Desserts/Ice Cream

Bowery to Williamsburg

16 Oliver Lane, Melbourne 9077 0162

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate

Pastrami Hash

Thoughts:

Peanut Butter Hot Chocolate – a terrific blend of peanut butter and chocolate. It even comes with a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup! = Good

Pastrami Hash – 2 poached eggs with sweet potato, pastrami, corn and red pepper hash and wholemeal bread = Not Bad

Overall:

Tucked away in a small cobblestone lane, this place serves up American inspired food that ranges from bagels to mac and cheese. This place is quite small so seating can be an issue during busy periods. The breakfast menu comes on a postcard so you can imagine that the options here are quite limited. Service was average as was the food. If I ever decide to come here again, I think it’ll just be for drinks. Note that this place is cash only.

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.

Mr. Hive Kitchen & Bar – Dessert Degustation

8 Whiteman St, Southbank 9292 8300

Chiboust, exaggerated blackberries, basil sorbet, hazelnuts, hazelnut oil, mint chocolate and puff pastry

Lychee and pine nut tartare, white chocolate, raspberries, gruyere cheese, lychee bubbles and poached raspberries

Mandarin and yogurt ice cream balls

Chestnut honey yogurt, milk crumb, scorched ruby and pink grapefruit poached in elderflower, elderflower jelly, caramelised seville orange, peach/honey/yogurt sorbet and orange isomalt sugar

Housemade dulce leche mousse in a mango glaze, mango poached in kaffir lime leaf, oat cookies, dark ale granita and a multigrain crouton

Dark chocolate sauce, milk chocolate cremeux, dark chocolate frozen soil, pistachio crumb, strawberry sorbet, dried strawberries and strawberry dust

Complimentary take home chocolates: Raspberry milk chocolate & Yuzu and chai dark chocolate

Overall:

I simply LOVE dessert. I am one of those people who always has room for something sweet. So when we decided to come and sample the new dessert degustation menu at Mr. Hive, I was very excited. And I must say, the dessert here did not disappoint.

The dessert bar was overseen by pastry chef John Demetrios, for whom I have a lot of respect. Previously the pastry chef at Circa, he was responsible for some of the best soufflés that I have ever tasted in Melbourne. As we sat at the bar and watched him at work, I marvelled at how quick and neat he was at assembling all the delicate little pieces and tiny details that made up each dessert. Although I thoroughly enjoyed every single dish that John created, the stand out elements for me were the basil sorbet (strikingly fresh with a strong basil flavour), the mandarin yogurt ice cream balls (which were lightly scorched before being served so that the ice cream inside was soft and bursted with flavour once you bit into it) and the dark ale granita (beautifully refreshing).

Note that the dessert degustation menu changes weekly every Tuesday and that the dessert bar only seats 6 people so bookings are recommended.

Big Lou’s Donuts

318 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy 0407 007 166

Thoughts:

Bear Claw – an enormous claw shaped donut that had an apple pie like filling and a sticky vanilla glaze. This monstrous pastry was bigger than my face, making it perfect for sharing = Good

Vanilla slice – a custard and cream filled donut covered in a thick layer of sugary icing and drizzled with chocolate = Not bad

Cookies and cream – this donut was PACKED full of cream and was topped with crushed chocolate cookies = Not bad

Overall: The actual texture of these donuts is different to those found in donut chain stores. The donuts here are more dense and chewy (similar to bread) as opposed to being light and airy. Worth trying if you happen to be in the area.

Fruit “Cake”

It was my mum’s birthday and as she is quite health conscious, she requested “no birthday cake please!” (Which was very sad because I LOVE birthday cake) So instead I made her this alternative “cake” made entirely out of fruit. No need to feel guilty about having another slice of this birthday “cake”!

Tuck Shop Take Away

273 Hawthorn Road, Caulfield North 0431 406 580

Redskin and Salted Caramel milkshake

Nutella milkshake

Minor burger

The Cuts

Pulled Pork jaffle

Dessert jaffle

Thoughts:

Milkshakes – absolutely amazing! If only I had enough stomach space, I would have tried all of their flavours. Made with house syrups, the milkshakes are served in a mini-milk bottle with stripy paper straws. The redskin flavour tasted exactly like redskins, the salted caramel flavour had the perfect balance between salty and sweet, and the nutella flavour tasted like Ferrero Rocher = Excellent

Minor burger – beef patty, lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion, pickles and Tuckshop sauce (tomato sauce/mayo/mustard combination) in between a grilled linseed brioche bun. Unfortunately the beef patties here are a lot smaller than the bun so that two thirds into my burger, I only had bun and lettuce left. What I also noticed was that the homemade Tuckshop sauce reminded me of the sauce you get on a Big Mac = Not Bad

The Cuts – hand cut chips! How many places are even doing this these days? Crunchy with an earthy flavour, these chips were definitely something different = Not bad

Pulled Pork jaffle – juicy pulled pork with a tasty smoked cheddar béchamel = Good

Dessert jaffle – banana, liquid cheesecake and salted caramel jaffle = Excellent

Overall:

A small takeaway shop located on the corner of Hawthorn and Glen Eira Road, this place can only seat about 10 people so grabbing takeaway is a good idea. The menu is also quite small, and the decor is simple and quirky. I have to mention that the service from the guy owner of this place is extraordinary. He is super friendly and also very observant in making sure that his customers are happy with their food. (For example when our order was given to us without our chips, he overheard us question to each other whether or not we had forgotten to order them and straightaway went to check our order for us and brought us our chips, all before we even had to ask anyone). The stand outs for me were no doubt the marvellous milkshakes and the desserts. Apart from the dessert jaffle, they also have a variety of other homemade desserts such as redskin brownies, chocolate chip cookies and toffee apple crumble. I am definitely coming back again to try all of these! Note that the close at 8pm on Monday to Thursday, 9pm on Friday and Saturday, and are not open on Sunday.

Le Bon Continental Cake Shop

93 Acland St, St Kilda 9534 2515

Vanilla slice

Boysenberry, pistachio and almond tart

Thoughts:

Vanilla slice – alternating layers of flaky puff pastry and smooth custard, dusted with powdered sugar. Wasn’t overly sweet = Good

Boysenberry, pistachio and almond tart – dense syrupy tart = Not bad

Overall:

You can’t help but slow down and ogle at the huge assortment of desserts that they have on display here. However once you actually step into the shop, the magic and the excitement that you feel while looking through the window is lost. The place felt cold, was too brightly lit and was so quiet that you feel almost uncomfortable having a conversation in there. The waitress who served us was pleasant enough while the owner sat at the table behind us and read from his newspaper the entire time we were there. So if you really want to try any of their desserts, best to get it as a take away.

Stokers Coffee Lounge

1033 Heidelberg Rd, Ivanhoe 9497 4488

Raspberry and white chocolate pancakes

(All the pancakes here look pretty much the same hence the one photo)

Overall:

The pancakes themselves were quite thin (almost crepe-like), made fresh to order and had a variety of fillings available (both savoury and sweet). The atmosphere was dim and cozy with wooden tables and benches scattered around, an old wooden upright piano sitting in a corner waiting to be played and an open fireplace in the middle of the room. Although the food and the service here is average, this place is open until 2am (except on Sundays when it is until midnight), making it a great place for a late night nibble.

Luxbite

38 Toorak Road, South Yarra 9867 5888

Meringue Monster

(green tea sponge, pistachio, watermelon yoghurt, sour strawberry mousse, meringue)

Passionfruit Tart

(Passionfruit curd, meringue, kaffir lime sherbet)

Endless Love

(lychee ganache, rose cream, lychee, fresh raspberries)

Lolly Bag Cake

Thoughts:

Meringue Monster – terrific combination of flavours! The only thing that could have made this cake even more delectable was having a less dry and powdery green tea sponge (which is only noticeable if you eat this layer alone) = Excellent

Passionfruit Tart – the tangy passionfruit curd together with the sweet meringue and hint of kaffir lime resulted in a very refreshing tart. Just note that the pastry is quite solid and takes a bit of muscle to cut through = Good

Endless Love – fresh and delicate with a hint of tanginess from the raspberries = Good

Lolly Bag Cake – made famous by Masterchef, this cake is made up of seven layers that include: 2 layers of joconde almond sponge brushed with banana sweet syrup (banana lollies), freckles crunch with popping candy (chocolate freckles), spearmint leaf buttercream (spearmint leaves), mandarin Jaffa ganache (jaffas), musk stick marshmallow (musk sticks), topped with a delightful redskin glaze (redskins). A very sweet and unique creation, the best part about eating this was trying to determine which layer was which lolly = Good

Overall:

The desserts on offer here are pretty amazing: well presented and of course taste fantastic! There is a curious Asian influence with some their flavours; their macaron selection includes pandan, green tea pistachio, rose and lychee, and bamboo oolong tea. The decor here is modern with high ceilings, striped walls and a long marble communal table. Service is quick and friendly although seating is limited so expect a wait or grab a takeaway instead.

Spring St Grocer

157 Spring St, Melbourne 9639 0335

Overall:

When you see a crowd lining up for gelati on a FREEZING cold WEEKDAY night, you just know the gelati is going to be something special. The gelati flavours on offer are forever changing, but what remains the same is that they are always intriguing and unique. The ones we tried were:

Turmeric, Cardamom and pistachio
Salty caramel and chocolate
Banana and Dulce de leche
Goat’s curd, pear and walnuts
Yogurt elderberry
Pandan, coconut and lime

The one I enjoyed the most was the Pandan, coconut and lime as it tasted refreshing and tropical, and the flavours complemented each other really well. My least favourite was the Turmeric, Cardamom and pistachio flavour as I found the cardamom taste to be too overpowering. Even so, it was still pretty good.

I can’t wait to go back to this place on a hot summer’s day.