would you expect!!). Mental note - will need to be more organized and coordinate the participants for the next home bake so we have a wider variety.

Here are the desserts and their owners:

*KT: light and airy mango coconut meringue "cup cakes" and this rich, moreish pumpkin slice with maple syrup cream cheese icing topped with pecan. Y U M.
*Cindy - Macarons with cherries in chocolate ganache, and chocolate with chocolate ganache; chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies (which were meant to be chocolate macarons but were happy failures that still tasted good).
*Emily sans Roland - light and refreshing and absolutely CUTE buttermilk pudding in chocolate cup, chocolate mousse in chocolate cups.
*Rick (debutant DDD! Welcome!) - fruit salad (to help cut the calorie consumption... which was undone by a bowl of chocolate fondue sauce provided by CS)
*Vanessa - warm chocolate brownies freshly baked this morning (signature dessert)
*Suat & friend (debutant DDD! Welcome!) - rose water and cardamon (?) rice pudding - refreshing and fragrant!
*Katherine (debutant DDD who we knew was a keen and able baker - Welcome!) - gorgeously presented mini-cheesecake with biscuit and oat base, topped with brandy soaked cherries
*Annika (debutant DDD! Welcome!) - moist chocolate and raspberry brownies

*Miriam, Brian and Jamyson (and dinosaur friends) - rocky road sans nuts, and chocolate-biscuit Xmas trees!!

*Ewa - chocolate log which suffered a little under the heat, but still tasted good
*A "non qualifier" offering from Ruth: a savoury dish of cheese, eggs, filo pastry slices which were hugely popular.
*Other offerings that were not photographed: Ben and Joan's iced coffee and sangria, Suat's rosewater cordial, and Cindy's chocolate fondue for dipping fruit and drizzling on anything you fancy. Many thanks to everyone for making the effort of preparing something, and putting up with the extreme heat!!

That's a wrap - another year, gone (nearly); this will be the last DDT for 2009 and despite missing out on the jazz, there will be other opportunities... Stay tuned for DDT January 2010!! Look forward to seeing you all (you, your friends, family, family dog) in the future dessert indulgences!!!

Divine Dessert Tour, November 2009.

Vicky's absentee contribution to the last DDT of the year.

October Over-indulgence: Good Food Month is here!

2009-10-26T04:48:00.000-07:00

October - Month of indulgence! Good food everywhere, new menu everywhere, and it made DDT CEO's life both easy and difficult: Easy because there were much to choose from, difficult because there were much to choose from! Having pored through the SugarHit list, we carefully selected 5 out of the possible 20-odd sweet tooth offerings, and duly report to fellow DDDs our critiques: (if it weren't for Glass Brasserie being all booked out, it'd be 6!)

Sir Stamford: Strawberry and cream shortbread sandwich, a layered treat filled with strawberries and cream, with layers of soft ginger shortbread in between, and Browns Brothers dessert wine. It was such a simple yet wonderfully refreshing and delicious dessert, not trying too hard to be sophisticated but achieving a lovely end result. But of course I may be biased - Love strawberries!!

Sean's Kitchen at the Star City Casino: Chocolate and five-spice tart with Isigny creme fraiche served with Hennessey XO. We asked if we had the option of sweet dessert wine, but our lovely waitress said their dessert chef believed the cognac matched better with the chocolate tart, so we accepted the non-option. Strangely they offered cognac with ice - I'm no connoisseur but isn't brandy/cognac preferably consumed neat? Anyway, it did taste better without ice. As with the chocolate tart - it was nice, but we didn't feel it was outstanding. It was deliciously smooth, but we were underwhelmed by the spice (or somewhat disappointed with the lack thereof). In fact I was told that my chilli chocolate creme brulee was better (I'm extremely proud though abashed). Beautiful interior and funky couches though.

Welcome Rosanna and Vicky!

Radisson Hotel (Liverpool St): Mango bread and butter pudding, coconut creme brulee with coconut brittle, sparkling muscato rosa. Sounded promising but disappointed - must have a token creme brulee for the DDT, but it had the texture of flan (or Spanish version of creme caramel) instead, and didn't have brulee on top but just a bit of caramel colouring... very disappointing. Mango bread and butter pudding was like bread soaked in some mango smoothie made with frozen mango - it was bulky, didn't have a good mango flavour or aroma. Sparkling pink muscato - very refreshing, but if it wasn't consumed soon enough, it started to taste like stale Chardonnay ... so drink up!!

WELCOME Markus to your first DDT!!

And looking over our shoulders we saw someone leave left over desserts on their table - not even half consumed!! Says a lot about how much they enjoyed it.

Perama at Petersham - glykomezedekia - tasting plate which changes week by week. We missed out on the baklava ice cream which is a shame, but the rest was simply amazing! Rice pudding with apple and rhubarb, tangy; Nut kataifi slice: nutty and sticky, some didn't like it, I thought it was great; Thiples stack - honey pastry with yogurt and fruit sandwich, probably the more 'average' out of the desserts; chocolate biscuit halva and sour cherry sandwich: like a chocolate biscuit with peanut butter sorbet sandwich - absolutely match made in heaven! We also got a choice of muscat dessert wine or a brandy, plus tea/coffee/hot chocolate. Certainly the most generous we've seen of SugarHit offers (ever) and wonderfully delicate and unique flavours.

WELCOME Suat and your two friends to your first DDT!!!

Chocolate assiette at Kings Cross Hotel - "black and white tasting plate" of white chocolate panna cotta with berry compote - tangy berry compote a good contrast with the sweet smooth creamy panna cotta, chocolate and praline sorbet absolutely gorgeous, richly chocolately but refreshingly light, I can't describe this juxtaposition but it was my pick for the night; raspberry 'millefeuille' which was three fresh raspberries placed under a bit of pastry (was probably decoration only for the tasting plate?); chocolate fondant - rich, hearty, but I couldn't help but suck up to the CEO that I would have her chocolate fondant ANY TIME over this one!!!!

WELCOME Herman and Vanessa, to your first DDT!

Revisiting Adriano

2009-09-28T04:47:00.000-07:00

CEO Extraordinaire KT is off to Buenos Aires, dancing the tango, so for the first time the CEO is absent from the DDT event!! We organised a revisit to Adriano's which changes menu every six months, so it's time to check out the new lot of goodies on offer.

While waiting for people to turn up, the inquisitive secretary dashed across the road where over a dozen people were waiting for their coffee, while more and more patrons turned up despite the queue. There must be something worthwhile about Bertoni's… And there was. I saw some pretty decent Italian pastries on the counter, and picked out a Sfogliatelle - puff pastry baked crispy on the outside, with ricotta and mascarpone citrus filling, which I had at A&P Sulfaro's at Haberfield but didn't know its name - and it was moreish!! According to Wikipedia, a variation of this is the pastizzi, of Malta, usually a savoury ricotta filling (which we had at Pastizzi's at Newtown). And pretty good coffee too, probably worth the 15 min wait!! Despite being incredibly busy, the barista still managed to have a pleasant chat with me, and when my coffee was ready, he waved madly to get my attention … can't imagine how he remembered who ordered what, but that service (and the coffee) was memorable.

Note: while I waited an Italian Mama came out with a plate of melt-in-your-mouth shortbreads to soothe the ever-patient caffeine addicts in need of that fix. Oh how I love the way it crumbled on my tongue!!!

Moving on - and picked up the following from AZ's : almond croissant (for Mademoiselle CEO), "sugar lip" - custard filled doughnut (lemon custard), brown sugar palmier, "upside-down cloud" (scoop of lemon custard atop a meringue case), while long time absentee Rita picked a chocolatey "Ed in the cradle" (mocha mousse with caramel and chocolate). And with these we headed to Adriano's Cafe Chocolat for a sit-down sweet brunch.

Note: While picking and choosing my orders the shop keepers handed me a cracked vanilla macaron "we can't sell anyway" - freebie #2 for today!!!

Poring through the menu thinking I won't need anything else, and "Paris" caught my eyes - ah c'est La Vin en Rose… it's a gorgeous dessert with a rose macaron, strawberry sorbet, lychee, vanilla creme patissier, and a fruit smoothie with what seems like yogurt and chunks of raspberry… being pink all over, it was of course made for me… I could not resist. Meanwhile Rita went for another chocolatey offer of Hamburger - chocolate macaron shells with chocolate ice cream and banana chunks, looking like a chocolate hamburger.

Loic having had to leave early with his friend (who is flying out at 4pm that afternoon) had a modest sweet consumption of a few chocolates and a smoothie. These were the less adventurous chocolates, nothing like the 'cigar' (made to look like a Cuban cigar, actually contains tobacco leaves) or the salt and vinegar (which was also a flavour amongst Adriano's macarons!!).

Verdict?

I love my pink dessert. Fragrant rose macaron, refreshing sorbet, smooth vanilla custard, chunky tangy fruit smoothie I had to suck really hard to get to. The banana-chocolate ice cream "pate" was super. No fault with the chocolate macaron. "Ed in the cradle" was rich, smooth, intense. The chocolate was so fine, it melted under the sun!! "Upside down cloud" was tangy (the fantastic blob of lemon custard), sweet and crunchy on the outside, and chewy in the centre of the meringue. I was actually a little disappointed - think it could have been more than just lemon custard and meringue, though I couldn't figure out if the meringue was supposed to have a filling or if the chewy almost-nougatine textured centre was the filling?

Sugarlip has the same lemony tangy custard as the Upside down cloud - wonderful combo with the sweet dough. Almond croissant: Fluffy crispy (not the kind KT prefers, but I like it) with a very smooth paste at the bottom of the pastry. Brown sugar palmier - not as light as one from Paddington (La Gerbe d'Or) but I like the caramel'y flavour of brown sugar.

Chocolates: Loic very generously shared his chocolate order with us and I had one with the rose on top (my theme for the day??) and it had a gorgeously smooth ganache filling.

This being a one-stop DDT ended early and again, my stomach was smaller than my ambition - had a big take home pack of left overs at about 1pm… Which meant, mum and dad technically joined us on the dessert tour by sampling the goods on the day of the DDT…?

KT: I'm so proud of you!!!! Oh, and I just electrocuted myself by drooling all over the laptop, fantasising about Adriano - I mean, his desserts...

North Shore "High-brow" affair

2009-08-29T04:46:00.000-07:00

Kirribilli - green leafy classy exy suburb with a view to kill, also has a strip of cafes worthy of exploration. It's a small strip but has a cosy village feel. Garfish was our first stop and it attracted a large group - which is rather unusual as the first stop generally has no more than 4 people (too early on a saturday/sunday?) - but we were able to get our table of 10 pretty soon after the meeting time of 10 am, so we were able to ponder on the goodies on the menu.
On offer: waffle (with maple syrup, or banana and bacon, or banana passionfruit and ricotta), selection of fruit breads (banana bread, raspberry bread etc) that come with praline butter, and I missed out on a porridge with pear and fig compote with mascapone (ran out!) so had a French Toast with banana and bacon instead.

Hm the general consensus was it didn't live up to expectation: Waffle serving was a bit meager (for the waffle with maple syrup - just one waffle!), and it was quite ordinary. Raspberry bread was lovely, praline butter aromatic and give interesting texture. French toast was made with baguette type slices so the crust was rather chewy, plus it didn't seem to soak enough eggs so it wasn't as eggy as it could be (but was redeemed when drenched with maple syrup). Coffee was good though. I guess it could be better, for its reputation.

Pit stop: Epi d'Or with an apricot tart and an almond croissant for the CEO. My memory of this place is bowl of coffee, crusty croissant (which they would source from other boulangeries) that runs out mid morning, and lovely rye bread topped with ricotta and raspberry. It was virtually impossible to get a table though.

After a short relaxing stroll along the main strip we decided to move on to Mosman. Winding our way through the back of Neutral Bay (avoided the ever-congested Military Rd) we found our way to Bacino Espresso, and enjoyed an affogato with chocolate shavings on top. Not much sweets on offer: Napoli (prune paste wrapped in pastry) and the cannoli (ricotta and chocolate) were our token sweets apart from affogato. Hm, cannoli was tasty but rather hard/firm. The Napoli was a bit bland, I thought it might taste like the prune paste in moon cakes, but no... It wasn't rich and fragrant and moist.

Detour - L'Artisan Cafe, situated in a tucked away courtyard off Military Rd, what a fantastic find this one! French patisserie with crepes and chocolates on offer, and being the one learning French, fellow DDDs made me order in French (%$#@ I've only had 2 classes...) so we had crepe de citron, crepe de naturale, crepe de frachoises, et deux jus de fruit - jus de pomme, et jus de orange ... I give up. Lemon crepe, plain crepe, and a crepe with chestnut puree, rum, cream and chocolate ice cream, one apple juice, and one orange juice with two other fruits that I can't remember because I said it in French (excuses excuses). Fantastic atmosphere, lovely courtyard, rich/intense rum in the chestnut puree... ahh could sit there all afternoon.

The glutton-gang ended at Mosman Wharf soaking up the sun and nibbling the creamy Italian meringue from Confiseurs and Co (very smooth - almost creamy) and tangy lemon curd, and scooping the rich eggy-creamy creme brulee from Pattison's Patisserie. Confiseur's and Co cakes featured many beautiful creations which we couldn't stomach more of, but have vowed to return. Same as Pattison's patisserie, despite my lovely experiences with their cakes (beautiful melt in your mouth Fleur de Lys and gorgeous petit palmiers) I could only choose one out of their many goodies.

Verdict? Generally good quality stuff up north, just not as exquisite as we'd hoped for, but when we've had such excellence from some of the earlier experiences we couldn't help but be finicky!!
CS

PS Welcome first comers: Laura and Clemetine, hope you enjoyed Kirribilli! AND a special welcome to the long-distance supporter LILY who was going to be the guest photographer but forgot to bring her macro lens. Meh.

PPS DDT CEO KT will be out of the country dancing the Argentinian tango and perfecting her Spanish for the next 7 weeks!!

Paddington - new perspective on an old favourite

2009-07-28T04:44:00.000-07:00

It was always a gamble and luck of the draw for the weather on DDT days. It'd been fantastically warm the weeks leading up to our pre-determined date, but the forecast was "cloudy and chance of shower friday, sunny saturday, showers sunday". Fingers, toes, arms and legs were crossed all week, hoping that for once the weather report is accurate.

AND IT WAS!!!!

Waking up to a crisp sunny morning is one of the pleasures in life, and to know it will be further enhanced upon breakfast at La Gerbe d'Or, my heart was dancing all the way to Paddington. (Aside - and to have bought a pair of hot-pink suede boots - joy!).

Two DDDs arrived at La Gerbe d'Or - CEO and secretary of course - and ordered a palmier, a St Tropez, an almond croissant, and a pain au chocolat. And a large bowl of cafe au lait and a cappuccino. Not that much, really, because by the time the next two DDDs arrived, there were only bits of crumbs left. I had to have the palmier because it was the biggest palmier I've EVER seen - at least 15cm across and it was fantabulous! Not overly sugary like some palmiers, and has a hint of savoury in it. The sugar in the centre seems to have caramelised a little and was a little sticky. Pain au chocolat was Bourke St Bakery quality - ie good; almond croissant is different from what we had at La Renaissance in that it's probably made with the almond paste rolled into the pastry then baked together, so it has the texture of bread and butter pudding. Not bad, just different and still flavoursome. St Tropez is a cake/bread with a layer of smooth creme patissier that surprised us with how light, fluffy and easy to gobble down as breakfast it was. Apple tart was very tasty, flaky and crispy pastry on the side with nuts baked into the pastry and apple slices caramelised and slightly tangy. The base was a bit dense though, probably because it was baked with the apples, absorbed too much moisture before it was cooked. Still, very tasty, as new DDD RD remarked. Last but not least, we had dessert to finish off our breakfast at La Gerbe d'Or (yes you read right) - with a chocolate truffle slice rich and chocolatey and to me tasted like whipped butter with cocoa - intense and probably not breakfast material... and compared with the pastries we had earlier, somewhat dull.

That bowl of cafe au lait - biggest I've ever seen... serving it in a soup bowl actually felt a bit wrong... then again, I DID ask for the large serving....

Other goodies I will return for are the fruit flan - with slices of fruit beautifully arranged on top, not just slices of fruit with excessive glazing; and the strawberry flan with WHOLE strawberries piled on top. It looked much fresher and tantalising than the usual strawberry tart, because it probably used a whole punnet for a single person's serve, and it was not as heavily glazed like the usual strawberry tart. Gold stars for the tarts!

Five Ways of Paddington has a lovely residential and village feel, cafes/restaurants scattered along Glenmore Road, locals dropping by for breakfast, walking their dogs, chatting to their favourite baristas... Lovely feel.

A short stroll up the hills to aid digestion, we land in the newly renovated Micky's cafe - an institution on Oxford St - for some Sundae. There are 10 different sundaes (the most intimidating being "sundae challenge" for 2), as well as other standard sweets like cup cakes, muffins, sticky date pudding, pancakes, assortment of slices etc. It was approaching lunch, so an affogato with a shot of Baileys was ordered... and soon relaxed and slowed down our CEO. Thankfully the "Eton's Mess" sundae (strawberry, marshmallows, meringue, banana, raspberry coulis and huge scoops of vanilla ice cream) helped revitalise her. Twas a lovely sundae. I also demanded to have a cupcake only because it had little butterfly wings adorning the cupcake... but it tasted unfortunately dry. Sticky date pudding was served warm with butterscotch sauce and a scoop of ice cream as big as the cake - moist, lush, soft..... Banana and maple syrup pancakes were fluffy, piled with banana, but it was suspected that syrup was "maple flavoured" rather than real ... tsk tsk tsk.

To qualify one of the DDD's burger and chips for the dessert tour, the chips were dipped in ice cream. I suppose it's something one either likes or dislikes... I don't find the taste offensive, just not for my palate. KT on the other hand could not keep her fingers off the hot chips and the sundae!

The newly renovated Micky's is bright, airy and comfortable. On a sunny day sitting in the courtyard would be an absolute joy. Excellent coffee too.

A short stroll away is the Paddington Market, packed as always, funky as always. And the market provided yet another goodie - moist Persian orange and almond (flourless) cake with Greek yogurt. Very fragrant, caramelised orange slice bitter-sweet. Gem find!

Tucked away in the side street just off Oxford St is Just William and their chocolate art. Cute little "mango creme" penguins, champagne ganache chocolate shells, little cupcake chocolates... in fact, all chocolatiers have their ingenuity and creativity, and have their philosophies with chocolate flavour and style. I must say, I picked chocolates with flavours that didn't go with my own palate, they were nice, but not quite for me... I really ought to stick with dark chocolates.

Last stop - Cupcake Bakery. We had fond memories of cupcakes from Sparkle Cupcakery last August, moist fluffy cupcakes with unusual flavour combinations of herbs, nuts and spices. The choices were not as varied as Sparkle, and we decided not to go for the chilli-chocolate cupcake and had the profiterole cupcake instead. It was simply profiteroles adorning a plain cupcake, which was a bit dry, so we were a little disappointed. They made a fine espresso, though not as good as Micky's. It was a good spot to sit and relax, and to photograph goodies from Just Williams.

Another beautiful day, beautiful desserts... thank you all, special mention to Ruth and Rick, welcome to your first tour!! Hope you had fun!

(At the end of the day, CS and KT went to have pizza and tiramisu at Napoli in Bocca... seriously.)

Half-yearly homebake: Different, unusual, but NOICE!

2009-06-24T04:43:00.000-07:00

I now declare, that apart from Adriano, home bake events are the BEST of the dessert tours.

Having hassled every confirmed guest for something different, unusual, but noice, and feeling slightly guilty about being such a Nazi, everyone made an effort to bring something they made, and most brought something to the effect of "I've no idea how it'll turn out because it's the first time I attempted it" or "I had to do a trial before the proper batch" or "I followed your recipe but failed miserably at home... can I make it here?"

So, the home bake offering this time, are as follows:

CS DDT secretary hostess with the mostest: Chilli chocolate creme brulee, pancake sandwich with red bean paste, chocolate and peanut butter crepe gateau

KT DDT CEO extraordinaire - tomato sorbet, Persian baklava, alfajores (choc-coated biscuit with dulce de leche [caramel] from Buenos Aires), and peanut butter ice cream

Loic: Almond croissant
Jean (and later Peter): Berry and liqueur tiramisu
Martin: Mamma's cake (layers of chocolate custard and sponge cake laced with cointreau)
Ben and Joan: Red wine and berry jelly and mulled red wine (which was made on site)

Emily and Roland: Buttermilk pudding (cream and buttermilk cooked with vanilla, set with gelatin)
Miriam: "Amy's" log (chocolate biscuit, mint-choc biscuit, cream etc and shaped into a gnarly log)
Joanna: Caramel corn

Matty: Oskar (eh, it ain't dessert, but he's sweet and cute and lovely and adorable), strawberry creme brulee tart and raspberry chocolate mousse tart from Bourke St Bakery (naughty, naughty... Oskar was definitely the decoy)

Wow.

Almond croissant: crispy, nutty, yummy. Hey where did the left-over's go??!!

Mulled wine: very fragrant, the heating process probably evaporated some alcohol so it was not so potent anymore, while citrus and sugar and spices made it so nice to drink! Wine jelly: very refreshing, just not set firm enough but still delicious

Buttermilk pudding: a bit like panna cotta, creamy/milky pudding I could eat forever.

Mamma's cake: PHUAW did you lose the bottle of cointreau in the cake Martin? But it's good... decadent and rich... like how mamma made it...

Log cake: satisfying type dessert, chocoholic's heaven, mint choc cookies broke up the dense sweet chocolate

Caramel corn: once you start you can't stop!

Berry tiramisu: Light and fluffy trifle with a hint of liqueur

Pancake sandwich: nostalgic dessert for kids who grew up reading Doraemon comics.

Alfajores: Brings back memories of Argentina!

Pancake gateau: I should have made it creamier and sweeter, I guess...

Baklava: sticky sweet and crispy

Chilli chocolate creme brulee - "mmm chocolate... OOOH its hot!"

Tomato sorbet: Surprisingly refreshing and contains a great depth of flavour - could possibly be crowned for being most unusual, unexpected, and NOICE dessert for the day!

Definitely a day of divine dessert degustation ... delicious and decadent!!

Welcome first timers Loic, Joanna, Ben and Joan, and Matty's Oskar! And Miriam - who made the beautiful gingerbread cookies at last year's Xmas themed homebake but was absent from the event!

To Glebe with Glee!

2009-05-31T04:42:00.000-07:00

With record attendance (of 15 apart from home bake events!!) we came to Glebe Point Road in search of good coffee and, as always, good desserts. In particular, our focus for today was a chocolate lasagne that is always there in the cafe, but not on the menu, so only people in the know (or with a keen eye when browsing the dessert cabinet) would ask for it.

We started our day at Mano Espresso on St Johns Road, just off Glebe Point Road, so it was away from the hustle and bustle of the main traffic. Mano is a specialist coffee shop with a simple food menu. Throughout our visit there, many came and went for their takeaway caffeine fix. There were also patrons sitting in the peaceful and bright cafe, reading morning paper or catching up with friends over an aromatic (Campos) coffee. The baristas were highly skilled and consistently presented an intricate leaf pattern on our quality coffees. My delicious affogato came with a generous two-scoop ice cream (highly unusual) - definitely up there with the excellent affogato at Kawa (Surry Hills).

The previous day DDT CEO KT made an attempt of peanut butter ice cream (inspired by the excellent peanut butter gelato at Dolce Gelato, Newtown), which melted into nutty milkshake by the time it reached us. We could not waste the velvety goodness so a brownie was drenched in the peanut butter milkshake. Fellow dessert devotee CC also provided some home-made goodness (chequerboard cookies!) which also suffered the same fate of drowning in peanut butter goo - another addiction ours, seeking out the "goo". Thanks for sharing!!!

Satisfied by the good coffee, Le Petit Tarte awaits. We heard good things of this cafe, so we had high expectations of their goods. Lemon-lime tart, flourless souffle (orange flavoured), chocolate charlotte, mini cheesecake and a Portugese tart were ordered. Espresso was good, full-bodied, acidic, but not potent like Little Marionette, meaning it's much easier to enjoy. Apart from that - well I must admit I wasn't overjoyed with their sweets. Lemon-lime custard had good smooth consistency but wasn't tangy and fragrant enough, and its pastry was, well, average. Flourless souffle was warm, light and fluffy. Chocolate charlotte (layers of chocolate ganache in macaroon-like almond-meal crust) was a happy combination but didn't make my tastebuds jump. Portugese tart and cheese cake were at best ordinary cafe items. In conclusion, it didn't have outstanding "signature" items (like the "goo" of Black Star Cafe in Newtown) nor did it demonstrate overall superior quality so I personally left the place feeling I would only return for their espresso (but then Mano Espresso is so near....) There were larger cakes on display, however we assumed they were not to be served as individual slices so perhaps we might give them a chance should an opportunity arise in the near future.

Lunch was served at Well-Connected Cafe of CHOCOLATE lasagne fame. NOTE: Half of the participants (mostly new members) were disqualified for ordering SAVOURY dishes. GASP! New members were put on notice for inappropriate orders!
Back to chocolate lasagne. It looked like layers of chocolate, shortbread, and mudcake topped with rich chocolate sauce. Very rich, very decadent, good to share but a bit much to enjoy alone even for seasoned DDDs. The sauce was like a runny version of Black Star's "goo" (see April DDT). Very rich, very decadent.... did I say that before?

Apart from chocolate lasagne, I also appreciated their sticky date pudding. It was a shame it wasn't served with warm butterscotch sauce but the pudding was warm and moist - one of the better sticky date puddings I have had. I cleansed the palate with a pineapple lime and mint frappe - VERY refreshing.
KT: surprisingly their sweet breakfast option of French toast or pancakes are only available on a weekday... I would have thought they're the perfect order for a weekend breakfast! Oh what a pity...

We decided that our final stop would be San Churro Chocolateria, as we are all feeling very heavy and chocolated-out. Most of us ordered their freshly-prepared churros with melted chocolate dipping sauce, which was virtually untouched as most of us didn't feel like more chocolate, and that we had more enjoyable molten chocolates elsewhere (such as Lindt). Churros are like a Spanish version of doughnut, sold commonly by street vendors in the Americas (KT and I had a particularly great street Churros at Rio in February!). A well-made one would be crispy on the outside and warm/moist on the inside (but not dough-y, which means it's undercooked). And these were well made - dare I say, better than Chatswood San Churro churros!!

One of the DDDs commented on her white chocolate hot chocolate - that it was quite smooth and unlike the normal hot chocolate at San Churro (a thick hot chocolate) it is lighter and easier to drink. One suggestion for San Churro - take it easy on icing sugar. Your churros and your molten chocolate were good enough, and doesn't need to be further decorated/covered by the white dust!

CS

ps WELCOME our first-timers - Coralia, Moonsun, Ewa, Dao, Julia, Francesca, David, XiaoHui, Sophia & Liana!!!! Hope you had fun!
pps JUNE DDT will be yet another HOME BAKE! Themed "different, unusual but NOICE" - exotic and creative desserts to be held in Chateau Chatelaine!
KT: As a true dessert devotee, I "popped in" to check out what Sonoma Bakery had on offer. I must say Sonoma has more French pastry options than Le Petit Tarte! There are definitely some yummy breads to be had; but we were about to have chocolate lasagne so I got a cinnamon scroll to go. Think cinnamon donut in a scroll but French. Happy :D

Adriano Zumbo - need we say more?

2009-04-26T04:40:00.000-07:00

Balmain. Funky, trendy, classy, and I'm referring only to the good cuisine available here. This suburb, and I've only scratched the surface (of Darling Street), has some of the most decadent desserts you will find in Sydney. Lenôtre, Créateur de Haute Gourmandise, boasts the best desserts and rightfully so - each combination of flavour and design structure second to none. And it's in Balmain - Adriano Zumbo's Patisserie is our main destination of today's dessert tour, because this one location would hold enough heavenly delicious parcels to last us the entire day (and more). Good things come to those who wait - we will start elsewhere, warm up with some light breakfast first, then attack Adriano with full force.

We started at Circle Cafe, sitting out in the lovely courtyard overlooking the hustle and bustle of Darling St. Our coffees arrived first - bowl of coffee - I've had better - at least it was good to have some warm milk to start my day. Then our sweet crepes came - they looked good, but upon closer inspection it was too thick to be crepes, and it was soft and too moist. The lemon crepes were somewhat "undressed" - it was bland, had nothing but lemon and a touch of syrup... not sweet, nor tangy, until I scraped the lemon slices for more pulp and juice. Banana maple crepes were better - drenched in organic maple syrup sweetness and fragrance. The major disappointment was in the ricotta hotcakes - they were heavy and dense, a thick and pasty pancake, rather than a fluffy light hotcake like that of Bill's, or at Hoochie Mama's in Newtown. Extremely disappointing so we didn't bother finishing it as this would have simply filled our stomachs, hence preventing us from enjoying Adriano Zumbo's work.

We had a pit stop along the way - spotted Pat and Stick ice cream sandwiches, and could not resist. The coffee ice cream was more intensely coffee flavoured than my bowl of milk. Go figure.

Moving on - there are two Adriano Zumbo's shops, one is a chocolate cafe, the other is the take away patisserie. We were told to simply bring our box of goodies to the chocolate cafe and the lovely waitresses would serve the desserts for us. Walking into the patisserie was like walking into a dream. Each parcel beautifully stacked, each an immaculate piece of art. Each had to eventually be dismembered and consumed (sadly, but someone had to do it). And there were an assortment of bakery goods - croissants, breads, baguettes, banana loaves etc. After much agonising, we finally decided on (only) six things for the day, walked out of the shop vowing to return.

In fact we are currently contemplating on moving to Balmain.

Returning to the chocolate cafe, we found more photo opportunities - rows and rows of chocolates which we didn't sample as we anticipated the goods from the patisserie. The dark hot chocolate was divine - velvety, thick, and nutty (must have something other than chocolates). Chai latte was unusual, it was almost white (was there any spices in the cup??) but it was subtly spicy and mellow, very easy to drink. We then started sampling the goods: starting with the licorice macaron (for the non-licorice fans, this is actually surprisingly tasty!), choc-hazelnut bread (very morish, would love to have this for breakfast every day, with a good cafe au lait); delightfully light and refreshing Dr Apple (pistachio dacquoise, apple cider jelly and vanilla chantilly creme, calvados cooked apples and green apple mousse), fairytale-like luscious castle of Charlotte Full (olive oil mousse with rhubarb ripple, passion fruit creme, biscuit macaroons and fresh berries), tangy sunset "goo" of Tart aux fruits de la passion (pate sable, passionfruit creme) and a decadent chocolatey Craigie Bam (chocolate sponge, chocolate coated rice puff center and chocolate mousse).

Oh heaven.
Dr Apple was so light and fresh, I could eat it all day. Every spoonful melted in my mouth. The Charlotte puts sweet romance into our hearts - sweet mousse and macaron biscuits, tangy smooth passionfruit creme. The passionfruit tart continued our love affair with anything gooey - creamy passionfruit "goo" oozed out of its crispy tart base when cut - reminded us of the goo experience at Newtown last month. The chocolate Cragie Bam was a lush chocolate-lover's delight - chocolate coated rice puffs was quite hard so we had to dismantle the beautifully constructed dessert in order to break the chocolate apart... sacrilege.

We left Adriano Zumbo's cafe fat and happy.... so happy we neglected a large piece of choc-hazelnut bread on the table! :'(

Moving on we headed towards Victoire for their famous creme brulee.... which doesn't exist anymore! Apparently they don't make it anymore because no one buys them... sniff sniff. And one woman there didn't show interest in being friendly to customers so I wasn't so keen on spending money there.... (In saying that - the other lady was sweet and lovely) So we left with just a palmier and a bag of citrusy fragrant madeleines. We enjoyed these with a potent coffee from The Little Marionette and ended our beautiful day in the park.

This would be one of the most memorable dessert days simply because of Adriano's artwork. And also because we had a new participant Susan - what a classy way to start her dessert appreciation!!
CS
KT: Adriano, will you marry me? (Marriage proposal No.2689)

DDT is BACK! Hello, Newtown!

2009-03-30T04:34:00.000-07:00

Divine Dessert Tour is back!! "I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide...." ahem no sorry not Gandalf, but I reckon it's equally exciting (and more satisfying!) Though I must confess, we DID have a DDT event in February, in Rio de Janeiro; attendees included KT, CS and (first timer!!) Carol - welcome to the world of sweet indulgence!!

KT, CEO extraordinaire, cherry picked a handful of locations to satisfy us gluttons - Hoochie Mama's Cafe, Black Star Bakery, Satellite Espresso, Pastizzi Cafe, Dolce & Gelato.... Life of a hobbit... gladly!!

Breakfast at Hoochie Mama's - KT had already been eyeing the french toast with strawberries and lemon ricotta, the enthusiasm of which infected CC (first time DDD who habitually licks her laptop screen when looking at my blog + photos - Welcome!!) so I thought, what's the point of everyone eating the same thing... so I went with an old favourite of ricotta hotcakes with berry and yogurt.

The dishes were both gorgeously presented. French toast was made with thick-cut raisin toast, which would be lovely if it was served as just raisin toast with strawberries and lemon ricotta... what was our problem? French toast needs to be soaked through with egg, but it wasn't soaked enough to give it that rich eggy flavour. However my ricotta hotcakes were PERFECT - good enough to rival that of Bill Granger (see DDT launch at Bills Woollarah)! Hot, fluffy, moist, light... and the generous portions meant 3 thick hotcakes later I started to worry about the rest of my dessert day. Hoochie Mama's coffee - bitter and not very aromatic.... was disappointed.

Dragging our heavy bottoms away from Hoochie Mama's, we proceeded towards Black Star Bakery, famous for their signature dessert chocolate caramel tart (among other things). The chocolate tart oddly has a sprinkle of salt flakes on top, but if so many people vouch for this dessert despite the salt, there's got to be some good reason behind it.

And there was. The chocolate caramel 'GOO' was decadent, smooth, rich, and for some reason the salt actually cut the richness and gave it that extra dimension, so I understood why people come back to this, and why this gets sold out quite quickly (I bought the last one... it's now sitting in my fridge!) We had to spoon the 'goo' in order to share it, as cutting the tart into quarters meant the chocolate lava goodness was no longer contained in the crispy tart shell.

Dimmed in comparison was the custard flan. It would be lovely but after the chocolate goodness, everything tasted bland. Its crusty pastry (not short-bread biscuit base that could be quite heavy) reminded me of the pastry from Bourke St Bakery's creme brulee tart.

Other items sampled - canelle with rum & lemon, a traditional French pastry, I wasn't impressed with the way it looked (how superficial of me) but it had a very fragrant flavour and I enjoyed the caramelised crust. Saffron mango biscuit - couldn't taste the saffron, but enjoyed the dried mango (not candied) on light crispy biscuit base (not bad); then later, lovely waitress provided us with a freebie of a lemon curd biscuit 'tainted' by a blob of chocolate sauce. Deliciously tangy custard - hard to find a tangy lemon curd nowadays, for some reason. And I now have 2 of these sitting in my fridge too, waiting to be consumed.

Coffee - OK drinking, quite strong, more on the acidic side.

By now our bottoms were REALLY heavy, and our feet dragging as the post-feed lethargy kicks in... but we move on and found ourselves in the bright teal and fuscia interior of Satellite Espresso. It's time for a break (much needed, in fact) and lucky for us they only had one sweet on offer (!! surprised that I'd actually say that). Lemon lime (baked) cheese cake, with passion fruit pulp and a big handful of blueberries. It was deliciously rich and smooth, fantastic blend of tang and the rich cheese cake, very mouth watering.

A gem find - lychee and boysenberry soda - very refreshing, a simple mix of tinned lychee, lychee syrup, soda water and boysenberry - gorgeous. Woke me up better than the coffee! (Satellite coffee - ok initial palate, bitter towards the end, and left my mouth bitter and tart..)

My last stop (but not KT's last) was the Pastizzi Cafe, no prizes for guessing what they sell. But they also do very lovely meals - as we sat there we saw plates and plates of tantalisingly good pasta being served. Also last sunday of the month they do rabbits - traditional Malta dish. Pastizzis are these baked crispy pastry with an assortment of fillings, sweet or savoury. Being a dessert tour of course we'd opted for the sweet options - chocolate and ricotta, cherry and cheese, and apple. The apple pastitzzi was somewhat average - just like standard apple pie fillings. Cherry and cheese was lightly sour, kind of like a cherry and cheese strudel; chocolate ricotta was our favourite, then again we could be biased because we like chocolate :p.

As I rolled myself away from Newtown, KT and MB had the following experience:

Dolce & Gelato: the "best" chocolate ice cream - dark chocolate with tiny bits of melting chocolate... mmm...

Gem find: Chilli Chocolate - sooooo nice... the burn at the back of the throat is so addictive :P Pistachio, although not as impressive as that from Gelatissimo (personal opinion), was a welcoming break between each spoonful of chilli choc - Very yummy... :D~~

There you have it, the return of DDT - in style!

Comments

Christine Chuang - 31/03/2009 5:35:27 AM

Thanks CS and KT! Despite the fact that I missed out on the best bit of the DDT tour of the day but I had a great breakie (nearly disqualified by wanting to eat my eggs benedict!!!! phew!!!) See you guys again!
P.S CS - can I steal the above french toast+hot cakes pics so that I can link it to my blog? You may get an influx of readers from Taiwan :P

Divine Dessert Tour 2008 finale - Happy Holidays!

2008-11-20T04:30:00.000-08:00

As this would be the last entry for the year, I must firstly express my appreciation to everyone who participated in our Divine Dessert Tours.

Good things are meant to be shared. It made the sweets that little bit more delicious, the coffees that little bit more aromatic, the blue sky that little bit bluer, the winter cold (or summer heat) that little bit easier to bear. And having dessert as a way of getting people together also meant friendships are made, not to mention expansion of everyone's food experience and creativity.

Well done to those who had been there more than once, to those who came up with suggestions, and muchas gracias to people who made the effort to cook up a storm on the home-bake DDTs.

So, thanks for 11 months of great fun and enjoyment, and we'll certainly have more in 2009!!

Now to this month's home-made Christmas Dessert. We had traditional holiday desserts including
   Boiled fruit pudding (with beautiful aroma and rich flavour)
   Festive gingerbread cookies (individually and painstaking decorated)
   Chocolate apricot cardamon pistachio pudding (fabulous blend of fruit and nut and spices)

And the "just desserts":
   Fruity trifle rich in liquor and creamy custard (light and refreshing)
   Lemon meringue pie (beautifully tangy custard, crispy meringue)
   Raspberry ice cream (exquisite and hand made!)
   Ice cream xmas cake (simply amazing - fruity nutty and caramel-y)
   Fruit salad (something to take the guilt away)

Then there are the participants who wanted to be part of the indulgence but either wouldn't cook, or couldn't cook:
A Beautiful Life from Ella's Patisserie (an encore dessert because it was so good - see details from the April DDT)
Selection of cakes and pastries including tiramisu, pistachio and caramel tart, sticky date pudding, baked cheese cake, cannoli etc

And what's a Christmas party without a turkey! For the first time in DDT history we allowed savoury items - only because our CEO prepared a rich gooey spicy chocolate mole sauce for poultry. People who enjoy spiced chocolate will love this, and people who didn't think chocolate could possibly be savoury (which was most of the participants) were converted after one taste! And when this went on a perfectly juicy and lightly savoury 4.5kg turkey, bliss.

I the perfect hostess was left with nothing more than a carcass at the end of the day, thinking, well there goes my hope of a turkey roll for lunch tomorrow.

There were drinks too - many a participants brought dessert wines - ice wine, muscat, golden botrytis, to name a few; and there was French Brut (same brut we had from the June DDT), and a bottle of Tyrrell's Old Winery cab-merlot ('98 vintage). And as it was a nice warm spring day (not summer yet!) a sangria bianca was prepared for everyone's drinking pleasure.

An absolutely divine indulgent day! Thanks again to everyone's effort and contribution, and see you next year!

CS

October Good Food Month! (C)

2008-10-29T04:28:00.000-07:00

Sugarhit at Sofitel Wentworth

So the place that served beautiful Le Notrè desserts marked the finale for us DDDs in October. Sofitel Wentworth served a phenomenal high tea earlier this year. We were drawn again by their chocolate assiette sugar hit offer so here we came.
On offer: Chocolate macaronade, white chocolate cheesecake, and dark chocolate crème pot, with either Brown Brothers dessert wine or Hennessy cognac. It was suggested that we enjoy the milder flavours first - which was the cheesecake, followed by the macaronade, and finish with the chocolate crème pot. The first bite of the cheesecake generated a consensus "mmm", the DDDs agreeing it was creamy cheesy cheesecake that wasn't too heavy, and went well with the dessert wine. I could certainly eat a bigger slab. Chocolate macaronade - half a macaroon, but I would recommend having macaroons from either Lindt cafe or Laurent Boulangerie. Chocolate crème pot - a shot of rich, creamy, thick ganachè-like crème not too sweet but a good rich chocolate perfect for a chocoholic.

It was a fanfare finale to the DDT's participation of Good Food month. However for me it was somewhat difficult to decide whether to label this best of the three Sugar Hits, as I enjoyed the InterContinental immensely. It could be because it was the first and therefore most memorable, but it could also be the variety of the delicate dessert creations. I for one found the chocolate crème pot too much to handle after two previous chocolate desserts but that's just me...

Next DDT - November 30th - X'mas party with nothing but good'o X'mas desserts till you drop!!

CS

October Good Food Month! (B)

2008-10-18T04:27:00.000-07:00

Sugarhit at Galileo

Galileo at the Observatory Hotel was the second installment of our October DDT. Orange bavarois, dark chocolate mousse, and a smear of redcurrant sauce were the offer, plus a sweet Browns Brother bubbly to wash things down.

Orange bavarois: refreshing, lightly sweet citrus sorbet.

Dark chocolate mousse encased in an intricate sponge and jelly* layer, white chocolate mousse smoothed over the dark chocolate mousse,
with a small blob of jelly* in the center.

Browns Brother bubbly: it felt like lightly carbonated botrytis semillon, didn't ask the staff what it is.

Verdict: It was nice, but InterContinental still reigns supreme.... maybe until the LeNotre Sugar Hit at Sofitel (Sunday 26th October)?

CS

* not sure how else to describe the red layers (see photo) and the blob in the center of the chocolate mousse - I think it's made of firm jelly

October Good Food Month! (A)

2008-10-08T04:24:00.000-07:00

Sugarhit at InterContinental

To take advantage of the annual October Good Food Month, the October DDT will take place multiple times... I mean, when the hotels around Sydney are putting up special Sugar Hits just for this month, it is sinful not to sample the ones that take our fancy!!

The first installment of the October DDT was held at the Hotel InterContinental, sweets on offer are presented on a tasting platter with Grand Marnier-Strawberry Infused Panna Cotta, Chestnut Timbale, and V.S.O.P cognac cream & White Chocolate-Raspberry Torte. Also each came with a choice of either a Browns Brother dessert wine or a Hennessy Cognac.

The panna cotta: creamy, rich, with a hint of fragrance of the liquor, and fantastic tangy sweet strawberry topping (better than ANY strawberry jam I bought! And as good as the strawberry conserve I brewed at home). Very lush.

The chestnut timbale: smooth paste of nutty aromatic chestnut, almost hazelnutty, served with a beautifully rich dark chocolate sauce

Cognac cream and white chocolate raspberry torte - Most subtle of the three, very delicate flavours, fine sponge that stayed fused to the other layers as we sliced the torte into bite-sized morsels. This one reminded me of the pistachio and raspberry torte at the Bather's Pavillion. Gorgeous.

I felt a pang of heartache when I placed the fork on top of each of the beautiful servings, feeling the guilt of destruction of beauty. But of course the heartache was quickly soothed by the luxurious flavours, or numbed by the cognac. One disappointment: the desserts were delicate, and petite (this is not the disappointment though I would have loved to have more!) but the spoon and fork were MEAL sized, meaning we couldn't get the spoons into the panna cotta cup to clean up the last streaks of the cream!!

Luscious and delicate, beautiful experience. Next installment of the October DDT will take place at Galileo on Sunday, 12th October. Stay tuned (or join in!)

CS

KT: Special mention to first time attendees Sabrina and Jim - did pretty well after an all-you-can-eat Brazilian BBQ dinner!

Viva Italia - Haberfield

2008-09-23T04:23:00.000-07:00

Haberfield is one of my favourite suburbs. Ramsay St (near the intersection of Dalhousie Rd) is dotted with patisseries, delicatessens, and pizzerias boasting of Sydney's best authentic woodfired pizza. It is popular with the locals, although Haberfield is slowly being invaded by outsiders who are starting to catch on and discover the goods... such as us DDDs.

We had grand plans of 5 or 6 places to conquer, but were disappointed that our starting cafe Espresso Galleria was closed on Sundays. Then we discovered (on the same side of Ramsay St) Colefax Chocolate Cafe was closed. So was Paesanella's cheese shop. Fine then, we will seek our fortunes across the street - at A&P Sulfaro Pasticceria.

And it didn't disappoint. A counter full of biscuits, a counter of pastries & cakes, and behind us a freezer of gelato ice cream cakes, and a constant queue of 10 people at all times. The long wait to order simply gave us time to examine the goods carefully. So here goes: between the CEO and secretary we had a hazelnut profiterole (given two thumbs up), a pistachio and chocolate shortbread (which I later came back for... and bought a dozen), a brioche (standard), a chocolate cannoli (mmm luscious), lemon melting moment (not lemony enough, not melt-in-your-mouth enough), spiced pastry (interesting... sweet-savoury pastry and spiced filling), and two cups of coffee (decent coffee, not cups of milk - KT: !!). The others opted for a custard filled donut (the look of his face said it was a good donut) and an almond biscuit (nice).

Verdict for A&P Sulfaro - fantastic biscuits, mouthwatering pastries, but service was shocking. I saw one of the waitresses take 10 minutes to make an iced mocha (painstakingly scooped out some chocolate gelato into a tall glass, took her time filling and tampering the coffee grind, then made the coffee, then gently poured the coffee onto the already melting chocolate gelato, then looked for the milk that is sitting just behind her and carefully pouring it into the chocolate mush), while another waitress carefully poured two glasses of water to 1cm from the rim, while no one took orders for 20 minutes. Also in the 20 minutes of no service, only 4 cups of coffee were made, meaning at best 2 tables were served.

Pasticceria Papa - our morning tea stop. The long counter displayed biscuits similarly beautiful compared to those of A&P Sulfaro's, as well as cakes and pastries and gelati, and has a queue as long as A&P Sulfaro, except their service was streamline and efficient. The pistachio gelato was full of flavour - Gelatissimo's got nothing on it!! Lovely strawberry cheesecake - you can taste the tang of the cream cheese. The biscuits were good - pistachio biscuits (made of almond meal) are deserving of special mention. Excellent Lavazza espresso and affogato were enjoyed by fellow dessertees too. Sitting languidly in the courtyard, I started noticing the waitress drag chairs and tables loudly to one side and stacking them up, until we were the last uncleared table... an obvious hint they were closing, at 1pm on a busy Sunday afternoon.

Dolcissimo is just across the intersection from Pasticceria Papa, but with a more casual exterior. Dolcissimo also has a biscuits and cakes counter, and always has a fairly lengthy torte selection, with common favourites such as mud cake and tiramisu. Among the 7 of us, our orders were panna cotta torte (disappointed it's not panna cotta, but otherwise a light and moist sponge torte), baked ricotta cheese cake (luscious, but gets a bit rich after a while), creme caramel (deliciously eggy), tiramisu (good, but a bit heavy), stack of pancakes with vanilla gelato and ricotta hotcakes (not as fluffy as Bill's). The lemon gelato needs to be praised: it was so silky smooth and tangy it really melted in your mouth, and no ice crystals! It was that good. Also, it served as refreshment between various cakes.

Despite the disappointment in shops being closed on Sundays, it was a perfect day of relaxation and enjoyment. Different from the Surry Hills walk, we only visited 3 places this time (not by choice, mind you), but it was sufficiently a good day because the quality of the biscuits, cakes, pastries etc were generally satisfying. Each of our visited location has a great variety to choose from, hence pleasing everybody easily.

Special mention: Rusty, Kim's sweet natured puppy, who enjoyed a sunny day out, as well as crumbs and my accidentally dropped jam shortbread.
CS
KT: 1st time attendees were Kim, Rusty, Rebecca and Donna. Returned attendee Terry had nothing to say about BrisVegas. We were not surprised :P

Walk around Surry Hills

2008-08-20T04:22:00.000-07:00

So far, each DDT had been trying to out do one another: be it utter extravaganza with Lenôtre at Sofitel, or "show us your best" dessert buffet at home, or the overindulgence at Ella's. Thanks to our CEO's ingenuity, I believe we've done it again - in true dessert TOUR style, we sampled desserts, pastries and coffees from 8 different cafe/patisseries/bakeries around Surry Hills.

The day started with clear blue sky and crisp cool air as we wandered towards Toast Café, (Shop 3, 23 Mary Street). There we savoured a perfect espresso (Toby's Estate) to start our day, accompanied by a lemon polenta cake (thumbs up) and Bowan Island organic fruit toast (fruity and wholesome). After Toast, it was a short walk to The Wall (80 Campbell St), which looked like a hole in the wall, but that does not compromise the service and funkiness. Though the cafe latte (Genovese coffee) was reported to be on the weak side. We were somewhat indifferent to the gooey caramel shortbread, but fantastic fig and ginger cake - I'm not a ginger person but I totally dig (dug?) it.

We took our sunny walk up Crown Street to our next destination Kawa (348a Crown Street). Lovely little cafe, not much space inside, but the counter was lined with cakes, pies, biscuits and sweets. It also has benches and tables on the sidewalk, looking out towards the (quiet side of) Crown St. There we indulged on a coconut cake (moist but not wet, fluffy not crumbly, fragrant, light and tasty) and an oatmeal cookie (moist, slightly chewy, full of flavour and totally changed my preconception of 'healthy' cookies... then again maybe it's not that healthy??), and a top notch affogato (made with Kawa organic blend of Single Origin double shot espresso). This was a really enjoyable little spot, and our special guest Polo (AM's 6-yo 'puppy') got lucky and received a treat of left over bacon from a previous patron!!

From here our plans changed from the proposed stops and skipped to Coffee Tea or Me (536 Crown Street). This is another little cafe that looks like a hole in the wall, with the counter lined with at least 10 different biscuits/desserts (gave me a very hard time) and specialises in Mariage Freres tea (famous French tea house). The teas we selected were Yin Zhen (lightly fragrant white tea), Eros, Punjabi Chai tea, and sweets devoured were snowy road (white version of rocky road), sour cherry toast, and pain du chocolat (a fellow DDD couldn't wait for our next stop - Bourke St Bakery) with toasted crispy flaky pastry and melted chocolate throughout. Like the other cafes this place also had outdoor seating (stools and boxes for tables) which was the only convenient way to keep Polo happy.

Bourke St Bakery (633 Bourke Street). Nothing pretentious about this place, don't expect comfortable seating or interior with great ambiance. This place is about their fresh bread and pastry. On a Saturday people queue up patiently to buy breakfast, morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea. By the time we arrived there were no more of their flaky crispy (even when it's cold) croissant left, so I settled with some pain du chocolat (big sacrifice... not!). But there were still enough of the strawberry brulee tart (MUST HAVE) and lemon tart (tangy curd, crispy base). Also deserving of mention is the praline twist - nutty and aromatic. I was a little disappointed with their long black though - on the bitter side. And this being lunch hour, I also gave myself an excuse to have a lamb sausage roll - well worth the try - and a fellow DDD had a meat pie with real meat chunk in it!! Very satisfying.

We now move towards the city side of Crown St and to our next destination - Le Pain Quotidien (414 Bourke Street), a French bakery I'd been to in New York (at Soho), and is a place I go past frequently on the bus and promised myself to visit time and time again. If it weren't for our already exploded stomachs we may have picked more luscious offers, but we opted for a strawberry friand (which was surprisingly average), a hazelnut flute (very hard bread stick, think grissini but more doughy, flavoursome when biting into a bit of nut) and a brioche (surprise - savoury brioche?!). It was a little disappointing, but we won't give up and will give Le Pain Quotidien another chance, when we're not so stuffed.

Le Pain Quotidien was followed by a surprise find - Sparkle Cupcakery (132 Foveaux St). This newly established cupcake cafe has groovy interior and many unusual cupcake flavours, thus it was impossible to resist. Each of their cupcakes are colour coded by a little sugar button on top of the icing, and we opted for lavender/honey and pistachio/cardamom. What a great find this place is!! The cupcakes have great flavour (the icing on lavender/honey was a little overpowering, but still delicious), loved the texture (fluffy not crumbly, moist not damp, like the coconut cake at Kawa). Very happy with the find, and would definitely head back when I'm in the area.

Christopher's (409 Bourke St) - exquisite continental cake/biscuits lining the counter. At that stage I was beyond consuming, but the beautiful presentation and the little sample sizes ($2.60 each for a 5cm x 5cm x 5cm dessert) lured me into getting a takeaway box. I picked the St Katerina (creme patissier layered with puff pastry - deliciously creamy but the presentation was prettier than its taste) and a black forest (good cake) and indulged myself at home, with a Veluto Nero coffee.

We ended up skipping Foodgame (185 Campbell Street) which, at the time looked no more than an ordinary cafe to us - which may be an unfair observation from two stuffed and overindulged DDDs, though the sweets menu didn't appeal either, so there and then we called it the day.

Many thanks to KT the CEO for coming up with these spots, and for staying from start to finish. Also the participant who stayed with us the whole way (not that he had any choice!!) - Polo - for being a good sport, not whiny for the long walks, and providing entertainment while we waited for our sweets.
CS

GPO Cheese and Wine Room

2008-07-20T04:21:00.000-07:00

This deviated from the conventional DDT experience. Cheese. Wine. Crackers. Antipasto plates. Gourmet breads. Olives. But it was our destination for the July DDT because our CEO, being considerate of those who expressed interest in participating but feared sugar high, picked this romantic and convenient city location with a well-stocked cellar and a broad selection of cheeses from all over the world. And of course, cheese is often served as after dinner treats, so they somewhat fall into the "desserts" category.

Yes we will stretch it as far as we can to make this cheesy night qualify for a dessert experience.

It was easier to go with the tasting sets: The cheese and wine flights - three cheeses, each with a matching wine (or vice versa, depending on how you view it), or cheese tasting boards with two to three cheeses with some combination of crackers, breads, muscatels, quince paste, or individual cheeses not covered in the tasting boards. In the end we had European Classic tasting boards (Camembert, cheddar, gorgonzola with cracker and quince paste), red wine flight (gruyere, cheddar, roquefort with red wine to match), white wine flight (same cheeses as the European classic but with wine to match), an individual gorgonzola blue cheese, and side dishes of mixed olives, red pepper relish, caramelised onion jam, and a tasting plate of cured meats (salami, prosciutto, ham, and bread). MB ordered for the group a McLaren Vale Shiraz (2001) which very soon had me enter the happy relaxed but blushing state. I will now admit my weakness that I am no cheese and wine connoisseur and I could only say "great cheeses". Particular mention to the Camembert, which is popular because it has flavour most people can enjoy. The same could not be said about blue cheeses - though I did enjoy the gorgonzola, an acquired taste which comes with the ability to overcome the idea of "eating mould". I also had a go at having roquefort - the cheese part was creamy and rich in flavour, but the mouldy part is yet to grow on me (it had a very strong, somewhat metallic flavour to me, and the palate stayed with me for quite some time).

Now the ambience: Interior of the Cheese and Wine Room was cozy and romantic ("mood lighting"). It is a place designed to make its patrons feel like connoisseurs - classy. However it was surprising that the room was very noisy when it was at close to full capacity - I suppose guests could get a tad too cheerful after a few too many glasses of wine. The tables felt quite cramped after the cheese boards arrived though it could be that greedy DDDs over-ordered (there was consensus of over-indulgence). Then again, this is me being nit-picky as a "critique" would.

Note to participants of this DDT: Those of you who ordered the "flights" please supply a tasting note for the cheese+wine combination. Those who are more qualified to comment on wine please also send me a tasting note on the wine(s) on the night. Much appreciated.
CS

PS apologies for the photos - must remember to bring tripod next time!!

KT: Doubt anyone will submit further notations as nobody ever thought we could get so stuffed on cheese & drunk on multiple glasses of fermented grape juice - ie short term memory! SH & I ended up having EasyWay hot grass jelly soup & mango flavoured tofu pudding... told you I'm hardcore :P

BYO (bake your own) special at Petit Paris (aka Potts Point)

2008-06-24T04:20:00.000-07:00

The DDT crew longed to show off their culinary knowledge and skills, as a real foodie must also possess proficient kitchen capability. To mark the 6 month "anniversary" of DDT, and to test the fellow devotees in their dedication, BYO home party was held on the 22nd of June.

More than 10 dessertees attended this day, therefore more than 10 different types of desserts were present. Not all of them were home made, but in the spirit of divine dessert tour any contribution was welcome & much appreciated. To start it off, all devoted dessertees were refreshed with a glass of French brut, followed by admiring the cakes and pastries and chocolates, followed by attacking the cakes and pastries and chocolates. These were classics such as lemon tart (KT) - with beautiful flaky pastry, decadent chocolate brownie (KT), traditional and flavoursome tiramisu (Noriko), fluffy and light (in comparison to a New York Cheesecake) baked cheese cake (Lim, from Savoy), comfort food (give me a bowl and then another) apple and rhubarb crumble (Martin), rich dark flourless chocolate cake (Matt, from Bourke St Bakery), fresh strawberry tart (Rebecca, from a local bakery), text book quality rocky road (Lim), and soft melting cherry financier cake (Anthea). There was also ice cream - home made divine praline ice cream (Anthea), blood orange and hazelnut gelati (from Rebecca Z), and Homer Hudson Vanilla ice cream. On top of that there was plenty of dark chocolates (CS and MW - 10 different flavours - chilli, vanilla, blueberry, dates, sponge finger soaked with coffee and kahlua, pine nuts, hazelnut, hazelnut meal soaked with frangelico, red wine truffles, and peanut butter).

No wonder most dessert devotees were planning to skip dinner or have something light. Those who were cautious took small bites of each item to taste, much like the bite sized desserts at Ella's (see DDT 4) and thus enabled dinner in the evening.

Special mention to KT, DDT CEO and founder, for the large tray of chocolate brownie and deliciously tangy lemon tart (with excellent pastry, which is something I the mere DDT secretary haven't mastered), and the luscious praline ice cream made by the super-baker co-host Anthea. This being a bake your own event, presentation of all desserts were not quite up to the Lenotre standard, but considering the effort everyone made, and the fact that every DDD went home fat and happy meant every dessert was worthy of being part of DDT.

In fact, I would like to know - when shall we have another BYO dessert day again?

Muchas gracias to our gracious hostesses with the mostest - for welcoming the guests and the enormous amount of cleaning and washing up afterwards, for supplying delicious French brut, and of course for the delectable delicacies they provided.

CS

Lenotre at The Lounge, Sofitel

2008-05-24T04:14:00.000-07:00

Lenotre holds an exclusive spot in my heart. My first encounter with Lenotre was in Paris. Walking into a shop could have sent me into convulsion from the sheer excitement of drooling over endless displays of desserts!! "Fromboyant" was carefully chosen as my lunch for the day. And the pleasure it delivered was simply exquisite... Yes, I'm talking about food!

When Mark Stone, the only Australian accredited by Lenotre, brought "Venus Fromboisier" to Summit for Good Food Month back in 2006 (raising money for National Breast Cancer Foundation - being pink & all) I was beyond ecstatic! It would be another year before the experience is repeated at Sofitel for Sugar Hit in 2007. "Opera" and a glass of Hennessy Cognac... I found THE Lenotre dessert menu, on top of the usual dessert menu and vowed that I would be back.

If you haven't had a Lenotre dessert, I urge you to visit Sofitel. The Afternoon Tea stand consists of 6 cakes (see below, corresponding with photo from top to bottom), scones & sandwiches:

Cone au Chocolat: rich dark chocolate cone filled with luscious berries, served with cream

Camaieu: layers of chocolate sponge flavoured with marzipan in between layers of dark & milk chocolate mousse topped with ivory Chantilly cream

Macaronades: macaroon made of soft almond meringue filled with fresh raspberries & lemon curd

Ambiance: layers of vanilla Bavarian cream, with fruits of the forest jelly & caramelised hazelnuts

Tarte au Citron: classic French lemon tart, sweet pastry filled with almond & lemon cream, topped with lemon meringue

Opera: chocolate pastry with layers of almond biscuit, decadent chocolate ganache with coffee butter cream topped with gold leaf

Ambiance received the most "mmm"s & nods. As usual, the art in eating dessert is to start light. But having a separate stomach & extremely sensitive taste buds, I cared not. Each piece was magnificent in its own right. Some like it heavy, some like it soft. I love it all!

Two desserts were chosen from a la carte:

Venus Fromboisier: fresh raspberries layered with rich vanilla mousseline, light genoise sponge, raspberry jelly, raspberry caramel & topped with a toffee swirl

Tarte au Peches: light puff pastry case filled with almond cream, peaches with a sprinkling of pistachios

The tea menu requires a special mention. The wooden box opens up to exhibit various Mariage Freres tea samples with descriptions (noted, by the future teahouse owner...). Very sweet. And according to the final bill - free! Perhaps no more luck next time :P

This has got to be the best afternoon tea experience I have ever had!!

Ella's Patisserie and Sweet Belem

2008-04-22T04:12:00.000-07:00

As the last few DDTs had been in Snobville, I mean the North side, to make sure the rest of Sydney feels loved, and also to be fair to the south Sydney-siders, the fourth installment of the dessert tour was held at Ella's Patisserie (Hurstville) as our starting point, followed by the famous Sweet Belem (Petersham), the heart of Portuguese eateries in Sydney.

Ella's Patisserie has an interior designed to target young (predominantly Asian) female clientelle - it was very pink and has stuffed toys such as Pooh and Hello Kitty adorning the shelves. This was also reflected in the cutesy chocolate and cake designs. There was also a collection of designer cakes made to order for special occasions, the most attractive for grown up female might be the LV monogram bags...

Thanks to TL and his cousin Polly who works at Ella's, we were given a special "tasting plate" for $10 per person (regular drink included!). Most of the DDDs anticipated a few samplers, maybe 3 or 4, of Ella's collections. None of us expected what was presented to us - a collection of 10 different cakes, possibly Ella's signature/most popular varieties. The look on some of the DDDs were of pure shock - how on earth am I to attack this!!!!

The plate consisted of tofu cheesecake, eclaire, lychee/strawberry/mango tart (one of three), triple chocolate pyramid, mango mousse, red bean mousse on green tea cake, blueberry cheese cake, blackforest cake, chestnut cheese cake, and "beautiful life" - a berry jelly, white chocolate, lemon and berry cheesecake layered cake. So I thought I'd start with the lighter flavours then work my way upwards. It is hard trying to describe 10 different flavours succinctly and without repeating adjectives so much... I'll try my best and forgive me if it's a bit dull.

I started with the tofu cheesecake which I like, and also know it has a light flavour so it may taste bland if I had it after some of the stronger flavours. It doesn't taste like cheesecake, with a subtle tofu flavour and was a little like panna cotta in texture. The eclaire with vanilla creme patissier was light and fluffy. The fruit tart was made with the same creme patissier, and the mango on top was full of flavour so the tanginess and the light custard combo was very appetising. The lychee version had also received equal praise. Mango mousse was covered by thin slices of fresh mango and chiffon cake, making the whole package light and melt in your mouth. Though the mango was so good it may have masked the gentle flavours of the cake and mousse.

By the time I moved on to the cakes, I was starting to feel my stomach struggle, but we don't let such trivial struggles in life stop our pursuit of happiness. Fluffy red bean mousse and green tea cake tasted nutty (from the red beans), though personally I didn't feel either the red bean or green tea came through enough (KT: I thought the green tea cake tasted bitter after I'd had a mouthful of the red bean mousse - not a combo for the lightweights hehe). The blueberry cheesecake was subtle, the occasional burst of flavour from the berry at the bottom helped add to the gentle flavour on top. The blackforest cake was made of layers of delicate chocolate chiffon, cream and berry jelly in the middle so it was nothing like a traditional moist rich blackforest cake. Chestnut cheese cake was very smooth and rich in flavour, but it was still not as heavy as a traditional cheese cake. "Beautiful life" was a symphony of tangy berry and lemon and smooth white chocolate - and with a name like beautiful life to reflect the cheerful flavour combination. I decided to save the chocolate pyramid last - and that was a fantastic choice because it was a smooth and decadent chocolate mousse pyramid similar to mortal sin but much lighter, and an excellent end to the tasting plate.

Overall the theme to the desserts was "light". To have the same amount of normal cheese cake/dessert would have caused a stomach explosion, but Ella's being a fusion style of East and West made the desserts a lot easier to stomach without feeling heavy. Congratulations to Ella for creating such lovely fusion of flavours and styles - but having 10 desserts in one go was still too much for most!!

After Ella's we meandered our way to Petersham, the heart of Portuguese community in Sydney, where the famous Sweet Belem Patisserie is. This place is famous for authentic Portuguese and Continental desserts, and boasts the "best Portuguese tart in Sydney", according to some die hard fans. So this was the primary target of DDDs - and it did not disappoint - signature flaky and crispy pastry with eggy custard (different from the custard on usual Portuguese tarts) that isn't too sweet, and served with sprinkles of ground cinnamon on top. Among other orders are a Opera cake (apparently a little dry), a raspberry and white chocolate mousse on mud cake (decadent, cake on the outside a bit dry but still moist in the centre), creme caramel, almond and hazelnut tart, and palmier with Portuguese custard (not the same as tart custard). Considering we all came from Ella's, we still managed to enjoy the rich desserts at Sweet Belem! (KT: a "mini" Belgium chocolate rose cake is of the same size as a giant muffin!!)

Truly a day of over-indulgence... many thanks again to Ella for her generous servings of fantastic desserts!!

The Tea Room, Gunners Barracks

2008-03-18T04:10:00.000-07:00

High tea at Gunner's Barracks was a highly anticipated affair as the venue is renowned for its food, view and location. The last DDT was originally intended for Gunner's if it wasn't booked out, and just a week prior to this DDT the booking was filled up until early April, showing their popularity. There is a minimal spend of $35 per person, and for large group bookings (of more than 10) there is a 10% surcharge. We thought, well, we don't get pampered and treated like ladies (or gentlemen) of court all that often so once in a while doesn't hurt!!

12 servings of high tea arrived on three-tiered trays on the classic Royal Doulton china. It was exciting seeing the delicate parcels arrive at our tables. Not much time was wasted on photos as we had the same order - and there are only so many shots one can take of the identical trays and plates.

There was one serving of each cake/pastry/sandwich/scone per person - Raspberry gateau (very moist), opera espresso cake (layers of chocolate ganache and coffee soaked sponge), melting moment (that you couldn't pick up without it almost crumbling to pieces, and melted the moment it reached your lips - top choice for the day), fruit tartlet (with vanilla bean creme patissier) and citrus almond cake (reminds me a bit of the orange almond cake at Napoli in Bocca, but lighter), raspberry jam and fresh cream for our scones (which was said to be a little on the doughy side and needed a touch more salt, according to the scone experts... one of whom had 3 scones despite the said imperfections). The savoury items were tomato salsa tartlets (refreshing), spinach and cheese puff (not great) and sandwiches (egg or chicken - ok to fill stomach).

Overall there was a consensus of disappointment. The food was good but nothing out of the ordinary. Service at the start was attentive but as our high tea arrived the waiters appeared to be too busy to notice our raised hands (to order more coffee/tea/food), and once the order was made it took quite some time to arrive. They were charging us for the view and the service, but this didn't exactly ring true to the divine dessert theme, and this was no comparison to the delightful and delectable Bather's experience last time.

Verdict was we wouldn't recommend high tea as a dessert experience. As a relaxing afternoon where you sit for hours talking and taking in the view (if sitting outside on the deck) it's great, but we shall seek other worthy DDT destinations for future tours. CS.

KT: Oh, also for groups the tea selection that is meant to be part of the minimum spend becomes limited. They did accommodate for the odd Russian tea or Chai. Anyway, lesson learned :P

A day at Bather's Pavillion

2008-02-28T03:45:00.000-08:00

What happy coincidence that a DDT was scheduled on a glorious summer's day perfect for a beach visit, and located at Bather's Pavillion on Balmoral Beach. As with every other sunny Sunday, Balmoral Beach is packed with cheerful beachcombers and people seeking a relaxing afternoon ... and a table at the popular Bather's Pavillion Cafe. No bookings are taken for the cafe, it's first come first serve only. As we were a big group of 8 we had to patiently wait for a table to clear. But that's OK, good DDT CEO arrived early as always, so that the other participants wouldn't have to endure the long (and hungry) wait. (Many many thanks to KT!!)

At 11:30 we were finally seated and ready to order. Breakfast menu was not exhaustively long but had a good variety to choose from (sweet and savoury). The DDT die-hards went for the sweets and those introduced to the idea for the first time were given concession and allowed to have their eggs and bacon (after drizzling with maple syrup to qualify as an official DDT experience). Our breakfasts arrived mouth watering and tantalizing, and it frustrated the hungry DDDs that I demanded no one touch their food until satisfactory photos were obtained. Roasted fig and peach on fig and almond panettone with mascarpone - appetising and hearty, caramelised fruit plus smooth mascarpone perfect with the panettone which to me was better than a heavy fruit loaf or thick cut raisin toast. Vanilla rice pudding stacked with fresh berries, mango and crispy pineapple was beautifully presented, the vanilla rice lightly sweet and very smooth, went well with either of the sweet fresh mango cheeks and tart and tangy berries. Pancake stack with blue berries and maple syrup, an old favourite, was light, fluffy (and thankfully no bicarb taste!!) and just textbook perfect. To me the most unusual and impressive breakfast was the strawberry blintz with poached rhubarb and spiced Meredith honey yogurt - the yogurt was interesting - I'm not sure I liked it because of the spices (my guess is cloves and cinnamon and others), but my compliment to the chef for creating this combination of healthy delicious dish that is highly appealing and has a lot of depth of flavours.

Brownie points to MW - whose experimental and daring mix of left over maple syrup and mascarpone won critical and unanimous acclaim.

After midday, lunch menu replaced the breakfast menu. This menu is significant because it has desserts on it. And we were very delighted to find out that Bather's has recently hired a new pastry chef who was supposed to be very good! With our CEO's persuasion we ordered every dessert on the menu - vanilla creme brulee, lemon delicious (lemon tart/custard type dessert), raspberry and pistachio gateau, yogurt and honeycomb parfait, chocolate fondue for two, rocky road tart. The creme brulee is just classic and perfect, not too rich (like what I had at ArtEspresso Canberra) and incredibly smooth. After this experience I have declared this my favourite creme brulee joint. The other desserts I could only describe according to the one tiny mouthful I've had, as the participants had not submitted their DDT report (they are now on notice for not doing their fair share!) The lemon delicious was as the name suggests, very delicious, it was kind of a tangy lemon curd but wasn't a custard like that of the traditional citrus tart. Raspberry and pistachio gateau was slightly disappointing for our CEO because the flavour was delicate and subtle and if you had the raspberry sorbet with the cake it would overpower it. The rose-water macaroon was muah-tastic. The chocolate in the fondue was rather runny and felt a bit like chocolate sauce used to drizzle cakes and ice cream sundaes, so it was a little less decadent than expected. KT: The rocky road tart had a very thin pastry case, in order not to detract our attention from the marshmellow/cherries/hazelnut combo coated in smooth, almost-date-like, chocolate. Ain't half bad!

Bather's Pavillion Cafe is comfortable, open and airy, that it doesn't feel crammed at all despite the large number of patrons and the constant movements. Their service is attentive and efficient, who were rather amused that this table asked for the lunch menu immediately after the brunch was consumed, and ordered every single dessert on offer. The service and food quality is consistently good, no wonder it is such a popular choice for diners, coffee addicts and DDDs alike. Parking on weekends around this area is a pain - but that's no fault of Bather's!

Some of the DDT die-hards then proceeded to a next (unscheduled but suggested) destination - Le Patissier on Military Rd, Neutral Bay, and were very pleased and impressed with the almond stick (puff pastry with almond and a touch of icing sugar) as well as other pastry/cake purchases. The almond stick was so fresh and fluffy, it was described as moreish. [KT: Apple Slice and Apple Danish were very delicious. Good pastry is hard to perfect. But once perfected, the fruit becomes secondary!! *drool*...] The cakes - again depending on personal preference, are all delectable packages. Next time I happen to be in the neighbourhood I will try their mini fruit tarts and croissants.

That concludes another luscious and indulgent day... until next time.....

CS

Divine Dessert Tour Launch

2008-01-20T02:09:00.000-08:00

Bills Woollahra and Laurent Patisserie, Bondi Junction

On a rainy gloomy day in December, 2007, a bunch of foodies gathered up for a feast, and the conversation seemed to revolve around food, food and more food. Then an idea was conceived - As Sydney has such diverse cultures and cuisines, why not make the most of it by indulging ourselves at establishments renowned for their culinary masterpieces! And who says you must do it like critiques do - we must enjoy the event, preferably with loved ones, and make it a fun, relaxing day out while we're at it!

So there it was, the idea of a "food tour" started to take shape. "What theme?"

For some strange reason - maybe it has something to do with the fact that more girls than boys were involved - the theme was DESSERTS. And there it was, the Divine Dessert Tour is born.

The birth of an idea followed by approximately 2 weeks of madly searching the web for reviews, and gathering suggestions from friends and family members, compiling a list of intended targets, and then another 2 weeks to finalise the launch date, time and location. Then the die-hards came along, cameras and tastebuds at the ready, for a day of decadent delights.

Bills Woollahra ought to feel proud to be the Divine Dessert Tour launch pad. The courtyard setting gave it a fantastic casual and cosy feel, though no bookings meant Divine Dessert Devotees have had to put their names down and come back for a table. It didn't take us long to pick our orders, as we had all checked out the menu from their website. Ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter, banana and maple syrup, very simple but hearty and satisfying for a Sunday brunch. It came, it went, and it pleased the tastebuds. Hot fluffy golden hotcakes, drenched (ok not THAT drenched) with maple syrup mixed with melted honeycomb butter - it was rich in flavour but surprisingly not rich and heavy like ordinary pancakes. One of the DDDs asked for an alternative to bananas and was presented with strawberries piled under her hotcakes. To deviate from the theme of dessert, another DDD ordered corn fritters, which could probably pass as a sweet item because the corn kernels were so juicy sweet!! Must be fresh off the cob. The gluttonous DDDs also asked for apple cherry and almond bread, and a coconut bread, both delicious and surprisingly light! They were almost like "bready" muesli bars, not moist and heavy like cafe fruit loaves. I was personally very pleased with them, though I think my greediness meant I had to force feed my fellow DDDs so not one crumb was wasted.

So I have committed two deadly sins at just one sitting.

One thing I noticed about Bills Woollahra is that it's quite noisy, maybe because it's a casual cafe/bistro rather than a fine dining restaurant. I never understand why the wait staff would throw the clean cutlery one by one, rather than gently placing the cutlery a bunch at a time, into the cutlery basket. It really would not take more than 2 seconds to place it rather than throw it into the basket, to avoid the harsh metallic banging. And the interior was a little echoey so the chatter combined with the cutlery banging bothered me a bit. Otherwise I had no complaints about what was presented in front of me!!

The DDDs tossed up between walking and driving to our next destination - Bondi Junction Westfield - as walking off the calories sounded like a good idea, though laziness prevailed. Our next stop was Laurent Patisserie, a French patisserie mainly found in Melbourne and only 2 in Sydney (Boulangerie at Manly where bread is REALLY baked there). I really miss the Woolloomoolloo Wharf location as that provided the authentic French atmosphere - outdoor seatings designed for people watching, whilst chewing on a fresh croissant or a baguette... but no, Laurent at BJ was outside Coles, messy, busy, chaotic, and (sigh) run by Asians. Forget the French atmosphere and just focus on the desserts, distributed by a central kitchen so the quality would not fail to impress. And impressive they were - most of us had trouble picking one dessert out of the dozen on display, and each mouthful generated a contented sigh or satisfied appreciation - "mmm". My favourite is still the Bahia (see photos for description), but Bora Bora came very close to the favourites list (I think). The Saint Amour was very berry, though the sponge covering the souffle was a bit dry, possibly stale as it's been sitting there for a whole day. The coffee was unfortunately below average for me - my long black came a little watery with thin crema. Totally not what I had at Toorak (Vic) or Woolloomoolloo.

Verdict? I will probably buy take away, buy an Illy or Lavazza coffee, and enjoy it at a better location. The cakes are fantastic as always, but might try buying it earlier in the day for a fresher experience.

No the day did not end there. For the warm down we strolled over to the event coordinator's place for a piece of her very own cherry tart. Apart from the fact it was served on a Corning plate, giving away its "home-baked" origins, it was professional and perfect, could easily have passed as a take away from quality patisserie like Laurent. Thus the day ended with more talk about food, and much anticipation (and gym work out in preparation) for the next tour (Sunday, 24 February 2008 - stay tuned)!

Acknowledgment
Muchas gracias to the event coordinator KT for doing the hard part of the organising - ie doing the research, producing a list of target eateries, and setting a date for the launch, and also thanks to fellow DDDs for making this event so fun and memorable!

CS