Caffeine addicts unite!! Aroma Festival 2011

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!?

CS