To Glebe with Glee!

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