Shocolate - Fitzroy

(degusted 24/9/11)

Chocolate, white choc macarons, ice-cream & chocolate sauce.
The matched wine at least made us feel a bit like grown-ups,
even if the sweeties made us feel like children again!

When you’re trying to balance healthy living, exercise, and a hobby that involves the food intake equivalent of a rugby league half-back, it is quite an indulgence to then add to the intake by means of a dessert degustation (a chocolate-based degustation, to be accurate). However, with the unending torrent of temptations that fly past every day - and the opportunity to save over 50% thanks to a scoopon to which we just couldn’t say no, well, we folded and found ourselves in possession of a voucher exchangeable for a sugar rush the likes of which the world had never seen… (well, perhaps not since Augustus Gloop fell rather unceremoniously into the chocolate river in Charlie’s Chocolate Factory)…

The day after our meal at Lucky Chan's (do you feel lucky, punk?) We moseyed on down to Shocolate in Fitzroy on a cold Saturday afternoon. It’s a beautiful looking shop – high ceilings, French-provincial styling we guess – a comfortable air about the place. We noticed the ‘no photographs’ sign on the display cabinet that housed their range of macarons and delicious-looking chocolate morsels. It’s a shame that photography was not appreciated, as the items on display made fantastic subjects – but we concede it would get a bit annoying having snap-happy passers-by popping in all day long to take a pic and not buy anything. In this regard, we respected their request… sort of ...(a couple of sneaky (read: poor quality) android phone snaps simply did not do the place or the food any justice - so we shall leave them out). Pictures of molded chocolate are not that interesting, anyway, and so for once the pictures are really not necessary (unlike our previous post on the dessert degustation at Cafe Rosamonde!).

First up was a tasting plate with 6 different chocolates – each with something unique. We were blown away by the Vegemite chocolate, which was remarkably good – even for one of us who hates vegemite alone. So good was the vegemite chocolate in fact, that the “usual favourite” of salted caramel was outshone.
There, we said it: Vegemite wins over caramel. Wow.

The white chocolate macarons were as macarons should be – crisp shell, chewy inside, flavoured nicely (and not just a mouthful of sugar). These were yum to be sure, and we ordered more of other flavours to take away – which were equally good.

A vanilla bean icecream with molten couverture chocolate (made with lots of cocoa butter) was the finale, and it was like being a kid all over again. We had allowed the ice-cream to melt slightly to that soft consistency that makes the flavours and creaminess shine through. Then, giggling with the sugar rush from the preceding items, and prodding at the ice-cream to make small craters with our spoons, we slowly poured the molten chocolate into the ice-cream.. Then, before it completely solidified we took a scoop and sunk back into the seat, enjoying the pleasure that ensued.  Ahhh... Chocolately vanillary bliss.

For a truly decadent afternoon delight, you can’t pass up the opportunity to stuff yourself with some fine chocolate, and quaff a matched wine.  Send an invitation by telegram to your pancreas well in advance though, because it will need to be working hard to deal with the sugar-high that ensues.



Rating:  Nom(x3) - Perfect for a chocolate fix!

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Saltwater at Kings (Sunshine Coast, QLD)

(degusted 9th Aug, 2011)

What a great place to catch up with friends!

You cannot beat this location – right on Kings Beach, Caloundra – quite literally a hop, step and a jump onto (or off from) the sand. Saltwater cafe has a number of outdoor tables and chairs which catch the morning sun, but some of that sun gets blocked by high-rise apartments in the early afternoon. Parking is always difficult on the beachfront, but on our visit at noon (winter, mid-week) we had plenty of spaces to choose from, immediately adjacent to the cafe.

Thank goodness...

It's a pleasant spot to be, for sure. Our local friend mentioned that the cafe supplies blankets for the cold days, so everyone can be toasty warm even if one (un)dresses to show off their latest body art or sculpted abs... A word of warning for the likes of Tony Abbott or Vladimir Putin if they are thinking of coming here:  "No dick togs allowed".

 

The menu boasts a good list of breakfasts, and a comprehensive set of “starters” (around $20, and unless you’re Hulk Hogan, probably big enough to suffice as a main) and mains (around $30). We went for a few of the starters rather than a single main – so as to get a range of tastes.  The espresso was good, and came with an unexpected little treat – a small chocolate mini-mud cake. 

We love little unexpected espresso bonuses.

Good coffee. Good sweet bonus treats!!

The Japanese crumbed calamari was an obvious choice for us – mention Japan, calamari, bonito and wasabi aoli in one menu item description, and we were already sold... you had us at 'Japanese'.. These tasted as good as they looked - the sesame and mild wasabi flavours lifted this from "just another calamari" into something a bit more special.

Japanese crumbed calamari. Sesame and Wasabi complements the food well.

Next we degusted the Greek Lamb 'salad' with baby beets, goats cheese, olives and others. This was a good, hearty lamb salad with plenty of flavour, and the lamb was lovely and tender. The sweet beets are such a good accompaniment to offset and balance out the strong olives and goats cheese. Delicious.

Greek-style Lamb salad.

The third dish we ordered was the almond-crumbed brains, with sweet potato, parmesan and prosciutto. When ordering this one, even the waitress was unsure about the brains. 

You are what you eat, right? So with fingers crossed (that it would make us smarter and not turn us into gooey grey blobs floating in cerebrospinal fluid), we tucked into the golden-crusted brains. Verdict: in a word – AMAZING.   

 Brains have never been on our "top-foods" list (at least not until this point), but these little beauties changed that. Not having tried brain dishes elsewhere, we can't definitively say whether this place does to lambs brains what TDK cassettes used to do to your system – amazing things – or whether brains are intrinsically good. All we can say is that we would order these again, and recommend others to do the same!

Almond crumbed brains on sweet potato, topped with prosciutto. Incredibly good - A must-try.

For dessert we degusted through two dishes: first, an Ooey Gooey chocolate fondant – which was everything the name promised and more. Cutting into the cake 'shell' with the spoon set free a seductive molten chocolate river... Oh yeah...  Bring a spare insulin pen for this one. The other dessert was a white cholocate creme brulee – rich and creamy, it was delicious. Served with some biscuits and strawberry 'salsa'. Unfortunately, the biscuits looked as though they were courtesy of the local IGA - a bit cheap looking, and probably not even necessary on the plate.

Ooey Gooey chocolate pudding (fondant), with vanilla bean icecream

White Chocolate creme brulee (hidden under the strawberry slices)

All up, we lunched from midday through to mid-afternoon, enjoying the atmosphere, the company and the food. Soaking up the sun, and washing it all down with a bottle of bubbly and a few good short blacks - now THIS is what winter lunches on the Sunshine Coast should be all about.

Rating:  Nom (x3) - Go back if you get the chance!

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ Saltwater at Kings Beach

-Japanese crumbed calamari

-Greek Lamb 'salad' with baby beets, goats cheese, olives and others

-Almond-crumbed brains, with sweet potato, parmesan and prosciutto

-Ooey-Gooey Chocolate pudding with vanilla bean icecream, and cinnamon marscapone

-White chocolate Creme Brulee with shortbread and strawberry salsa.

-Espresso (and bonus choccies!)

You might also like our other Sunshine Coast posts:
 Buderim Tavern,   Chopping Block Cafe in Buderim,   Reserve Restaurant and Cellar in Maleny

Or if cafe style food is your thing, in Victoria:  Main St Cafe, Mordialloc;   Degani's cafe in Eltham

Pierre Roelofs @ Café Rosamond; Desserts on Thursdays

(degusted 7th July, 2011)

We got here with really high expectations – and we were not let down! What a single chef can do in a tiny kitchen (you have to see it to believe it) is astounding.  We took a while to get onto this bandwagon, but a dessert degustation on Thursday nights make this cosy little place a foodies' “must-try”.

Outside looking in: Cafe Rosamond

In ‘Wikipedia’ style, first a disambiguation: The Café Rosamond is a little café in its own right for most of the time. It’s a small but cosy place, with eclectic furnishings (aren’t all places like this in Fitzroy/Collingwood?).  This blog post however, is specifically about the Dessert Degustation on Thursday evenings held by Pierre Roelofs at the Café Rosamond.

The high expectations of this place came firstly our own excitement about the decadence of a dessert degustation, and secondly from reading other blog posts about this place, and scanning through the biography of the chef, Pierre Roelofs (which reads like a galactic map, scattered with michelin stars). Of note, is his internship at Heston Blumenthal’s “the fat duck” (Heston – a hero of one of The Degusters!).

 

Eclectic interior of Cafe Rosamond. Small, but functional.

The deal is simple: Thursday nights only. You cannot make reservations. It's first in, first seated... And the doors open at 7pm. We arrived at 7:15 (late due to the entree degusting at Panama Dining Room and Bar), and found this little cafe already full (sad face). Understandable though, as the place only seats 25 or so. The very helpful and cheery waitress offered to put us on the wait list (happy face)- for the third sitting (expressionless)- and told us that 9pm was a realistic time to be seated (sad face). No worries, we were so keen for the experience (and the wait really was worth it). In the meantime, we headed back out into the crisp evening to explore Smith St shops.

When the phone call came in that our table was ready we hurried back and found ourselves at a small but functional table, and were promptly offered drinks and an explanation of the evening's courses. Smiles all round.

The brief details of the desserts we degusted are described below, but please realise that the menu is subject to change weekly; so what we actually had may not be available next week.. I guess that's all the more reason to go back again (happy face).

The first course was an iconic dessert in a tube. In this case, black forest cake (BFC) inspired. In dessert degustation terms, this was the appetiser. The tube is a glass cylinder, filled with distinct layers of the BFC - I guess you could call it a deconstructed cake- this seems to be quite trendy, and something I like (I daydream back to the deconstructed cheesecake we degusted at Jacques Reymond a couple of months ago).  So, with all lewd thoughts aside, ones gives a strong suck on the tube, and you are rewarded with a big mouthful of all the elements of this classic cake coming together in your mouth. Joy.

If there's a better way to eat BFC, I haven't found it yet!

Black Forest Cake inspired dessert "tubes".

 

The next dessert course was a really light, fresh dish - inspired by strawberry, yuzu (the Japanese fruit, which also seems to be in fashion these days), creamy soda and vanilla. The smells and tastes made me feel like a child again (creamy soda my soft-drink of choice when my big brothers were drinking beers, because it looked similar).  The photo of this dish looks as sweet and cute as it tasted. There were so many different textures and flavours on the plate, it was hard to take it all in. Individually, each item was good, but they all worked so much better when mixed together, like a symphony of sweetness.

Strawberry, Yuzu, Creamy soda and Vanilla. So light, so crisp, so many flavours and textures.

The next sweet to try was a little bit savoury, incorporating pureed oats (isn’t that porridge?) into a glass, with rhubarb sorbet, passionfruit jelly, yoghurt foam, and raspberry. There was some puffed amaranth in there too. Truly delicious, and I’m not normally a rhubarb fan. Thankfully, chef Pierre has really thought the menu through, and this hint of savoury was a real treat – it accentuated the sweetness of the rhubarb so well. This second dish was a little heavier than the first, this was like the "main meal" of the degustation. One of The Degusters said that if breakfast oats tasted like this, NOBODY would EVER skip breakky!

Rhubarb, yoghurt foam, passionfruit, raspberry and pureed oats.
If breakfast oats tasted like this, nobody would ever miss breakfast!

The last up was the real sweet one. It may seem strange to think that out of 4 desserts, you would label one as a ‘sweet’, but this was the “chocolately course”, and in a very mild way, a little richer than the others.  There were Chocolate, honey, and churron flavours, and hiding underneath all this - Like a shy Chihuahua under the bed in a thunderstorm - was a sponge-like cake soaked in shandy (where shandy=beer + lemonade).  It was a great finale, the dessert of desserts.

The Final Course: Dessert inspired by chocolate, honey, churron and shandy.

 

Nearby, for dinner beforehand, you could check out Panama Dining room, as we did on this occasion (note that the kitchen there opens at 6pm – so you might have to rush to make it out for 7PM), or just around the corner is one of our old Korean favourites, Goshen.

Rating:  Must go back!

Meh                      It’ll Do                   Nom(x3)                              Must go back!

Done and Degusted @ Pierre Roelofs Dessert night @ Café Rosamond…

Black forest cake "Tube"

3-course Dessert Degustation (menu changes weekly)

Drinks: Two espressos were both of consistently good quality (as I’ve mentioned before, an average espresso in Melbourne is really quite good on a quality scale – these were just fine, nothing exceptional, but totally enjoyable), and soy hot chocolate was really good.