#letsdodessert

October Good Food Month calls for some much needed food blogging in amidst the existential ramblings of yours truly.

Following a walk to The Star where I met up with J, 'chelle, and A; we had a quick dinner where I finally managed to satisfy my chips craving with a hearty fish and chips at Flying Fish and Chips.

Classic fish and chips (15)

Although the chips were incredibly delicious, roughly cut and paralleling the crisp glory that are Manning Bar chips, I felt like the fish was at times a bit disappointing. Maybe had a generous shake of salt covered it I might have felt differently, but all in all it was a pretty good meal.

Next on we moved on to proceed to do two 'sugarhits'. For the past two nights, J had been galling me with her proclamations of 'sugarhits' to which I had no idea what was going on. Turns out 'Let's Do Dessert' (as it is called now) used to be called 'Sugarhits'; testament to the age of my lovely sister and her friends.

First was a leisurely walk to the Google building (of all places, I didn't think the Google building would be located in Pyrmont though!), where we found Signorelli Gatronomia, which may have just become my favourite restaurant. Quietly tucked away next to what seems at night like a creepy park, the restaurant is absolutely gorgeous. The service was absurdly, ridiculously impeccable, outdoor seating (it's not quite outdoors, more like indoors the Google building, but outdoors in terms of the restaurant if that makes sense) featured high bar tables as well as couches and lounges; tables were lit by faux candles and the echo of laughter and merriment continually softly filled the air by others cradling wine glasses and drinks.

We were treated to the vertical garden, this beast of a dessert which featured frozen nougat, rose blossom loukoum, lychee jelly, raspberry yolk and a pistachio wall.

There honestly isn't much I can say about this except that this is, by far the best dessert I have ever had. I'm sometimes this old lady who doesn't like new things or modern infusions because the taste is a bit too advanced for myself or it's just too bizarre. But wow, wow. the twill was soft and crisp, the combination of the fresh lychee and the pistachio and everything was just perfect. Far from being heavy on the palette, this is honestly just delicious. If you can't make it out to anything this October, make it out to just this restaurant, for this dessert. No amount of hype will kill the glowing reviews I'm giving it. And, for 20$ all up inclusive with the delicious dessert wine provided, it's an absolute bargain!

After an hour or so of talking about politics (it was far more interesting that what it sounds like I swear!), we ventured out to find the Grace Brasserie, where we found ourselves in an albeit bizarre location with uncertainties with what to expect.

But combatting the light delicacy that was the vertical garden, we were pleasantly surprised with the richness of the hazelnut praline chocolate mousse cake with green tea ice-cream, berries and pistachio floss that we were presented with.





All in all it was a lovely night filled with thought provoking conversation, delicious food and an overall need to start a strenuous routine of gym life (especially given that China is fast approaching).

xx

Dessert at Gelato Messina, Darlinghurst

Following dinner at Mad Pizza e Bar in Newtown, we journeyed to Kings Cross/Darlinghurst on a Monday night to consume the Masterchef-featured cone.

Choc Top: salted caramel gelato soft serve, Italian meringue, gianduja ganache, amoretti biscuits and a sugar cone

Not visibly available on any of the signage, should you want one of these delicious cones of joy, you need to pop round to the cake section of Messina at Darlinghurst, and ask if they had any choc top cones available, to which they respond yes/no and if it's the former, choc tops begin appearing out of a magical fridge.

What can I even say about this icecream. The salted caramel gelato soft serve is to die for. I would eat buckets and buckets of this stuff if I could. The salted caramel taste of the salted caramel is lovely and distinct, saving the gelato from tasting too overly sweet. The amoretti biscuits were a bit damp and the cone itself wasn't immensely crispy but there's nothing much that can be done about that given the icecream within the cone has made it damp in its storage (and I cant really propose any solution at all to this given they take 45 minutes - 1 hour to make). 

At 10$ a pop, they're far from the cheapest ordinary choc tops you can get from Hungry Jacks. But oh so worth it.

Anyway, I'm not sure if it was because of the sugar or the general stupidity of the adventure, but from Messina onwards, these two lovely ladies became sober-drunk (0% alcohol consumed, 100% acted like they were drunk), repeatedly voicing the syllables of Wolloomooloo and demanding we take a 'scenic route' of Kings Cross, then promptly telling R and I that they were lost.

Whatever the reason, I'll miss you Sammie HAVE FUN IN UCLA, I will most definitely take you up on my request your offer and crash in your dorm at some point in the next four years; and here's hoping for more psych shenanigans with C and R in the next sem xx

Dessert at N2 Extreme Gelato

It baffles me that I've walked along Dixon Street so many times in my junior years the past, and yet I've never stumbled across N2 Extreme Gelato.

Worth the hype? Maybe.

*Apologies in advance for the shocking quality of the photos

Ordering the deconstructed macchiato, the gelato was pretty smooth and delicious. The syringe of chocolate was a lovely novelty that shot forth mini squirts of chocolate sauce. Combined with the sight of liquid nitrogen flowing everywhere, it was quite a sight to see and I'm glad I had finally made it to this hyped up place.

Indeed the icecream was good, but Westfield's Via del Corso and Gelato Messina are equally excellent gelato establishments (and were it not for the novelty aspect, Via del Corso's green tea and Messina's tiramisu and raspberry sorbets are my undoubted favourites)

Dessert from Ganache Pâtisserie Francaise

Indeed for New Years we celebrated by eating a Christmas Yule Log, but it was no matter because this cake was absolutely delicious.

Coming from someone who ordinarily doesn't really like to eat cake (unless it's a $4 Coles mudcake or a $90 opera cake), or will be absolutely content with a sliver; this cake is wow. It was rich, but not so rich that you're put off from eating it altogether. In fact, it's rich to the extent that you convince yourselves that it's not very rich, so you go for another mouthful but lo and behold you realise it was indeed pretty rich - do you follow what I mean?

The point that I'm trying to make in my garbled nonsense is this is a damn good cake and it makes me wonder what other delicious madness its origin cooks up.

Many many thanks to Sim for getting the cake and one day I will be trekking down to this wonderful patisserie - I think I may have just found one of my favourite patisseries that is second only to the majestic goodness of La Renaissance.

Dessert at Gelato Messina

Flavours L to R: Raspberry Sorbet, Two Stroke, Rumball in the Jungle, Tiramisu, Leaf Leaf Bang Bang

Given driving to the city is generally a rarity, Jade and I figured we may as well stop by Messina to pick up a take home tub.

With legitimate reason, this is the one of the best gelato places in Sydney - my only peeve is probably that it seems to never have Green Tea, but I suppose I have Via del Corso up at Westfield Sydney for that.

At 1.5L for $26.70, we got:

Raspberry Sorbet: my go-to at Messina, generally because I'm now more and more inclined towards sorbets given my recent bout of lactose intolerancy 

Two Stroke: "coffee, white chocolate and hazelnut gelato with candied hazelnuts", well I think coffee in any time of ice-cream can't go wrong, really.

Rumball in the Jungle: "peanut butter gelato smashed with rum balls", this was pretty good but ridiculously rich!

Tiramisu: all-time, all-time favourite

Leaf Leaf Bang Bang: "mango and coconut sorbet with pandan jelly", I wasn't too keen about this given I don't really like the taste of mangoes, coconut or pandan that much. Jade on the other hand adores this.