Archive for DESSERT

ally | 26/10/2009
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Coffee and Chocolate Mini Review

Pretty but Pricey

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 centers.

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 Paddington)

(07) 3229 7799

Open 7 days, Friday until 9pm

Coffee & Chocolate on Urbanspoon

Category: CAFE, CBD, CBD, DESSERT |
ally | 19/10/2009
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Rosalie Gourmet Market Round-Up

Deli-cious

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

Category: DESSERT, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, SPOTLIGHT, TAKE-AWAY |
ally | 19/10/2009
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Max Brenner’s Review

Sweet Anticipation

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.

Update
Max Brenner is now  at South Brisbane in the Stanley St Plaza!

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
maxbrenner.com.au

Category: BEYOND BRISBANE, CAFE, DESSERT |
ally | 15/10/2009
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5th Element Review

Unique Treat

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/

5th Element on Urbanspoon

Category: BAR, DESSERT, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, RESTAURANT |
ally | 12/10/2009
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Sugar and Spice Mini Review

And All Things Nice

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
Sugar 'n' Spice

Category: CAFE, CBD, CBD, DESSERT, TAKE-AWAY |
ally | 05/10/2009
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Jindalee Bakery Mini-Review

Suburban Sweets

High school can be a difficult time. Exams, peer pressure, bullies, break ups, puberty. FUN. There was one thing that got many of us through the day: tuckshop. Before everyone got too fat and lollies were banned, school tuckshops were a delight for dougnut lovers. Scoff if you will-but to this day I have never had a jam and cream bun as good.

I took a chance on one from a bakery in Jindalle as I was really, really impressed with their other goods. This humble little suburban bakery had an Oreo cheesecake-now that doesn’t sound ground-breaking, but this one was.

How frustrated do I get when I go somwhere, order something that calls itself an Oreo cupcake, and find that it’s just a chocolate cupcake with an Oreo on top? It’s a similar situation with other flavours – the Rocky Road cupcake at The Cupcake Parlour springs to mind.This Oreo Cheesecake had an Oreo on top, AND Oreros throughought the cake, AND what looked like an Orero cookie base. Finally the Dessert Gods are hearing my cries for creativity, decadence, and that ingenious mixture of cream cheese and cookies.

I saved the Oreo Cheesecake for my next visit, and instead settled on stealing a bit of my mother’s jam and cream bun (this woman downs trans fats like there’s no tomorrow and remains a size 8. Unjust). I would definitely make the trip out to Jindaz to sample some of the treats here-I also spied Jaffa Cupcakes, Strawberry & White Chocolate Muffins, and other bakery staples like Neenish Tarts. But back to the bun-it was quite tasty; the cream was real and very fresh, and the bun was soft and doughy. But…

There still is nothing like a dirty school tuckshop jam and cream bun.

Jindalee Bakery

11/168 Sinnamon Road
Jindalee

I visited the one in the same complex as the Jindalee Hotel. There is another similar bakery across the road.

(07) 3161 3881

Category: DESSERT, TAKE-AWAY, WESTERN SUBURBS, WESTERN SUBURBS |
ally | 21/09/2009
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Gelatissimo Review

Die Happy and Refreshed

The duvet is getting kicked to the end of the bed every night. A chilled can of XXXX sounds like a really good idea at 10 in the morning. Sweat is getting into all sorts of crevices. Isn’t this weather fantastic?

What better way to cool down than with sugar and dairy (what did you think I was going to say-water?) You know that I advocate gelati even in winter, so really, that opening paragraph was just a chance to get excited about the steamy months to come.

Back to the treats, then. Gelatissimo is a small chain of stores serving up Italian gelati and coffee. There is one store in Brisbane-ONE, people! You know what this means. Either move to the CBD, or plan every upcoming holiday around the location of their other four Queensland stores.

The various tubs of gelati always look amazing, like little whipped mountains of deliciousness. If you could shrink me down to Sea-Monkey size, and if gelati climbing was a respected sport, I would surely fail as I would just eat it all.

Flavours include Red Bull (I’ve always been curious about this-is it good? Does it give you wings, or a satisfied belly?), Chocolate Mint, Honey & Macadamia, Snickers, Raspberry, and faithful Pistachio. On a recent visit I went with the Chocolate Sorbet. D wasn’t going to get any; “Oh I am too full,” he had moaned, clutching his belly. Then we walked into Gelatissimo and he saw Canadian Maple & Walnut. “One scoop, please.”

Usually I don’t really like sorbet. It’s icey, too sweet, and makes you feel like you’re having the diet option of gelati (it’s fat-free, so you kind of are). But either Gelatissimo totally rock, or someone accidently mixed up the signs that day. The Chocolate Sorbet was just too good. It tasted creamy and rich, and the taste of the 85% Lindt dark chocolate was so clear it was like I was hanging out in the factory in Switzerland. Amazing.


The Canadian Maple & Walnut was also pretty tasty, and the flavours worked really well together. I think the maple flavour could have been a bit stronger, but extra points for them using actual maple syrup and not the crap Cottees ‘maple flavoured’ syrup.

Whether you’re motivated by sweat or satiety, trot down to Gelatissimo and get your own little mountain to scale.

Gelatissimo
Italian Gelati

Shop 3, Cnr Albert & Queen St (turn left at Hungry Jacks, stop before you reach the strip club)
CBD

(stores also at the Gold and Sunshine Coasts)

07 3012 9797

http://www.gelatissimo.com.au/

Category: CBD, CBD, DESSERT, TAKE-AWAY |
ally | 13/09/2009
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Il Villagio Review

Baked
There are days when the leftover birthday cake in the office just isn’t going to cut it. Neither is Mr Cadbury and friends in the vending machine. And the pitiful little muffin you brought in from home, sweating in Glad Wrap? Forget about it. Sometimes you need a quality baked treat to hit your sweet spot.

Enter Il Villagio, in Kelvin Grove. A huge array of freshly made cakes, cookies, desserts, and pastries are there, just waiting for you on those days when a regular treat won’t do. The range of authentic Italian desserts is impressive; the dense Sicilian cake, ricotta crostata, is quite hard to find in Brisbane (although Rosalie Gourmet Market do a mean one too). My plan that day was different though: leave the crostata, take the cannoli.

I tried a chocolate cannoli, and it was right up there with some of the best I’ve had. The pastry shell was crunchy and buttery, and lined with quality dark chocolate. The filling was fantastically thick and wobbly-i.e, you could stick your finger in it to scoop it up without the danger of it falling on your keyboard. “What are all these stains on your mouse?” is a common question when people use my computer, so this feature of the filling was key. It also had the perfect balance of custard and chocolate tastes.

On the flip side, one thing that was really disappointing was the jam doughnut. A friend got it, and for such a humble, old-fashioned treat, it looked quite fancy. It tasted, however, like a bread roll dusted in sugar. Huh? I had very high hopes for el jamo, but perhaps Il Villagio’s specialty lies in Italian treats.

Everything is fresh, and is made in their nearby factory. They’re also a good spot for lunch, and offer fresh sandwhiches, paninis, rolls, pies, and the like.


What does baked stuff go well with? More baked stuff. And coffee. A skim cappuccino was very good-smooth, creamy, and with no hint of bitterness. Service is fast and friendly, which was a relief. In the past I’ve encountered one or two particularly rude waitpeople, but they seem to have vanished-with almost as much speed as my cannoli.

Edited to add: Needless to say I’ve made several return trips to Il Villagio since this review. I can report that the brownies are ridiculously good. They’re chewy, dense, moist, and incredibly chocolatey. They’re also dusted in cocoa powder, so you get a bit of a bitey chocolate taste that contrasts nicely with the rich cake. Two (chocolate-stained) thumbs up!

There’s also the Nutella Crostada, a spin on the traditional Ricotta Crostada.

I’ll just let the cross-section of this picture speak for itself:

Enough said.

Il Villagio
Bakery & Cafe

The Village Centre
Blamey St, Kelvin Grove

(07) 3832 2855

Category: CAFE, DESSERT, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, TAKE-AWAY |
ally | 16/08/2009
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16th on Park review

Watch out Freestyle

There comes a moment in life that makes you realise why you’re with your significant other. Mine occurred last night, and it involved index fingers, saliva, and a large white plate.

We were at 16th on Park, a restaurant that has recently been touting itself as a ‘Dessert Cafe’. Along with a breakfast, lunch, and dinner menu, 16th also offers an extensive dessert and hot chocolate selection. I’m starting to really like the concept of being able to go into a nice restaurant and just order dessert with no judgments. And yes, as the title suggests, I thought it was better than Freestyle Tout (although, to be fair, I’ve only had a few things off their menu).

So what happened there that made me remember why I am with D? I’ll get to that later. Let’s start with the service. It was consistently good the whole time. There were no problems with us just having dessert even though it was the prime dining hour of 7pm (I swear we ate a proper dinner first. If I had it my way, 16th would have just been the entree). Our initial waiter suggested a table that was more private, and our main waitress was genuinely friendly.
16th on Park has lots of indoor and outdoor seating, and the ambiance is agreeable, albeit nothing overly special. The menu offers good dessert staples, but with a twist-the pannacotta comes with Greek doughnuts, and the flourless chocolate cake comes with peanut brittle. That’s not to say that the menu is boring by any means-there’s also Red Wine Poached Pear with vanilla bean gelato, and a Rhubarb & Lychee Rice Pudding (all $14.00).

If you have a hard time deciding on the solid food, wait until you see the drink menu. The hot chocolate list is amazing-chili hot chocolate! Tim Tam hot chocolate! Wait for it-M’n'M hot chocolate! We settled on the Death by Hot Chocolate ($5.50). ‘Not for the faint hearted’ said the menu. You’re talking to two people who had to put a self-imposed two week ban on going to their favourite candy store. Trust me, I think we can handle it.

Our waitress gauged that we were sharing both and brought the hot chocolate out first. I was a little thrown-the thing came in a tall milkshake glass. Huh? She told us to make sure we stirred it often. Why? Because there was a kilo of shaved chocolate in the bottom of the glass. Ohh.

Once I got over the glass, I really enjoyed the drink. It wasn’t hugely rich, and tasted quite milky. This is how a hot chocolate should be, in my opinion-if you want liquid chocolate, grab a block of Cadbury’s and a microwave and go nuts. I thought the price was very reasonable too, considering most food court cafes charge nearly the same. It would be much better in more of a mug, but it tasted so good I didn’t really care.
Our Violet Crumble cheesecake with macadamia and white chocolate gelato ($14) came out shortly after. The presentation was beautiful, and the portion size was perfect. The cheesecake was of a really good quality-I especially loved the crust, which had a great cookie texture and flavour. While the cheese mixture didn’t taste overwhelmingly of Violet Crumbles, there were huge chunks of the said chocolate throughout.

16th have really put some thought into their accompaniments. The macadamia and white chocolate gelato paired really well with the cheesecake-I’ve seen similar dishes that come with caramel ice cream and are just too matchy-matchy. The gelato itself was creamy but not too rich, but unfortunately started to melt (funny that). Soon there was a mess of melted gelato, melted chocolate, and some cheesecake base crumbs on the plate. I was really tempted to tip the dish into my mouth to get to the delicious soup, but D had a better suggestion.

“Lick your finger, then run it over the plate. It picks up more stuff!” And that, D, is why I am with you.

If you’re not vomiting yet from that piece of sickly sweetness, head to 16th and sample some of their treats.

-Ally

16th on Park
Restaurant and Bar

16 Park Road
Milton map

www.16onpark.com.au

07 3367 0144

Open seven days

16th on Park on Urbanspoon

Category: DESSERT, INNER CITY, INNER CITY, RESTAURANT |
nick | 13/07/2009
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Coffee and Chocolate Affair 2009 Round-Up

If you happen to know who is responsible for the idea of dedicating an entire day to coffee and chocolate, and then actually making it happen please tell me. I and several thousand other people would like to tell them they rock!

The 2009 Coffee and Chocolate Affair at Portside Wharf last Sunday (12 July) made my weekend, as it’s not too often you have an excuse to consume copious amounts of coffee and chocolate without people telling you you’re going to have a heart attack; end up looking like Manuel Uribe; or simply never sleep again

This year’s Coffee and Choc Affair featured about 25 different stalls and vendors. This didn’t feel like quite as many as last year but there was still a pretty decent variety – coffee retailers, wholesalers and equipment distributors, many chocolatiers, several cake stores, brownies and fudge vendors as well as ice cream.

By far and away the biggest draw cards were the Lindt chocolate fountains with chocolate-coated strawberries and the choc and coffee master classes.

I started my day at Red Dog Coffee Traders and grabbed a flat white to kick things off. Red Dog was doing an extremely brisk trade and coffees were flying out the door at $2 a pop. Impressively the wait was only four or five minutes, which is less than I’ve experienced in some city-based cafes when they’ve been almost empty. Red Dog was also selling choc coated coffee beans, which are one of my favorite combinations.

I spent the best part of an hour sampling my way up the line of stalls, dodging parents with strollers and stilt walkers while soaking in the winter sun. Notable standouts included Shott Beverages, who do a range of coffee syrups, efudge, who not surprisingly, make fudge, and Dello Mano chocolates, who had the best brownies I’ve ever tasted. If you have a chance I highly recommend you wrap your mouth around a choc macadamia brownie – you’ll spend the next 10 minutes smiling uncontrollably and going mmm mmm mmm.

It was clear however, that the reason that everyone was there was the Lindt choc dipped strawberries. The line of people was 20 deep when I joined the back of it and everyone was anxious to get their grubby paws on the novelty at $1 a pop. The wait took about 30 mins and many around me were questioning “why are we doing this?” and “dude, do you want to just come back later?”. Pfft, softies. People were ordering 10 at a time and the smell of warm melting chocolate was delicious when you finally got close enough to catch a whiff.

Half a dozen strawberries later, I began wondering if a chocolate fountain is the kind of thing you could set up at home, and began picturing my kitchen renovated in Willy Wonka-style.

This year’s program also included some master classes and barista competitions hosted by Di Bella Coffee and we decided to check them out, if only for the opportunity to sit down. We caught the end of a master class with Thomas Schnetzler of Lindt (more samples) and settled in to watch a couple of rounds of the professional barista championships. Six pairs competed and although half the teams were Di Bella employees, it was clear that the judges weren’t cutting anyone any slack. The team from Two Cups in Spring Hill finished 1st with a grand total of 23 flat whites in seven minutes. 23 may not seem like a lot, but apparently barista competitions are incredibly anal and the judges appeared to be disqualifying more cups than they were letting through!

The final point of interest for the day was trying my first siphon coffee from Veneziano. I’d seen the equipment before in Tokyo a couple of years ago but didn’t realize that anyone in Brissy was doing it. Siphon coffee bars don’t use an espresso machine; instead they use a set up more akin to something you’d see in a high school science lab. Think Bunsen burner and glass flasks to produce a cup of coffee that’s much stronger in flavour and has a much higher caffeine content that espresso. I’m not sure if Veneziano actually makes siphon coffees at their West End store, but you can certainly get the equipment there if you’re interested.

So that about wraps it up. I’m pretty sure festival numbers were up on last year and I really don’t think you’d be able to squeeze many more in, so I’ll be interested to see what the organizers come up with next time.

The Coffee and Chocolate Affair was a fantastic way to spend a warm winter Sunday. When they hold it again I think I’ll book a table at one of the restaurants at Portside and include a lazy lunch, as even though there’s quite a bit of variety it’s still hard to find enough things to do and see to justify spending an entire day at Portside. Hope you were there.

2009 Coffee and Chocolate Affair

Sunday, 12 July 2009
Portside Wharf
Hamilton map

Category: DESSERT, SPOTLIGHT |
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