Walk around Surry Hills

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