Bakery

The Grounds of Alexandria

7A/2 Huntley St, Alexandria NSW

We came on a beautiful sunny morning and was told that the wait was approximately 1.5 hours, which gave us ample opportunity to explore the gardens and the various stalls.

Where to begin?

We tried the home-made rose lemonade because 1. the stall looked so fresh and colourful and 2. every second person we saw in the gardens was sipping on some lemonade (so it had to be good right?) The verdict? So-so lemonade that was mildly rose scented.

These ice cream sandwiches looked so good and were packed full of ice cream!

We decided to try the salted caramel and it was oh-so-good! The chocolate biscuits were sweet and chewy with crispy edges, while the salted caramel ice cream was creamy and had a great balance between saltiness and sweetness.

Fresh home-made donuts with the choice of strawberry jam or Nutella filling.

We opted for strawberry jam. These freshly fried donuts were fantastic, although they could have been bigger.

The Grounds Bakery offered quite a few samples to try…

and the cakes and tarts looked amazing but we had to save our stomachs for the cafe.

They also have a small petting zoo here…

with this guy being the star attraction…

who has his very own house.

Meanwhile this little silkie was dozing in the enclosure next door.

After about an hour, the electric buzzer that was given to us went off so we headed for the cafe.

Banana and honey smoothie

= Excellent

The ‘Ground’ burger (ground beef brisket, cheese, lettuce, dill cornichon mayo on a toasted brioche bun) served with beer battered fries.

This was essentially a fancy Big Mac with crispy, well seasoned chips.

= Good

Grilled asparagus with a wild medley of mushrooms, crumbed egg, parmesan and lemon

= Good

Overall:

Be prepared to wait. But also be prepared for good food, a relaxed atmosphere, and a great experience.

The Dough Collective

Shop G5 614 George St, Sydney NSW

Similar to Breadtop and Bonbons Bakery, the way this place works is that you walk in, grab a tray, grab a pair of tongs and then select whatever your stomach desires from within the glass cabinets and from the shelves.

The difference with The Dough Collective is that they create their dough from scratch and offer a unique variety of freshly baked goods. There were buns that contained black glutinous rice, rolls that contained brown sugar mochi, baguettes that contained fish roe and wasabi, and toast that contained Belgian chocolate and red wine. You can even try before you buy as this place offers plenty of samples!

I seriously wanted to try one of everything…

However I finally decided on: Gangnam Crown (Korean kimchi, cream cheese, condensed milk), Multi-grain lychee roll (dried lychee, walnuts, almond slices, black and white sesame, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, rum), Tea bread (walnuts, raisins, malt, earl grey), Chocolate surprise (Belgian chocolate chips)

If only there was a store in Melbourne…

The Best Vanilla Slice

It all started with the fact that I had never been to “that place in Sorrento” that makes the famous Sorrento vanilla slice. After a quick Google search I discovered that the place was called Just Fine Food. So one sunny afternoon I took a little road trip down to Sorrento to see what all the fuss was about.

Just Fine Food

23 Ocean Rd, Sorrento 5984 4666

There was an ample amount of creamy yet lumpy vanilla custard that was mildly sweet. Although I found the pastry to be quite thin and ordinary, I did like the layer of jam that came at the bottom of the slice.

I finished off this vanilla slice thinking to myself that like the name of the place, it was just fine. It got me thinking that there had to be places that were closer to home that made fantastic vanilla slice. So I decided to go to Aviv Cakes and Bagels, as a friend of mine had once told me that the vanilla slice there was simply amazing.

Aviv Cakes and Bagels

412 Glenhuntly Road, Elsternwick 9528 6627

The vanilla custard was smooth and moderately sweet, while the pastry was delicious: thick, crispy and almost biscuit-like. As a whole, I really enjoyed the sweet to creamy ratio of this particular vanilla slice.

I also had to make a stop at The French Lettuce as they have this sign in front of the place:

The French Lettuce Patisserie and Bakery

237 Nicholson St, Carlton 9347 7311

The mildly sweet custard filling was light and extremely creamy, while the pastry was thick, flaky and buttery. The vanilla slice here also came with a side of strawberry jam which was perfect for breaking up the creaminess and for providing some contrasting flavour.

I also attempted to make my very own vanilla slice. I found this recipe from Best Recipes except instead of making up the icing, I dusted my vanilla slice with icing sugar.

Notice how yellow my custard filling turned out? That’s because I added less cream than what the recipe required (not intentionally, but because I was out of cream and couldn’t be bothered going out to buy more). Also, notice all the little lumps in the filling? Turns out that you should probably sift the custard powder before you mix it with everything otherwise you will end up with lumps that are impossible to get rid of!

Overall:

This was a fun little quest and in the end the best vanilla slice for me personally was from Aviv Cakes and Bagels. The pastry was fantastic and the filling was very scrumptious as it had the perfect balance between creamy and sweet.