Woo!!oomoo!!oo Basics

Very often I find myself getting back to basics. These classics endure the test of time - A croissant, for example. A lemon curd tart. Hot apple pie with crusty pastry, still steaming hot out of the oven. Bottom line is, we love our desserts, but we don't need fancy construction (or sometimes deconstruction) all the time.

Cute pair of pugs looking longingly at their mummy
who's enjoying breakfast at Flour and Stone

We came across Flour and Stone from bloggers and friends' recommendations. The owner/patissier said it all in the website - "From the joy of a lemon drizzle cake and the simplicity of an old fashioned vanilla cake to a well honed macaroon or fine apple tart". Simple classics... but when done well, oh the satisfaction!!

Tiny, hole in the wall sized shop, hard to get a table but we managed eventually. What a sight! Tiny counter, but it's full of tantalising sweets, all of them beautifully made (with love, we're sure!!). Oh the temptation... and the dilemmas!

We ended up with fig sourdough with ricotta and honey, rhubarb and ricotta tart, almond croissant, plain croissant, raspberry drop, and a couple of very good coffees. The croissant was flaky and light, no need to be toasted. Almond croissant is light and fluffy too, not the dense style filled with almond paste. Raspberry drop was melt-in-your-mouth, had to take great care when picking it up or it will just fall into a heap!! The agreed favourite though, was the rhubarb and ricotta tart. Light, fresh, guilt-free pleasure! I gotta learn how to make it!!

Despite having to spit out oak flower fluff between bites of delicious pastries (windy spring day... perfect hay fever attack weather) we really enjoyed Flour and Stone. We'll come back again for the panna cotta filled lamingtons (sold out by the time I was ready for the second round) and the fine apple tart and the chocolate cake and.....

Moving on, we were meant to stop at Detour Espresso, but they weren't open! WTF ... saturday lunch hour and you're closed? Oh well. Next time. Maybe.

So we decided to stroll some and do a real detour, to one of our old favourites - Bourke St Bakery. Quite fitting to our theme today, the hearty, well-made sweets and pastries worth coming back over and over again.

Disappointed they don't have strawberry brulee tart anymore (replaced by ginger brulee tart), I opted for a strawberry meringue tart (something new to me) and a raspberry chocolate mousse tart (old favourite too).

I wasn't so sure how I'd like the strawberry meringue tart. Not a fan of meringue, thought strawberry jam-meringue combo will be sickeningly sweet. How wrong was I. It was a light but beautifully flavoured strawberry mousse under a thin layer of Italian meringue. Somewhat guilty to say this but it may have replaced my previous favourite of strawberry brulee tart... (shock horror!!)

Another lovely day - hearty and satisfying, and what I believe is 'real' food, you know exactly what you are tasting, needing no pretentious fanfare. My compliments to the chef - and KT, you have MUCH to catch up on when you return!!

CS.