Feeling hot and Latino! Latin America, revisited (at Kogarah, anyway)

It had been a very social weekend for me. Late nights, early morning starts, I was knackered before Sunday. And my alarm didn't go off - so when I lazily opened my eyes and saw that it was already 10:30, I jumped out of bed and got out the door by 10:40.

And ouch the sun was bright for my late-night eyes.

Anyway, fashionably late arrival meant everyone has had their first round at Sugarloaf, Kogarah, with the variety of pastries mostly filled with dulce de leche: The legendary alfajores (biscuit sandwich with dulce de leche, and coated with dark chocolate); "palmier" (pastry rolled up like one) with dulce de leche, cronut (for the uninitiated, American invention/current craze of croissant crossed with donut), various biscuits/shortbreads, churros, pear & walnut tart, coconut & dulce de leche tart, Portugese custard tart. Also an almond croissant - nowhere NEAR South American - but it was one of the few not ordered by others. The shop also sold many traditional Argentinian fares - white bread ham and cheese  sandwich with crust cut off, for example. Or a square ham & cheese croissant! Made by a Argentine-German owner (who opened this shop in Sydney, Australia). Go figure.

Alfajores - good, not as great as what we had in Buenos Aires, but hey I'm not prepared to spend another $2000 on a flight to South America. The palmier was fluffy and delectable. By the time I got to the cronut it had already been disfigured, however although it looked good I wasn't particularly impressed with the pastry itself. Churro - dense, not fresh out of the deep fryer (best we've had was from a street vendor in Rio, but not spending another $2000 for flights). Almond croissant - not bad, comparable to many almond croissants we've had in the past.

The CEO even allowed ham and cheese toasties - first of all, it was her ground rule that stipulated "no savoury on tour". Secondly, after her extended stint in Buenos Aires, she had sworn off ham and cheese sandwiches. I must say, having wedded a Latino, she'd softened somewhat!

Moving on in the rain, we crossed continent to the Balkan States for some Macedonian goodies - think syrupy baklava, Turkish coffee and Turkish delight.

The most popular item was probably the burek - thin pastry baked, with various fillings sweet and savoury. Unfortunately the sweet bureks are not ready made - had to order in advance - so we tasted the savoury (beef) and imagined the sweet (apple or nutella). Also a selection of sweet biscuits, baklava and Turkish delight. And freshly brewed coffee served from the ibrik.

Unfortunately for everyone, the heavy syrupy sweets were a bit too much for our palate. And the rain and humidity wasn't helpful to our appetite. The Turkish delight though, was a delight.

Just so that our divine sweet teeth were satisfied - Baroque, late at night, after a big Vietnamese dinner. This hit the spot :P

[KT: Welcome first time Divine Dessert devotees Annette from Santa Barbara, Tania, mini devotees Natalie and Jason :)]