Having to wait for Tim Ho Wan as we couldn't get a booking for their opening day, we head to the city for some sweet delights. To start with, I had to rely on someone else's directions for Lorraine's Patisserie as it sits deep in an alley, well hidden away from the hustle and bustle of George St - which is great for them, I would hate to have the lovely pastries covered in the traffic fumes ... besides, it's not half as pleasant having to pick and choose amongst the traffic and the frantic city pace.
It's takeaway only so on we went in search of somewhere to sit. Decided on Gumption in the Strand - great coffee place with some seating in the walkway of this lovely old building I consider the "mini QVB" but more elegant. So we brazenly opened our goodies from Lorraine (of course, with Gumption coffee): Rhubarb pie (nice and tart, sugary top crust added a nice texture to the otherwise squishy rhubarb filling, and great pastry); a raspberry and pecan cake (this was somewhat disappointing .. 'bland' in terms of flavour, the cake was nice but the only flavour kick we had was the little raspberry at the bottom); the light New York lemon cheese cake (light as a feather, fluffy and airy, with a good tang to it; can eat non-stop!); and the Ruby which we saved for last as it's the heaviest in flavour (orange chocolate ganache was brilliant and smooth, hazelnut dacquoise and cinnamon meringue adding flavour to it; vanilla mousse lightens the heavier flavours of the chocolate etc). Really wished to have tried some of the other offerings (see here for menu) so we will definitely return for the goods!
Gumption Coffee - I had the Kenyan single origin pour-over coffee which had a lovely balance of acid and body, perfect for the light flavours of our desserts. Good cappuccinos too. Thanks a million for letting us take over!!
By now, after just the first stop, people are feeling lethargic already. But we were very soon re-energised by the short stroll from one end of Strand Arcade to the other (via the hypnotically aromatic spice shop Gerwuzhaus, Sweet Infinity cafe with the mouthwateringly gorgeous looking lemon curd tart and creme brulee tart; and Cremeria de Luca gelato burger 'pop up')... then we got to our next stop, Koko Black.
Funny how this works out - on the one end of Strand Arcade, Koko Back. The other end - Haigh's. Both excellent purveyors of chocolates. Best to keep them as FAR AWAY from each other as possible. Really, Strand is the chocolate connoisseurs heaven.
Oh the gorgeous shiny hand made chocolates. And the selections! At least my affinity to dark chocolate eliminates half of the choices. We had a selection from salted caramel (as caramel, or liquid salted caramel truffle which received a "mm, mmmm, mmmmmm" from a very stuck mouth) to rose jelly (very girly, very 'pretty' tasting) to choc-dipped candied orange slice (great chocolate, must say the orange slice had only sweetness and no more of the orange flavour) .... I am waiting to consume my salted caramel and the dark chocolate mint... savouring it slowly, not so sure when I'll go into the city for them again.
We then made a quick pit stop at Laduree en route to the Tea Salon at Westfield. Of course, for their macarons. Personally, not my favourite (Baroque/La Renaissance die hard) but still, they're good. This time there is an indulgent version - gold leaf coated chocolate mac. It does not give any extra flavour ... so it's nothing more than just novelty value. Liquorice was very subtle - it was only at the very end that we got the after taste. Real liquorice, not the anise substitute.
Victoria Room's Tea Salon - set in one of the corners in Westfield, we got to chillax with a pot of tea served in fine dainty china. Not my preferred style (too girly!!) but it made us feel special. With tea one must scone - and this rose scone with a blob of Turkish delight on top was divine. Subtle rose flavour in the scone, accompanied by rich flavourful jam and lush cream. Ah, this is the life.
While we sipped our tea, discussed life's ups and downs, we saw many trays of high tea go past, and again, vow to come back and sample them another day.
But wait, there's more! The long tea break gave us the surreal sense of finality for the day, but something else awaits. Something fun, something reminiscent of childhood memories. Aqua S makes quirky soft serve flavours and serves them with quirky toppings. Move over 100s and 1000s or nut sprinkles, the choices were fairy floss (or cotton candy for Americans), or popping candy (!!!), or toasted marshmallow, or caramelised popcorn. The quirky soft serve flavours change every few months, and they only sell 3 flavours at a time.
A lot of fun - the fairy floss is more fun than anything else. Toasted marshmellow was the bomb! While popping candy just makes everyone giggle without fail.
It was a good walk to help digest the soft serves before we arrive at Boon Cafe at Jarernchai Grocer, run by Chat Thai (not to be confused with another spectacular chocolatier, Boon Chocolate). On offer are Thai style tea/coffees or mocktails and unusual SE Asian style sweets. One of us ordered a "Gunners" (ginger beer and bitters with extra 'Pipo' jelly - don't ask me what this is) which was refreshing as it wasn't sweet, but not recommended for those with an aversion for ginger (like, me). We also got one of the pastries on the counter - don't know what its name is, it was layers of pastry doused in syrup. Sweet and sticky ... quick, gimme black coffee to wash it down. We were most intrigued by the guava and chilli sorbet sandwich, which unfortunately was out, so it was cashew butter and banana/chocolate ice cream with Kakawa chocolate sauce ... ice cream itself wasn't spectacular in terms of flavour or texture... what a shame.
Burp. Well exCUSE me ... This was a long day with many goodies. Now we'll have to skip April DDT as both yours truly and the CEO will be out of town at the end of April (eating and drinking our way around different parts of NSW) so, how about if you be the contributor of the blog for once? ;)
CS
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