Brisbane-based brownie makers Dello Mano have seriously perfected their craft. These babies are perfect. Those of you out there who like a cakey brownie – well, you suck. A cakey brownie is not a brownie. It is ass. One bite of a Dello Mano brownie and you will agree, and will be throwing those other stupid, fluffy bits of offending brown matter away.

The little squares have three layers: the top has a thin, sort of crumbly, cracked top-of-cake-like shell. This thin layer gives way to the heart of the brownie: this centre is smooth, dense, and delicately fudgy. It sticks to your teeth. It barely requires any chewing. The base of all of this is essentially a thin layer of pure, dark chocolate fudge: it’s the perfect foundation to this little tower of sweetness.

Now, do I have anything negative to say about these nuggets of gold? Well, they are slightly expensive. I think a lot of this is in your mindset: people will happily pay $$ for a luxury truffle or piece of fudge, yet a brownie? What? Something ol’ Mrs Crocker can whip up? The price could probably put people off, but please don’t let it. These brownies are as rich and luxurious as any truffle.

Deb from Dello Mano (hoping to make her my future wife, just quietly) tells me that a trip to Italy spurred her family to start a food business. ‘Dello Mano’ is twisted Italian for “Of (Made) by Hand”, and the cooking style reflects this – there are no preservatives or additives, and each brownie uses good ol’ ingredients like Free Range eggs, real butter, brown sugar, flour, real vanilla bean, and of course Belgian Chocolate.

I can honestly say, hands-down, no bias whatsoever, that Dello Mano produce the best brownies I’ve ever tasted. A box of them stood no chance in a household of three girls.

And for the record, I don’t iron my underwear. That is wack. But I am still a perfectionist about my brownies.

Dello Mano

Luxury Brownies

1300 661 682

http://www.dellomano.com.au/
Thank you to Dello Mano for supplying me with these delights.

When I was in high school, my BFF and I used to eat a crapload of chocolate. We’d sort of go a few days with no sweets, and then – boom – good bye Mr Cadbury. We’d very calmly demolish a block, and then go on our merry ways to school the next day, feeling fine. There was no such thing as a Food Coma, or the dreaded Food Hangover. We just sort of sucked it up and kept on going.

Now, I fear those days are behind me. Something has been happening to me lately. It started at Max Brenner’s, when I couldn’t finish my hot chocolate. It got worse when I managed to keep some Bittersweet truffles in my fridge for five whole days without touching them. And then there was the other day at Movenpick ice cream.

Damn you, Movenpick. Why are you so creamy? Why are you so sweet? Why did you make me feel ill after I demolished you?

It wasn’t Movenpick’s fault. Well, maybe it was. I had all intentions to get one scoop, but once I saw all the flavours I couldn’t stop at one. I got a scoop of Maple Walnut, and a scoop of White Chocolate. The Maple Walnut flavour was off the hook – these two are just a perfect flavour pairing. However, if my maple sense doesn’t fail me – and I’m pretty damn sure it doesn’t – I daresay it was artifical maple syrup. This funny after taste didn’t kick in until I was halfway through the scoop though, so it wasn’t too bad.

The white chocolate was amazingly creamy – if you’re a lover of really milky tasting, rich ice cream, you’ll love this flavour. Halfway through this scoop, I had another slightly negative experience, although it wasn’t with the flavour. It was just all too much. Something is happening to me. My tolerance threasehold for sugar is slowly building up, and I’m not sure I like it. I fought my way through most of the final scoop, then sat there clutching my belly, looking at my sad little pool of leftover ice cream.

So is Movenpick good? Yes, it is damn good. There’s also some seating, plus it’s open until 10.30pm, plus they make waffles. But bare in mind the ice cream is very, very sweet and creamy – even for sugar fanatics like I. It’s also a little on the exxy side – from memory, two scoops cost about $7? Go easy and you’ll reap the rewards.

Movenpick Ice Cream

Palace Barracks – Top of Caxton Street

Petrie Terrace

Open seven days until late

 (07) 3367 3988

http://www.moevenpick-icecream.com

The other Saturday I was at a loss with what to do with myself. Friends were busy or working; D was away; even my own mother didn’t have time for her favourite child (it’s true, I am the favourite. When my brothers aren’t around she tells me. Ha ha ha).

So, what does one do when they are bored, and don’t have to worry about pleasing someone else with what they want to do?

One goes to a chocolate store.

I’ve been wanting to go to Bittersweet at the Petrie Terrace Barracks for ages. There’s not too many specialty chocolate stores in Brisbane, and I wasn’t overly impressed with the last one I visited.

Hello Lover

Bittersweet is a small shop (note: take-away treats only, no coffee or seating), but it’s crammed with goodies. I couldn’t believe it when I saw they also had BROWNIES. BROWNIES and CUPCAKES. The brownies looked really rich and fudgy, and the cupcakes were quite pretty and also looked like they had a little somethin’ somethin’ hiding under all that icing.

So, I stood in the shop in agony: did I get the brownie? Did I get the truffles? Did I get both? Eventually I decided on just the truffles (brownies, I will be back), and then moved on to the next daunting task: deciding which truffles to get.

Wait, I better correct myself: Bittersweet offers truffles, creams, liquers, nuts & fruits, and caramels. There are unique truffle flavours like Prune & Port and Chesnut & Cognac, as well as old favourites in the form of Lime and Raspberry Liquers.

Coconut Liquer Truffle; White Chocolate Truffle

I went with a White Chocolate Truffle and a Coconut Liquer Truffle. I’m a white choc fiend, but there’s a huge variety of milk and dark chocs too. The value of these chocolates is really good – two truffles were under $4. A bit better than paying $2.90 for one.

Somehow, I managed to save them for the NEXT FOUR DAYS. Wtf? This is unheard of. Wait, it gets better: I even split them with D. What is wrong with me?

I immediately regretted splitting them when I bit into the Coconut Liquer. The filling had stayed incredibly creamy, even though it had been in my fridge. The coconut on the outside added a nice crunch, and there was a definite alcoholic bite to the filling. It wasn’t ‘gooey’ like you’d expect a liquer to be, but rather the filling was very whippy and enclosed in a hard white chocolate shell.

The White Chocolate Truffle was my favourite. It was similar to the Coconut Liquer, but it was smoooooth baby. It had the same soft, whippy centre with a hard shell. They’re both very rich, but very satisfying too-just half of each satiated my sweet tooth.

Bittersweet, I will be back. I might even take someone else along this time too.

Bittersweet
Chocolate Boutique

Shop 8, The Barracks
61 Petrie Tce, Paddington

(07) 3367 3323

www.bittersweetchocolate.com.au

Open seven days, Thursday until 8pm.

There is something about cupcakes that really bothers me. Or rather, there is something about how other people view cupcakes that really bothers me. A cupcake does not have to just be a pretty little cake made with plain vanilla batter, topped with some tasty yet plain icing, and a sugared rose bud on top. A cupcake can be, and I quote from some random cookbook in my momma’s kitchen, “absolutely any sort of cake in a smaller, individual form”. I am dying for Brisbaneites to use their imagination more with cupcakes. You’ve heard me rant before, so I won’t go into too much detail.

Recently I was very impressed with the imagination that had gone into the flavours in the cupcakes at My Sweetopia in South Bank. Was that a Turkish Delight cupcake that didn’t claim its name just because it was a plain chocolate cake with some Turkish Delight chucked on top? Were those cupcakes with a base flavour other than chocolate or vanilla?

I was excited. The cakes were also very, very pretty, and piled high with icing and decorative touches. We got the aforementioned Turkish Delight cupcake, as well as an Espresso Mudcake (forgive me if I’ve gotten the names wrong). We got them to go and tore into them the next day, when they still tasted very fresh.

The Espresso cake was hollowed out a little bit and had a scoop of a creamy icing in the middle. The cake part itself was fantastic; definitely a chocolate mud, with a very chocolatey flavour and a dense and moist consistency. The rest of it was a little disapointing; I couldn’t taste a single ounce of coffee or mocha flavour anywhere in the whole thing. D insisted he could in the icing, but to me it just tasted like cream.

The Turkish Delight was also very dense and well-made, and the cake initially had a very strong white chocolate mud taste. Then – boom – the rosewater flavour hit me and I was in Istanbul noshing on fresh, powdery Turkish Delight. Very impressive. But, again, I was let down by the icing. It reminded me of that old-school frosting that makes up the letters and edging on generic birthday cakes. I really didn’t like the texture; it went okay with the cake, but by itself it was a bit nasty.

So, My Sweetopia gets major points for showing some imagination with their cakes, but the toppings fell a bit flat. I fear that they are too focussed on making very pretty cakes. But you know, that’s the reason most people really love cupcakes, so who am I to awkwardly climb on my high horse and judge?

My Sweetopia deserves massive, massive bonus points because they are open late on the weekend. It is sad when it’s a huge thing for a little dessert place/cafe to be open late on the weekend, but that’s Brisbane for you.

The cafe itself is small but bright, cheerful, and sweet. There’s lots of outdoor seating too. Even though I wasn’t totally blown away by their cakes, I’ll definitely be back; it’s rare to find a ‘sweet’ late-night spot.

My Sweetopia
Bakery, Cafe, & Catering

Shop 8
180 Grey St, South Bank

(07) 3844 3732

www.mysweetopia.com.au

Open seven days

South Bank used to have a beverage that my friends and I thought was the ultimate in culinary delights: the Rainbow Smash. I can hear you all sneer, “Oh, it’s just a frozen coke.” It is not just a frozen coke. It is a Rainbow SMASH, people. It’s all in the title. The range of flavours in the Rainbow Smash are not to be reckoned with. As I’ve grown older, my tastes have matured (somewhat), and so have South Bank’s. Here’s a brief run down on some of the dozens of restaurants, bars, and cafes that are scattered around this relaxed riverside community.

Breakfast
Poppy’s Basket earned rave reviews from Nick recently for their accommodating service and fresh eggs. Era do an all day breakfast on the weekend, and are more higher-end.

Lunch & Dinner
There is such a huge number of food places in and around South Bank that I’m going to just list them under the one heading-I am fairly sure that all of them are open for both lunch and dinner. I’m also going to list them by cuisine, as the beauty of South Bank is the plethora of different foods.

Pub-style
The Fox is on the outskirts of South Bank, and is a busy bar by night and a relaxing spot for a pub lunch by day.
The Plough Inn and The Shipp Inn have this same relaxed open-air feel and upscale pub grub.
Beastie Burgers are the perfect spot for a working lunch; they’re outdoors in the sunshine, they’re licensed (gets you through that arvo meeting), and they have awesome burgers.

Italian:
Dell ‘Ugo are an upscale restaurant with traditional Italian food, available on both a set menu and a regular menu.
La Via Pizzeria is ideal if you want to seduce someone (sexy low lighting and waiters that don’t hover), plus enjoy some pizza and Italian fare while you’re at it.
Amici’s do some impressive sounding banquets, or just some singular Italian dishes for all you weaklings out there.

French:
Piaf do possibly the most well-priced French food in Brisbane (think under $20).

Asian:
Satay Hut have low prices, a casual and modern setting, and mainly Thai and Malay food.
Viet De Lites: I am dying to try some food off this fresh, healthy-sounding Vietnamese menu.
Ginga Japanese are a sushi train (yay!), as well as a more up-scale Japanese restaurant.
Gandhi Curry House is another very reasonably priced, clean and chic restaurant, this time offering South Indian and Sri Lankan food.

Other
Mado do delicious Turkish food and are ideal for large groups.
Chez Laila have some of the best river and city views, and offer Lebanese dishes.

Modern:
Toscani’s have a huge, varied menu, including pasta, seafood, steak, and sandwhiches.
Sardine Tin was recently opened by Piaf’s owner Simon Livingstone, and is a small, open-air space serving mainly tapas.
5th Element is possibly the best-looking lady on the strip, with low lighting, open flame features, and a waterfall behind the bar. The menu is a bit more up-scale, and the service is fantastic.
Stone are located within the Saville Apartments, and are being very mysterious and saying that they have a new concept coming soon.

Drink
Era Bistro has a restaurant menu as well as a varied tapas menu, and are well-stocked with a variety of wines. Aside from The Fox, The Plough Inn, and The Shipp Inn, there aren’t many large bars or pubs around South Bank. You can take a short walk down the road to West End, or simply enjoy drinks at a South Bank restaurant’s bars (like 5th Element, who have a well-stocked wine bar, or Sardine Tin).

Sweet
Speaking of 5th Element, I am still yapping to people about my recent, unique dessert experience there. There’s also cute cupcakes at My Sweetopia, which is open until late on the weekends and also serves coffee. For something more casual, Movenpick ice cream serves up Swiss ice cream scoops that are all-natural. And, well, I have to say it: Cold Rock is right nearby. It’s no Rainbow Smash, but the ice cream flavours and mix-ins are equally as enticing.

Everyone loves teeny tiny chocolates, especially when they’re displayed in a glass case. People crouch in front of the case, making little ‘ooh’ noises, and giving murmurs of advice to their friends on which chocolate to get.

On a recent pit stop at Coffee & Chocolate in Queens Plaza, was I one of those people, hovering over the glass case, mumbling and exclaiming, “Oh I just CAN’T decide! *giggle*” ? No. No, I was not. My eyes quickly sought out the cutest looking chocolate and I promptly made my decision based on that. Call me shallow.The chocolate in question was the Cupcake. See how cute it is? All of the chocolates were mini works of art, and included a variety of flavours, like tiramisu, hazelnut, strawberry, or the more exotic Ruby (blood orange caramel filling with dark chocolate case). Coffee & Chocolate also do coffee, tea, and some food, as well as cakes.

Now, they are expensive. Most chocolates are around $2.90 and they are really small. Cakes like the friands or the Raspberry Coconut Tart hover around the $7-$8 mark, but they look very fancy and pretty.

My little Cupcake chocolate was assembled much like its namesake. A hard chocolate case and fluffy strawberry ‘cake’ were topped by a layer of chocolate truffle. The strawberry centre was a lot like a very thick and rich marshmallow. Sounds cool, right? Well, for $2.90 for a little bite I was expecting a bit more than something resembling a Pascal classic. Granted, the chocolate truffle top was rich and of a high quality, but the whole thing was very average. Perhaps I would have been better off sticking with one of the simpler truffles or cream centres.

Coffee & Chocolate is a very pleasant spot for a coffee; it’s got a plush and elegant feeling to it, and it has a fantastic view looking down on Queen Street Mall. It’s hard to find pretty places like these in the heart of the CBD (and in a shopping complex to boot), so for that I give them kudos. I don’t really like to judge the place based on just one chocolate, so I think I’ll go back in the future and give them another go.

Coffee & Chocolate
Cafe and Fine Chocolates

QueensPlaza-Level 1
226 Queen St
Brisbane CBD

(Also at Paddinton)

(07) 3229 7799

Open 7 days, Friday until 9pm

God I love delis. They’re exciting places. So much food and produce is just crammed into a small space. I feel like Charlie Bucket in a deli. But there are no Oompah Loompahs (I find them freakish and they scare me). There’s only rich chocolatey brownies, fresh meats, stuffed olives, and loaves of just-baked bread.

I may not have been in a Roald Dahl novel, but I was at the Rosalie Gourmet Market. I cannot believe it took me so long to actually go into this place. From the outside it may look like a humble neighbourhood grocery store, but it is not.

Inside it’s crammed with everything you could think of. There’s fresh fruit and vege, along with various stores and even kitchenware and gifts. So what? Well, then you turn your head and see a counter dedicated solely to cheese. The case is crammed with 100 quality cheeses of varying prices and types, and helpful staff offer suggestions for matching.

There are two other counters as well: one for meats and other deli items, and one for baked goods. The meats/deli counter offers chorizo, turkey breast, rare roast beef, and other treats like stuffed bell peppers and marinated vegies. There are 18 different antipasto items, and sampling of the olives is encouraged. I like this place.

The baked goods counter is nuts. I stood there staring with my mouth wide open, possibly a droplet of drool hanging off my chin. This section is stuffed with cakes, tarts, pastries, bread, cookies, you name it. Bread comes in loaves, sticks, and small single-roll portions, and there are whole cakes as well as smaller slices.

I’ve had the Ricotta Crostada cake before, and the texture was unlike anything I’ve had-like a baked ricotta cheesecake, but far more complex and flavoursome. Eight different pastry chefs supply the sweet goods, fresh every day. On our visit to the Market, we sampled chocolate brownies (there are samples all over the place). They were rich, dense, and right up there with my Top Brownie Experiences. Some people mark their lives with milestones like graduations, jobs, and events. I mark mine with Brownies.

Inspired, we got a white chocolate and pistachio blondie, and a piece of baklava. For those of you who aren’t familiar (and if so, I shake my head), a blondie is a white chocolate brownie. The Market’s blondie was, without a doubt, the best blondie I’ve ever had (probably the best brownie, but making that assumption scares me. Then what will I have to live for?). It was that perfect balance between cookie and cake, just how a brownie/blondie should be. The white chocolate flavour was strong, and the pistachios gave the blondie a nice crunch. The baklava was also pretty damn good, although the pastry was a tiny bit dry. It still dripped honey all over the box, our fingers, and my pants, so that’s a good sign.

The Market is good for other food too-the fetta stuffed olvies were fat, fresh, and bursting with a creamy fetta. The chorizo had a smoky flavour and didn’t taste too fatty, and a sundried tomato pesto was a nice spin on an old favourite. The sliced turkey breast makes you feel like never getting meat from the supermarket again-there is just no comparison in quality.

Prices at the Market are quite standard for gourmet food, but reasonable. Cupcakes are as little as $2.50, while whole cakes range from $20-$30. Given the quality and the freshness, this is a very fair price. Antipasto products are also reasonably priced, starting at $25 per kilo.

Don’t wait until you’re planning a party, a wine-and-cheese night, or need something to impress your in-laws. Go to the Rosalie Gourmet Market now, eat some cheese, scoff some cake, and then think how a crappy Monday suddenly turned out so well.

Rosalie Gourmet Market
Gourmet Deli, Bakery, Butcher, and Grocery Store

Corner Nash St and Baroona Road
Rosalie

(07) 3876 6222

www.rosaliegourmet.com.au

We’re going to venture a little further afield with this review. Pretend it’s EatDrinkGoldCoast, just for a moment. I just spent the weekend at the coast with my homeslice. We had been looking forward to relaxing, enjoying the warm weather, and spending quality time together.

Who am I kidding. We were excited about none of this. We were going to MAX BRENNER’S BABY!!

Okay, so obviously I’ve been looking forward to this for a while. I first got a taste when I peeped into their New York store. My appetite was whetted when a colleague brought me back some chocolate covered waffle balls (you read that right) from the Sydney store. Then, recently, they opened in Robina (shortly followed by Main Beach). Oh yes. This was fate.

We visited the Main Beach cafe, which has lots of seating and is decorated with warm chocolately colours. Obviously you don’t come to Max’s and order a salad. That would be rude. Plus, the ‘healthiest’ thing on the menu is waffles with fruit.

We were incredibly restrained and ordered a Chocolate Banana Pizza ($14) to share, plus an Italian Thick White Chocolate ($5.50) and a Cookieshake (white chocolate, cookies, and caramelised pecans, $7) . My hot chocolate came out in a ‘hug mug’. It’s designed so that you can cup your hands around, and really enjoy the ‘chocolate drinking ceremony’. Lovely idea and all, but the mug wasn’t really wide enough to properly hug. Either that, or I have man hands.

I’m usually disapointed when I order white hot chocolates-they never taste very chocolatey. Well. There was certainly an expression on my face, and it was not disaspointment. This was like drinking pure melted white chocolate. In fact, in reminded me very much of the mixture in a white chocolate cake I make-melted butter, white chocolate, and sugar. This was ridiculously rich, but so, so good. I can only image how good the other hot chocolates must be-Coconut White Chocolate, and Mexican Spicy Chocolate sound like they’re worth a return visit.

D’s Cookieshake was a bit more tame, but still sweet. It was thick and refreshing, with a strong vanilla flavour. What we suspect were Oreos were crushed up very finely, and provided a subtle flavour to the drink.

I admit, the small-ish size of the treats in the cabinet (like the cheesecake with the brownie base) had me a bit worried. What if our pizza wasn’t very big? What if we were hungry still, and were forced to actually get a sandwhich or something equally as lunch-like? No matter. The pizza was rather sizeable.
I was expecting something like a cookie dough base, but it was much like an actual pizza, only lighter. The texture actually reminded me of naan bread. It was the perfect neutral base to the topping: smears of thick melted chocolate, marshmallow bits, caramelised pecans, and chopped up banana.

Sadly, this is where I started to slow down. I’m quite embarassed by what follows. Usually, I have a scarily high tolerance for sugar. I can dominate sweet things in huge volumes. The more I have, the more I am able to take in-it’s a skill. But after the pizza, I couldn’t finish my hot chocolate. I didn’t want to finish it, delicious as it was. This is the worst part: D finished it. I was relishing a chance for him to bow out from our sugar fest early on so that I could taunt him, but here he was, finishing my hot chocolate along with his shake. Plus, he shared my last pizza slice with me. For shame.

The prices seemed pretty reasonable, given the size and quality of the drinks and the pizza. The prices do pretty much mirror that of your average cafe or dessert restaurant, so I’d say Max’s is value for money (although, as I’m looking at the website, the prices seem a little different to what we paid-I’ve recorded the current website prices in this post. My head is still leaking sugar, so I can’t remember exactly what we paid).

Now, after that sugar high, I’m sure you’re waiting for some complaints. I really only have one: no plates with the pizza. We were served knifes and forks, but no plates. I’m all for getting in there and getting nasty with some chocolate, but this wasn’t a late night kitchen binge. This was a respectable establishment that didn’t judge you when you mopped up the chocolate scraps on the pizza pan with your finger.

Max’s is an ideal place for dessert, but if you’re ordering anything more substaintial (like the pizza, or the waffles), bear in mind they are very filling. We thought of this before hand (we are pros) and went to Max’s for ‘lunch’.

I’ve seen a few dessert pizzas on various menus around Brisbane, so I’ll be very keen to see if they match up to Max’s. I am doubtful though that the drinks will-and this might be a good thing. I’m not sure something as delicious as that hot chocolate should be available in such close proximity to me.

Max Brenner’s
Dessert Cafe and Chocolate Shop

Shop 24, Ground Floor
Marina Mirage Complex
74 Seaworld Drive
Main Beach, QLD

(also at Robina Town Centre)

(07) 5591 1588

Open Monday-Friday, 10am until very late
Saturday and Sunday, 9am until very late

Lately, desserts have been making me sad. Caramel slice. Baked cheesecake. Even the humble chocolate mud has been getting me down. Don’t get me wrong, classics like these will always have a special place in my heart, along with things like Degrassi Junior High and Brad Pitt. It is hard to perfect some of these desserts, but they are boring. They have been done. They need to step up their game.

They need bacon.

5th Element at South Bank has restored my faith in Brisbane’s dessert scene. We wandered past there the other night and spotted the following dish on the menu: Banana mousse, [banana] bread, condensed milk ice cream, macadamia nuts, and bacon ($14).

FINALLY someone is doing something unusual, different, noice in Brisbane. Thank God. We returned to 5th Element after a dinner at Beastie Burgers (more on that to come later), and ordered the banana dish along with some coffees. 5th Element is a very cool bar and restaurant, and is ideal in that it can be visited for dinner, a drink, or dessert. It’s all dim lighting, waterfalls behind the bar, and open flames (leave the polyester shirt at home), with cushy couches and high stools. It’s a beautiful space, and service was consistently professional and friendly during our whole visit. Plus they spell their name like the band 5ive.

The dessert menu is small, but has other interesting items like the Warm Chocolate Tart with Cumquat Compote. Coffees arrived promptly, but were a bit hit and miss. My mocha was very good, and struck the perfect balance between chocolate and coffee, but D’s flat white was a little on the bitter side.

No matter-dessert soon arrived to sweeten our mouths. I have to apologise, because this photo is crap, and it doesn’t do the dessert justice. The presentation was lovely, I promise. It was also a decent size; good for sharing, but also good if you wanted to have it all yourself and not feel too sick afterwards.

Now, anyone with half a brain knows that banana and bacon are perfect together. Yes, I know the Canadian Breakfast thing has been happening for a while, but 5th Element’s dish just took it to a whole new level. A thick slice of fresh banana bread and fresh banana slices were the foundation for scoops of condensed milk ice cream and fluffy banana mousse. Two crispy strips of dried banana lay on top of this little mountain, and bacon bits, macadamias, and a light banana syrup covered everything else.

I am very fond of condensed milk. When that can is open during a baking session, my finger is into that bad boy like it’s nobody’s business. This condensed milk ice cream was truly amazing; thick and creamy, it had a flavour that was between vanilla and condensed milk. Every now and then you’d get an actual chunk of pure condensed milk. It was spiritual.

The banana bread was moist and dense, and was just savoury enough to balance out the sweet on top. The mousse was tasty, but we agreed perhaps it could have been left out-it risked overpowering the dish with too much banana.

What amazed me was that the bacon was literally just bacon, albeit very small and crispy pieces. It wasn’t glazed, it wasn’t sugared, it was just bacon, and it worked. A forkful of banana bread, banana, the ice cream, a touch of mousse, and the bacon=the perfect bite. Sweet and salty are a partnership that will last the distance.

Our only other criticism? Not enough macadamia nuts. These guys were delicious, and roasted in a sweet, crispy shell. Unfortunately there were only about five of them on the plate. D’s other suggestion: “Instead of the banana on top, it should be whole strips of bacon!” His tastes aren’t a very good indicator, though; this is the man whose facebook status the other day was, “D wonders what bacon flavoured ice cream would taste like.” I rest my case.

Never mind the fact that places like North America have been doing unusual dishes like this for years. The point is, 5th Element is raising the bar for unique desserts in this town, and I thank them.

5th Element
Resturant and Bar

Corner of Tribune & Little Stanley St
South Bank

(07) 3846 5584

http://www.5thelement.com.au/

What are little Allys made of? Sugar and spice and all things nice, that’s what little Allys are made of. Well, in reality, I was sweaty, wearing old gym clothes, and probably didn’t smell that fantastic. But at that moment, sitting in Sugar and Spice in the city, I felt rather sweet and pretty.

The white chocolate triangle I was scoffing might have had something to do with it. This little beauty was like a cross between a brownie and a cheesecake. It was very dense and chocolately, but had a creamy aftertaste. Topped with a layer of white chocolate ganache, it was an absolute steal at $3. Most of the other treats at Sugar and Spice are the same price-like the brownie, pecan tart, or lemon tart. They’re all quite sizeable portions, and if the white chocolate triangle is anything to go by, the quality is fantastic. The pecan tarts in particular looked awesome-little piles of pecans were sitting in a rich, honey-coloured goo, all enclosed in a flaky pastry shell.

Sugar ‘n Spice bake all of their treats in their own patisserie, which is quite hard to find in this sad but delicious age of wholesale and mass production. They also sell sandwhiches and quiches, and coffee is priced from $2.80. The whole thing reeks of cheap and dodgy, right? But the ambiance is quite the contrary. It’s a cosy little space with warm colours, high stools (as in chairs. Not poo. In case you were wondering), and cute teapots and mugs adoring the walls.

Sugar ‘n Spice was one of those places that I passed by a million times a week and never went in. Now, I sort of wish I hadn’t gone in, because I know of the delights inside. Ass, expect to get a lot bigger in the months to come.

Sugar ‘n Spice
Cafe

210 Adelaide St
Brisbane

79 Albert St
Brisbane (correct me if I’m wrong, and this location isn’t owned by the same people?)

(07) 3221 2222