Posts Tagged ‘Dessert’
March 12, 2010 | 
Author Della Nonna
QV Square,
Cnr Swanston and Lonsdale St
03 9654 4880
Della Nonna is fast becoming one of our favorite neighborhood joint- we’ve tried quite a number of their pizzas now and with their pasta, I just can’t get enough of the Tortelli di granceola: Home made pasta filled with fresh blue swimmer crab meat in a light crab bisque and chive sauce ($18/$25) , but really the Papparedelle di Castagne con ragu di anitra – home-made chestnut flour pappardelle with braised duck, porcini mushrooms and sage ($18/$26) could have been my favorite too. Actually, I am happy to try all pastas in their menu- nom nom nom.
This is one yummie pizza- Capo $20 with tender grass-fed porterhouse, awesome melted mozzarella pearls, fluffy thin crusted pizza *drools* I want I want I want!!!!!!
This Funghi misti e tartufo $19, is a miracle in itself. Hubby loathes, I mean, LOATHES cooked mushrooms. This, however, is not your average off-the-shelf canned mushie pizza. This is fresh mixed wild mushies, with truffle oil and an abundance of those yummie mozzarella. Hubby reluctantly tasted a bit when I offered, and then stole 2 more pieces off me and shoved it in his gob! HUMPHHHHHH!!!
Now if you think, fantastic, great pizza and pasta, cool! You ain’t heard nuthing yet- their dessert… oh their DESSERT!
Tiramisuuuuu $12- trust me, it’s worth every dollar. Savour every bite people, this is really really yumgasmic tiramisu. Good strong expresso, bittersweet chocolate dust and a huge generous serving. Nom nom nom…
9/10! Yum Yum Yum!
<a href=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1484781/restaurant/CBD/Della-Nonna-QV-Melbourne”><img alt=”Della Nonna QV on Urbanspoon” src=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1484781/minilink.gif” style=”border:none;width:130px;height:36px” /></a>
DOC
295 Drummond St, Carlton
(03) 9347 2998
Friends came down from Brissy for some tennis action and of course, I had to force them to experience the Melbourne food scene. Disappointingly the foodie tour was a near disaster, with ice cold chicken curry in Old Town Kopitan Mamak & crappy crepes in Dessert House, which almost ruined my reputation as a foodie.
Thank god there was DOC.
In desperate need of sugar hit, the five of us ordered the five desserts on the menu to share. Sweet goats cheese tiramisu $9.5 was a creamy and spongy with a subtle hint of coffee. I was a bit hesitant about the goats cheese bit but to be honest, I couldn’t actually taste it, which is fine with me. Would also love it to have a bit more of the coffee flavour but it was pretty good.
Coppa Gelato $9.5- huge scoops of lemon, pistachios and expresso gelato presented in a silver glass. It was SO SO yummie! If we had to choose the best flavour I would say the espresso gelato is the best, but the lemon came a close second. The best thing is these gelato are not overly sweet but full of flavour- I could probably eat all the lemon and espresso gelato by myself
.
By this time we are actually worried that we couldn’t finish the rest of the dessert-but next came the beautiful Nutella w/ calzoncino w/ vanilla bean icecream $9.5 and all our worries flew out of the window. Where do I even start with this? It’s just a beautiful, beautiful calzone oozing with Nutella. Enough said.
Then came the Panettone $11.5. We wouldn’t normally pick this dessert given that it’s mostly fruit (instead of chocolate) but we aim to try everything (for the readers, of course) so there it is. Oh, how wrong were we to be a bit hesistant on this! It tasted like a freshly baked sweet bread – simply dotted with raisins, the highlight of it was actually the Montepulciano jam in the middle, which gave it a subtle sour plumy flavour. That with the buffalo icecream was sublime.
The sweet pizza w/ Belgian white chocolate, strawberries & vanilla bean icecream $9.5 was least of my favourite. Belgian or not, white chocolate is not really chocolate and the sweetness overpowered the beautiful strawberries and icecream. Thank goodness the pizza base was slightly savoury to balance it out, but this dessert honestly pushed us over the edge into a sugar coma and we were eyeing enviously at the savoury pizzas instead.
I am now looking forward to our next visit to try out their savoury pizzas! 8/10
Lindt Cafe
271 Collins St, Melbourne, VIC 3000
(03) 9667 0900
YAY! The highly anticipated Lindt Cafe is FINALLY open in Melbourne! Of course I never understood why they didn’t open one here in the FIRST place, after all, Melbourne IS the food captial of Australia 
This place is busting with mouth watering chocolates, from Delice (macarons), icecreams, chocolate cakes, chocolate cabinet. YUMMMMMM
Here is what I’ve tried so far 
Lindt Milk chocolate delice, Lindt excellence 70% chocolate delice, Lindt excellence 70% chocolate icecreammm, hazelnut and chocolate chip icecream, chocolate hazelnut gateau, Lindt 70% excellence chocolate tart.
If you hadn’t noticed already, Hubby and I are dark chocolate fans, so anything that has Lindt Excellence 70% we will try, and they are our favourites.
Let’s start on the delice $2… really they are just macarons- 2 pieces of almond meringue with chocolate cream filling. We tried Lindt Excellence 70% Delice the first time, although the pastery is not as good as the one from Cafe Vue (not chewy enough), the flavours are wayyyy better. I think it’s the dark chocolate that made the difference. It has big flavours, but not too sweet. I am slightly obessed about it. The other time I only asked for chocolate delice, not realising that there’s a milk chocolate variety and sadly I got the milk chocolate variety, which is not as good. I am excited to try other flavours though.
This is the Lindt Excellence 70% chocolate icecream and hazelnut chocolate icecream we tried. The 70% chocolate icecream was good if not slightly too sweet. I would have liked for it to be less sweet, but with dark chocolate bits in it . The hazelnut chocolate icecream is less yummie… don’t know why… maybe there’s just a bit too much hazelnut, and they tasted a bit bland- maybe the hazelnut is not too fresh? Either way we weren’t too impressed.
I don’t know but there’s obviously something wrong with me and hazelnuts. I am not really impressed by the Chocolate Hazelnut Gateau $10 either. “Three delectable layers of freshly roasted nuts & vanilla bean cake soaked in Frangelico are separated by gianduja (hazelnut & chocolate paste) & finished with a dark chocolate ganache & nuts” is how the website describes it. I reckon there’s too much hazelnuts and not enough chocolate.
The dark chocolate tart, on the other hand was beautiful. With crunchy chocolate bits on top, bittersweet dark chocolate tart is very very yummie. It IS not very sweet so it might not be as yummie for those who have a sweet tooth.
Now, would Lindt chocolate cafe be comparable to my benchmarks of Cafe Vue and Le Petite Gateau?
Cafe Vue Macaron vs Lindt Chocolate Cafe Delice
Whilst Lindt’s lacks texture, at $2 Lindt trumps Cafe Vue miniature Macaron for $1.95. Lindt’s one also tasted better. Of course we will need to try all the 10 other different flavours before we could decide, but even the large selection of flavours means Lindt wins hands down for this round.
Le Petite Gateau vs Lindt Chocolate Cafe Cakes
From the two Lindt cakes I’ve tasted, I would still say Le Petite Gateau’s are much better. Le Petite Gateau mastered the balance of flavours, the delicate touch of decoration and combined it with reasonable prices (Le Petite: $7 for a slice, up to $40 for a whole cake; Lindt: $10 slice, $60 cake). Le Petite Gateau wins hands down. That being said I am still extremely impressed with the Chocolate Tart at Lindt.
The Crosstown Eating House
Cuisine: Sharing plates, Australian
23 Logan Road
Woolloongabba, Brisbane
Ph: (07) 3162 3839
The Crosstown Eating House opened up less than a month ago on a little stretch of Logan Road in Woolloongabba I am now considering calling the greatest place on earth. Well maybe if Chouquette and Salon move there too.
One one side of the dusty, roadworks laden street is Pearl with the great cakes and breakfast and directly opposite is the Crosstown.
Several weeks ago staff at Pearl told some my friends that a friend of theirs was setting up shop across the road. This sort of thing excites me and fuels my curiosity. Hubby, my sister and I were early and were still waiting for four more of our party. We went in to wait and were led to the courtyard. A cosy little “outside” area turned into an inside space. You’re on the verandah and through the window is the bar where a friendly face is offering you drinks and nibblies. I immediately fell in love with Crosstown. It feels like your neighbour or a good friend has invited you over for a drink and a nice meal and now you want to move in with them.
They don’t take bookings, but invite you to just rock up. It’s that whole friendly neighbour thing again really. And bring friends of course, that’s highly recommended.
After we were all seated our table were made ourselves busy trying to decide what to eat. After trying to stop ourselves from ordering one of everything per person, it was explained to us that the idea behind the menu was to share. I noticed that they had to explain this to other diners as well after they experienced similar dilemas to us. It might save them some hassle in the future if they print the explanation of sharing plates on the menu or tell guests when they are seated. After all that though I think we did almost order everything on the menu. Only a few of us wanted lamb cutlets or oysters but everything else we shared in our feast. We had managed to order just the right amount of food with room for dessert.
Before I show you all the food, just to save me some typing, EVERYTHING was good.
Meat Balls and Sauce ($14) – I suggest you order some bread to dip in the sauce left over at the end.
Prawns and white anchovy mayonnaise ($15) – the prawns had a sweet flesh and the mayonnaise was a great complement with a light anchovy flavour.
Steak and horseradish ($15) – tender steak in a lovely horseradish sauce, another one to save for dipping bread into.
Lamb Cutlets ($4 each) with a lovely tomato relish. There is enough to load heaps of relish onto your cutlet.
House shucked oyster ($3 each), very fresh oysters, why did I only have one?
Lamb Shoulder and Pasta ($25), was what I am certain was handmade pasta as it was so soft and the sauce with tender pieces of lamb shoulder was delicious. This was one of my favourite dishes and one of the more substantial sharing plates.
Spatchcock and outside stuffing ($28), was again one of the more substantial sharing dishes and also one of my favourites. The meat was moist and full of flavour. The “outside stuffing” was pieces of bread with herbs and not all soggy as “inside stuffings” can be sometimes.
Whiting fillets and tomato ($16) nice pieces of seasoned whiting.
Mushrooms and toast ($12), an absolutely wonderful mushroom dish. A nice mix of mushroom types in herbs, garlic and olive oil with crusty slices of toasted bread. Another favourite.. how many can I have?
And then we had room for dessert. My sister and I were a little overzealous when it came to dessert and ordered 3 of the 4 available, but it was totally worth it.
Mini Ice-cream Cones ($8), 3 mini waffle cones with vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice-cream sitting in a pot of granola for dipping. This has to be one of the cutest desserts ever. You would think that because there are three that you should share, but you really don’t have to and you probably won’t.
Jam drop and chocolate chip walnut cookies ($4), 2 very big cookies, perfect for your coffee.
Chocolate Pear Pot ($9) a little chocolate pudding/souffle with pear down the bottom and a side of pouring cream or custard. Very rich and good for chocoholics.
Favourite dessert time and the winner is the Strawberry Sanga (sandwich) ($9). Two slices of sponge cake for bread, with marscapone cream and strawberries, cut and arranged club sandwich style drizzled with strawberry sauce. How can you say no? Don’t say no.
I think I have worked out what I would order if I ate there on my own but I know it’s probably food for two. I had a really wonderful meal here and of course it had a lot to do with the company too. I will definitely be going back to my new home away from home. Maybe I’ll see you there some time.
Posted in Brisbane, Dessert, Italian, Modern Australian, Sharing Plates | 
Tags: Brisbane, Dessert, Modern Australian, Sharing Plates | 
3 Comments »
Baguette
Cuisine: French (Classic and Contemporary)
150 Racecourse Road
Ascot, Brisbane
(07) 3268 6168
The kitchen at Baguette has Michelin-starred chef Bruno Loubet at the reins, but only until April 30th. So if you have never been there’s still a couple of weeks for you to drop by and sample his menu. If you do go, I recommend that you visit the Baguette website and sign up to their mailing list to receive a $50 dining voucher, which is exactly what I did.
Baguette is situated close to the race tracks, fronted with a cosy bar area. We were greeted at the door by the restaurant’s owner Francis Domenech who helped direct us through a large crowd to the elegant dining area at the back of the restaurant.
It didn’t take us long to decide what to eat and after ordering the food came out quickly. We were quite early though and managed to order before the large group made their way from the bar to their table. We weren’t so lucky when we ordered our dessert though and had to wait while the 30 something people at a birthday party were served dessert before ours was ready. The staff were very friendly, attentive and apologetic, taking the time to explain the wait and reassure us that we weren’t forgotten.
Our first entree was the grilled mushroom caps with tallegio (cheese) bruschetta ($16.80). These didn’t last long at all. I absolutely love mushrooms and I also love cheese, and this was a wonderful combination.
We also ordered some spiced chicken pieces on a bed of cous cous. The chicken was really tasty and I loved the spices. This was a special for the month, so sadly, I’m not sure if it will be available the next time I go.
Hubby ordered a main that was on the special menu. Grilled moonfish on a bed of lemon and tomato with polenta chips. The polenta chips were really crispy. I’m sure they weren’t good for me, but it didn’t really matter at the time. The fish was fresh, tasty and nicely cooked. The dish was accompanied with a tuna aioli that hubby enjoyed a lot.
My sister ordered the chicken tagine ($29.80). The chicken was very tender but I didn’t like the flavour but this was mostly because there were olives in it which I am not a fan of. It was a very large serving though and my sister couldn’t finish it.
Mum chose the squid and prawn burger on a bed of aromatic vegetables ($28.50). Mum quite liked this dish, though it probably would have been just as successful without the hamburger bun. After enjoying the combination of seafood mum commented that she might go buy some prawns and squid to make something similar at home.
I ordered the 250gm sirloin steak, Bordelaise sauce and chips ($35.80). There’s also a 400gm option for $45, but if there are people out there who can order one and finish the whole thing, they should probably get a medal. The steak was good and I liked the rich sauce. I have to say though that it really needs either some salad or vegetables. I ended up giving half my chips away (Francis Domenech walked by and said I was being too generous) and ordering a side of vegetables ($6.50).
We were all very full after our meals so it took some time before we made a decision about dessert. Should we or shouldn’t we? The answer was of course, yes, we should.
I couldn’t pass on the Crème brûlée and citrus madeleine ($12). Baguette serves theirs in a shallow dish which excited me as there would be more caramelised sugar to creamy brulee. The citrus madeleine was very nice and the citrus icing was really strong. But I filled myself with the Crème brûlée and only had a tiny bite of madeleine.
My sister ordered the Chocolate soufflé with crème fraiche ($14.50) which was so light and fluffy. She was really happy that the others were too full and I preoccupied with my own dessert so that she could have most of it to herself.
Overall it was a very enjoyable night. The friendly service made it all the better and the wait for dessert was definitely worth it. Bookings are recommended and don’t forget to sign up to the newsletter for the dining voucher! They’re also in the Entertainment Book if you plan on getting your hands on the 2009 issue.
Grappino
Cuisine: Italian
226 Given Tce
Paddington
We spotted this restaurant on our visit to that French restaurant and made a mental note to come back and check it out. We were quite lucky to be able to get a table, booking very last minute (spontaneous desire to eat out) – prompted from a conversation with MinWye who touted Grappino as a favourite Italian restaurant.
We didn’t realise it was a game night at a nearby stadium which meant a 15 minute limit on street parking. Luckily we were dining quite early and there were spots in the car park behind the restaurant. When we entered the restaurant we were greeted cheerfully by Deanna Roduner one of the owners, letting us know that there was a set menu ($60 per person) because of the game. Not deterred by any means we took a table by the window. Later Deanna returned for a lively conversation about Singaporean food and family. This just set up the whole evening of attentive and friendly service.
First up was our antipasto platter. I will try to recall each morsel as best I can here.
From the left to right, I believe the first item was some very tasty meatballs. Then some chillies topped with herbed cheese (I managed to eat the first one feeling only a bit of a kick then with some bravado tried to take down a second only to be defeated. Luckily I had wine and water at hand.) and the third item was a fish or seafood fritter (like fish cakes) which were very flavoursome.
From left to right again, we had some fried risotto balls (very nice with perfectly cooked rice), at the background, prawns topped with tuna, below that little anchovy and caramelised onion tarts and at the front chorizo with dates. I loved every one of these (even though I’m not a huge fan of anchovies) and ESPECIALLY loved the chorizo with dates. Very tasty chorizo mixed with the sweet date.. mmm perfect flavour combination.
And lastly from our antipasto platter, little frittatas topped with sundried tomato.
All of these served with a bread basket, including garlic and olive oil thin toasted bread slices.
I think I could have just eaten antipasto all night.. but our mains were up next.
There were three on offer that night as part of the set menu and we had all three at our table.
Mum had the seafood marinara, which I ended up stealing a lot of. It was a beautifully cooked pasta dish, with very fresh seafood, fish, scallops in the shell, mussels and prawns all soaked in an amazing lobster cream sauce. Piggy would have loved this dish and I savoured as much of it as I could on her behalf.
Next was my partner’s veal scallopine with potatoes, greens and honeyed carrots. The sauce was rich and tasty and I especially loved the carrots. How do they get them to taste like that I don’t know.
My main next, the duck leg with mushroom and pasta. The sauce for this dish was quite sweet. I was happy to eat it all but it was a bit too sweet for my sister who had the same dish. The duck leg was very tender and topped with what I think were crispy potato shavings.
Though we were very full and satisfied from dinner, I couldn’t pass up the dessert menu. Dessert was not part of the set menu, but how can you pass up things such as:
One of the best tiramisu’s I have ever eaten. Creamy, with delicious sponge and coffee flavour…
Or the Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta, silky smooth and accompanied with seasonal berries (strawberries this time!).
I had the Crespelle Di Arancia – Orange Pancakes “Dolce Vita”. A very thin crepe topped with mandarin liqueur, valencia orange pieces and a scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream. The sauce was quite strong for me as I don’t usually enjoy syrupy citrus sauces, but the ice-cream helps to balance this out and you can let a lot of the sauce drip off before devouring it.
And then there was the Affogato. A scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream with a shot of espresso coffee and liquer of your choice (this time Frangelico for its hazelnut flavour) to be poured over and then eaten/drunk. It was like a very luxurious iced coffee.
I really enjoyed the night, the service and of course the food. I would love to go again to try their ala carte menu and I will probably be forced to take Piggy there for the marinara the next time she’s in town. I can only hope.
Posted in Brisbane, Dessert, Italian | Tags: Brisbane, Dessert, Italian, Paddington, pasta, Seafood | 2 Comments »
Pearl Cafe
28 Logan Road
Woolloongabba
Ph: 07 3392 3300
I have had Pearl Cafe on my “To Eat” list for some time now and at the end of last year I discovered that a lot of people around me had been there. I was missing out and I had to fix that. I have made a note to try their breakfast but my breakfast dining companion has been away. Instead I was taken on a cake adventure by two very good friends. These friend claimed that one of them doesn’t like caramel and the other doesn’t like sweets/desserts but they found themselves falling in love with Pearl’s caramel cheesecake.
Pearl creates their cakes in house and I was hearing story after story of my friends going all the way to the Gabba to eat cake. The next trip it as passionfruit cheesecake. One night they said there wasn’t any cake left, but since she was so eager they would go out the back and get some for her. Finally I was sick of hearing these romantic stories of cake, cake and more cake. I had to have some for myself!
It was still close enough to my birthday past that we could chalk a cake outing up as a birthday celebration. After dinner we went to find Pearl cafe tucked away amongst retro and antique stores across the road from the Gabba. There are some tables out the front sitting on fake grass with a little wooden cart by the door filled with flowers and potted herbs for sale. Inside its cosy with exposed brick wall and mirrors across one side facing the bar.
The friendly staff broke the terrible news to us. There was no cheesecake! There wasn’t even any out the back for us that night (we were there near closing time). But we had brought some wine and were ready for dessert so we put down our bags at a seat by the window and went to the bar to inspect the desserts.
The flourless chocolate cake was very moist and went down well with vanilla ice-cream.
My other half had a lemon butter cream cake with a really yummy icing.
And I had the rhubarb pannacotta. I have to admit that I had never had rhubarb before that night and I liked it. The pannacotta was smooth and tasted delicious.
Did I ever get that cheesecake you ask? I’m surprised you have to ask!
We went back another day to try again. I found even more desserts lining the bar and I can tell you that it was one of the most difficult food decisions I’ve had to make. Of course we were going to have the passionfruit cheesecake. But then there were tarts with mini pears on top, cup cakes, a sponge cake topped with the tastiest looking strawberries, two types of chocolate cake and a pistachio pear cake. There were only two of us and I was trying to decide if it was possible for us to eat one of everything. My sensibility prevailed and we ordered a slice of passionfruit cheesecake and a slice of the pistachio pear cake.
The baked cheesecake was so light and fluffy it pretty much melted in my mouth. Sadly the base on this occasion was a bit soggy, but I was told that normally its very crisp and one of the best parts of the cake. I will have to go back again for another one. I’m hoping they will have caramel next time.
The pistachio, pear cake was DIVINE. I felt bad that after hearing so much about the cheesecake (which was wonderful, don’t get me wrong) I ate more of the pistachio, pear cake.
There were tiny pears inside and the top was covered in pistachio kernels. Mmm, so tasty that we had to pack a slice of each home for the boys.
I almost forgot to mention the butterscotch milkshake I had to accompany my cake. It was so large that it was enough for two people. It was a bit of an overkill having the cake and a sweet milkshake. I could only finish half but it was so yummy I was still glad I had ordered it.
The cakes are $8 a slice, but they are worth every delicious crumb and you can save money (and kilos) by not having ice-cream with it (which costs extra). Though the chocolate cake really did taste so good with ice-cream…
LOL
We also stumbled across Darren Purchese’s demo on making yummie desserts. Darren, who used to work for Vue de Monde, cooked up a beautiful looking chocolate pav. I don’t normally like pav but a chocolate pav sounds good! I actually ran up afterwards to see if I can try some 
And Darren was like sure! But the MC was like no, sorry, OH&S issues whilst shoving that dessert into his mouth all that time! Hummppphhhh
! It was a good diary though Normanby Chambers, Melbourne
Just wanted to show you a yummie little snack I got from lovely Panna Cotta. It’s chocolate macaroon from Cafe Vue and it’s just one melt in your mouth heaven!!!
Chouquette
Shop 1, 19 Barker St, New Farm
I finally went to Chouquette after recommending it to Monkylicious ages and ages ago. I have looked at blog after blog of Chouquette images whilst always wondering why the hell did they not open a shop when I was still living in Brisbane, or perhaps, open a shop in Melbourne?! Then when I got to Brisbane for a holiday, they were closed. How dare they?
Special thanks to Monkylicious who called and pestered Chouquette to open for me, then drove me all the way there.