Impressive and ingenious InterCon

Initially we booked in for The Cortile and were told that Let's Do Dessert was the only dessert available. Then people pulled out last minute, leaving us with having to pay for those we booked for and didn't show up (HATE this policy, by the way). Our luck changed when the hotel put us in Cafe Opera where we could order other desserts ... which meant we could make up the minimum spend with something different.

So we did!

We started with the dessert wine that comes with the dessert special - assumed we'd get the standard Yalumba, but were pleasantly surprised with the bottle of De Bortoli Nobel One. Then our eclairs came - pretty, but hard to photograph because of the similar palate of colour and texture under the dim light: Double eclair of passionfruit and milk chocolate ganache with chantilly cream, roasted pineapple, passionfruit jelly and hazelnut crunch. Because it was hard to do justice by photo, it is very important to highlight that it was light, beautiful smooth texture broken up by the delicious crunch of hazelnuts, and the roasted pineapple! The touch of ginger added nicely to the complexity - good kick in the end, not overpowering. Thumbs up!

Then the madness began..... the menu desserts came all at once, so again we found ourselves in a frenzy - not knowing where to look, what to photograph first, then which one to eat first! Of course the poor DDDs had to wait until the OFFICIAL photos were taken (by the perfectionist yours truly).

The Fairy Floss sans fairy floss - chestnut cream, cassis, shortbread, French meringue, vanilla chantilly delight, basically a trifle; and the Heilala vanilla creme brulee with raspberry and yuzu marshmallow - creamy smooth, couldn't taste the yuzu though. 

Peanut butter chocolate bar - milk and dark chocolate ganache, cocoa and vanilla swirl ice cream, candied peanuts - Fancy Snickers with ice cream! Decadent.

Spring Forest - griotte compote, pistachio dacquoise, mascarpone cream and heilala vanilla foam. How gorgeous was this! Reminded us of Om Nom at the Adelphi Hotel in Melbourne. Very pistachio, smooth and delicate. 

One of the favourites for the night - the rhubarb souffle with hibiscus berry compote, strawberry sorbet. It was sitting tall and proud until the compote and sorbet were gently placed on top, then it started to slowly sink ... it was airy and flavourful, really a lovely dessert to have any time of day.

My personal favourite was the Fresh and Sweet - compressed watermelon, ginger lime drink espuma, lime basil sorbet and strawberries. The drink was so refreshing, if this became a soft drink brand I would declare this my favourite soft drink! And then, the lime and basil sorbet was a flavour punch! Very similar to the Jamie Oliver's watermelon and fetta salad with mint and herbs (minus the fetta, of course). Simply spectacular!

It was another exciting night for our taste buds, though we're still thinking about Pei Modern and Ananas. Next time we make bookings we'll know to book for a couple short, particularly when there's policy such as it was at the InterCon where we have to pay for those who pulled out. And really, how can anyone say no to good dessert (and great company)?!!

Cinned