Sugar Hit: The Westin, 3 Oct 2010

The Westin has featured in the Sugar Hit line-up for many years but for some reason Monsieur Poisson and I have never been. With the aim of better organising ourselves, I emailed a week ahead of time to request a reservation for two but received a reply saying they do not take reservations for Sugar Hit. No worries, I thought, we’ll just turn up at 9pm on the evening we decide to go and move on to another place should they be too busy.

Having forgotten the details of the Sugar Hit once we arrived, having issues with mobile internet reception and there being a lack of introduction when served, meant that we had no idea what we were eating and were left to the devices of our palates to decipher the dessert presented in front of us. Paired with a Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora, The Westin replaced this with a caffe latte at Monsieur Poisson’s request.

When the Sugar Hits are set down on the table there is an unfortunate overwhelming aroma of chocolate syrup from the squiggles decorating the plates. I start off by picking the dried fruit pieces off the top of the dessert glass but can only identify pineapple. The other two resemble mango and lychee in appearance but are spongier in texture than their usual dried variants. The dessert, upon checking when we get home, is ‘Dark chocolate Tanzanie cream, honey macadamia nuts, an espresso biscuit and pineapple and mango bavarois’. The chocolate is more milk than dark in both flavour and appearance, and the pineapple-mango centre layer tastes like a pineapple-banana hybrid to me. Studded with honey macadamias throughout, there is also a hidden disc of sponge within the fruity layer. I finish off with the white chocolate thin although I’m rather amused at it sporting leopard print! Overall I find it confusing with the differing flavours and textures all vying for attention, whereas Monsieur Poisson doesn’t mind so much. I also wanted the creamy layers to either be airier or firmer, rather than the in-between slight runniness which it has.

And it was just as well that we arrived around 9pm as by 9:45pm their Sugar Hits had sold out for the evening! There was a group of seventeen who’d been seated around 9:30pm who must have exhausted the last of the prepared desserts, resulting in a few later groups being turned away. From this we deduced that The Westin allows for perhaps 30-35 Sugar Hits per evening, so if you’re keen to try theirs make sure you turn up early or try for a weekday to avoid disappointment.

The Westin

No. 1 Martin Place (GPO Building), Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 8223 1197

happy eating!