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?
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?
CS
