Burch and Purchese Sweet Studio

South Yarra is certainly spoilt for choice when it comes to dessert options and Burch and Purchese will not disappoint. The cabinate display is so tempting that numerous impulse purchases have been made. Their various spreads are pretty good too but don't have much of a shelf life so it would be good if they made smaller jars for singles or couples. 

67% Madagascan Single Origin Chocolate and Tonka Bean Eclair  - Chocolaty but not overly sweet due to the high quality dark chocolate used.

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star :star

Type of venue: Dessert

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 647 Chapel Street,  South Yarra VIC 3141

 

Satu Produk

Satu Produk Durian (literal translation being One Durian Product) is located in Melbourne's Chinatown. As its name suggests, the star of this place is all things durian. We were here prior to its grand opening and also recently. The menu now has English on it too. Perfect for durian lovers or those interested in trying this fruit. We had:

Durian, Durian Ice Cream and Coconut Jelly - A cold durian dessert with shaved ice, durian, durian ice cream and coconut jelly. Sweet, slightly milky and quite a nice durian flavour throughout. Wish the shaved ice was smoother and not as chunky. A nice change from the usual shaved ice dessert options out there.

Durian Pancakes - Thin crepe with durian and cream filling. You certainly can't miss the durian aroma and flavour in this. Quite light and nice.

Service: :star :star :star :star  ½
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star ½
Value for money: :star :star :star :star :star 

Type of venue: Chinese Dessert

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 206-218 Bourke St, Melbourne 3000

 

Pop-up Dessert Bar

All dessert lovers will appreciate what Anna Polyviou has to offer at her latest 'Pop-up Dessert Bar' at the Shangri-La Hotel (Sydney) . Her carrot cake was crowned the 2014 Australian Dessert of the Year and also featured on Masterchef AU on Monday 25th May.

Carrot cake,  apricot and carrot gel,  praline cremeux and yellow graffiti (AU$8.50) - This isn't your traditional carrot cake. The carrot cake base has a really good carrot and walnut flavour and I think I could eat that on its own. No cream cheese on the cake but the praline cremeux compliments it very well.

Get your hands on this quick. Available until 15th June.

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star :star 

Type of venue: Dessert

Address: 176 Cumberland St, Sydney NSW 2000

Aqua S

If you are after a pretty looking ice cream to take photos of,  then Aqua S is the place for you. However, if you are after some good quality ice cream to satisfy your sweet tooth, this definitely isn't the place!

I ordered the sea salt and espresso ice cream and a cloud of candy floss as a topping. The sea salt ice cream was slightly salty and sweet and I couldn't figure out if it was meant to be savoury. The espresso ice cream was too sweet and I was left with a funny after-taste. A very generous serving of candy floss but it was tasteless.

Service: :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star

Type of venue: Dessert, Ice Cream

Worth a return visit? No.

Address: 501 George St, Sydney NSW 2000

 

Le Renaissance

One of my favourite cafes in Sydney. Great coffee and macarons. 

Rosewater and mandarin & milk chocolate macarons (AU$3 each)

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star :star 
Value for money: :star :star :star :star :star 

Type of venue: French, Bakery,  Dessert

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 47 Argyle St, The Rocks NSW 2000

Nakamura Tokichi

Nakamura Tokichi located in Kyoto Station is a popular dessert cafe offering plenty of green tea desserts sure to satisfy one's cravings. We had:

Matcha milk zenzai (¥871) - rice flour dumpling and sweet beans. Served in a bowl, the colour of the green tea soup was amazing. Smooth and slightly sweet, the red beans and rice flour were a nice textural element. It also came with a small side dish of pickles which we suppose acts a bit like salt and chocolate, helping to bring out the sweetness.

Nakamura's tea (¥481) - 7 blends of tea. Comes with an instruction sheet on how to have sweeter or more refreshing tea. It comes down to the temperature of the water and the sweeter tea (made by warm water) was nicer in our opinion.

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star :star 
Value for money: :star :star :star :star :star

Type of venue: Japanese,  Green tea,  Dessert

English menu: Yes.

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: Suvaco JR Kyoto Isetan, 2nd and 3rd fl. (in front of the west ticket gate of JR Kyoto Station)

#lategram #gastronomicgemsinkyoto

Recipe - Flourless Carrot Cake

Having just got a Breville Kitchen Wizz Pro, we wanted to test it out. Being Easter, we thought a carrot cake was in order and we could also try out the grating disc. To our surprise, it only took 31 secs to grate 5 carrots! No more manually grating for us!

I have always been a Donna Hay fan and here is my favourite Flourless Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing recipe. This recipe is also gluten free.

Ingredients:
5 eggs, at room temperature
1½ cups brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup sunflower oil
3½ cups almond meal
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
400g carrots, peeled and grated
1 cup shredded coconut
½ cup roasted slivered almonds
½ cup currants

Cream cheese icing
250g cream cheese, chopped
⅓ cup icing sugar mixture, sifted
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 160°C (325°F). Line the base of a lightly greased 24cm springform tin with non-stick baking paper and set aside.
Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in an electric mixer and whisk for 15 minutes or until thick and tripled in volume.
Place the oil, almond meal, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, carrot, coconut, almonds and currants in a large bowl and mix well to combine.
Fold through the egg mixture and spoon into the tin.
Bake for 1 hour 20 minutes – 1 hour 25 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out with a few crumbs attached.
Allow to cool completely in the tin before refrigerating for 2–3 hours or until firm.
To make the cream cheese icing, place the cream cheese and sugar in an electric mixer and beat for 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the lemon juice and beat for a further 1 minute or until smooth. Run a small knife around the edge of the cake and remove from the tin. Spread with the icing to serve.

Pidapipó

Pidapipó could be the best gelato place in Melbourne right now. Just a shame they ran out of the honeycomb fingers. Having been regulars at Gelato Messina and Helados Jauja which we think serve up wonderful gelato and ice cream, Pipapipó certainly gives them a run for their money. We tried:

Plum - very refreshing sorbet and the generous use of plums is evident in both the flavour and texture of it. Simply refreshing and delicious.

Banana milk - loved the banana flavour(lady finger variety used?) and it is quite a light, milky gelato.

Service: :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star :star 

Type of venue: Italian,  Dessert, Ice Cream/Gelato

Worth a return visit? Yes.

Address: 299 Lygon Street, Carlton VIC 3053

Xocolatl Cafe

We're on a quest to find the best hot chocolate in Melbourne. What's your favourite? We drove out to Maling Rd in Canterbury and had:

Spanish hot chocolate - Xocolatl's "regular" hot chocolate, couverture spiced with a hint of cinnamon and vanilla. Large serving of deliciously rich hot chocolate and with just the perfect hint of cinnamon.

 

Orange hot chocolate - couverture infused with real orange. If you like flavoured hot chocolate, this is definitely for you. Imagine a drink version of choc-dipped candied oranges. Very rich and delicious.

Passionfruit and olive oil teacake - good accompaniment to the hot chocolates. We didn't want something too rich or heavy and it was just right.

If you haven't  already been here,  we highly recommend it!

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star :star :star

Type of venue: Dessert,  Coffee

Worth a return visit? Yes

Address: 123 Maling Road, Canterbury VIC 3126

Mörk Chocolate

Mörk Chocolate is just two weeks old and is where you go to get your hot chocolate fix. They supply many cafes with their chocolate products but this is their first retail store. We only wish the opening times were till much later in the evening as most people there in the morning still had to venture elsewhere for breakfast or brunch. We had:

Vanilla infused sparkling water - complimentary palate cleanser which is refreshing with a nice hint of vanilla.

Campfire chocolate with smoked salt and homemade marshmallow - a visual treat, you are given a quick explanation on how to have it. Nice beechwood aroma and the hot chocolate is smooth and light with just a light hint of smokiness. It is a fun drink to have but quite light in flavour.

A Chocolate bar - a deconstructed chocolate bar which you empty into a cup, pour the hot chocolate over and mix everything up. Nice hazelnut and caramel flavours and we quite like this one over the Campfire chocolate.

Service: :star :star :star :star :star
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star
Value for money: :star :star :star ½

Type of venue: Chocolate, Dessert

Worth a return visit: Yes.

Address: 150 Errol Street, North Melbourne VIC 3051

Om Nom Kitchen and Dessert Bar

Om Nom is by far our favourite dessert place. We first discovered it after the chef was featured on Masterchef. To say we love our desserts is an understatement. We have probably tried almost all of what is available in Melbourne and are not strangers to driving out just to get some dessert from Mr Hive for example. This time we had:

ChocolaTerrarium - cinnamon sugared churros, chocolate "gravel", pistachio + chocolate sponge, chocolate ice cream, valhrona manjari 64% mousse  + milk foam - A visual treat for sure. Looks and tastes pretty spectacular. Not too sweet and wonderful textural contrasts.

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte - pronounced "Schvarts-velder-kearsh-torta". Cherry griottine jelly, vanilla bavarois, valhrona manjari 64% chocolate mousse, hazelnut ganache, cherry pate de fruit + flourless chocolate cake - Simply delicious. Love the cherry flavour through the dessert.

Mango Alphonso - choux pastry, mango mousse, shiso creameux, poached mango, coconut pearls, white chocolate crumble, kalamansi sorbet + lemongrass, ginger coconut foam - Asian inspired-technically challenging dessert that is visually stunning and if you love mango (who doesn't) this is your dessert. This is the dessert that was featured on Masterchef.

Raspberry Field - raspberry + lychee sorbet, baked meringue, raspberry pannacotta, rosewater pearls + white chocolate - Good flavours and quite pretty visually, as are all their desserts.

Service: :star :star :star :star ½
Quality of food: :star :star :star :star ½
Value for money: :star :star :star ½

Type of venue: Dessert

Worth a return visit? Yes

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Address: 187 Flinders Lane,  Melbourne VIC 3000