Sugar Hit 2011: Azuma Kushiyaki
This
is Azuma Kushiyaki’s third year participating in Crave Sydney International
Food Festival’s Sugar
Hits with its offering named ‘East meets West Dessert Tasting Plate’ as in years
past. With no description other than that, it is one of several locations
taking the mysterious angle with the dessert they are serving up. However if
you’ve tried their Sugar Hits previously, then you will recognise the signature
stacked bento presentation.
Let’s do brunch 2011: Hyde Park Barracks Café
Situated
on gravelly grounds and bound by a sandstone barrier wall is the Hyde Park
Barracks Café, its facade almost completely cloaked in climbing ivy. If you
score a table inside like we did, with windows and the aforementioned barrier
wall obscuring most of the city skyline, you could fool yourself into thinking that
you are actually someplace else rather than right in the middle of Sydney city.
No wonder people choose to have weddings here.
Sugar Hit 2011: Sheraton on the Park
This year Sheraton on the Park is offering their Sugar Hit – another mysterious no-namer – on Thursday through to Saturday evenings only, which serves to only make the popular venue choice busier than ever. This is especially apparent when we drop in on a Friday where plenty of people wander over from the Night Noodle Markets.
Charcoal barbecuing with friends
What is with this weather of late in some of Australia's eastern areas? It's hot then it's cold, then it's hot again. Whilst spring/summer is having trouble knocking winter off its perch, winter seems more than happy to keep a grip on the weather patterns in the meantime. Not to worry, as it is inevitable that the seasons will change and soon we will all be basking in glorious sunshine, enjoying the outdoors once again, and partaking in activities such as barbecues.
Sugar Hit 2011: Shangri-La
In recent years, the description of Sugar Hit desserts at some venues has become increasingly mysterious. “Your choice from our dessert menu” or “As uniquely designed by our pastry chef” don’t offer any insights for diners who are trying to decide where to go. If you want to grab people’s attention then you really need to advertise what’s on offer.
However curiosity got the better of Monsieur Poisson and I with Shangri-La’s Sugar Hit billed as ‘Indulge in a specially designed dessert’. We’ve had good experiences there in years past – well, perhaps not so much last year – and thought we’d take a leap of faith into the unknown. We later discover through the hotel’s dining website that the Sugar Hit is a ‘chocolate tapas plate’ and that they are being offered from 7pm each evening instead of the usual 9pm. Something to note for those wanting to attempt a Sugar Hit crawl.
The Sugar Hit is presented as a platter of six miniature desserts – chocolate bavarois, whisky candy bar, chocolate and cherry tart, pistachio slice, gâteau opéra and macaron – along with a glass of Brown Brothers Cienna with berry notes which work most well with chocolate flavours. The serving is most certainly sizeable and, we discover, comprised of a selection of desserts offered as part of Shangri-La’s chocolate high tea which takes place from 1-5pm on weekends.
I start with the pistachio slice as I expect it to be the least sweet. Its green foundation of pistachio sponge upholds a white chocolate and rice pudding bavarois and green pistachio glaze. Whilst the flavours are subtle and not overly sugary, I am a little put off by the greenness and the little bits of rice. I am biased, however, as admittedly I am not a fan of rice pudding to start with.
The lemon and white chocolate macaron is much less sugary than I expect and fragrant with lemon flavour. It has a pleasant chewy texture and marshmallow-like filling. The chocolate cherry tart in comparison is much heavier with its thick chocolate filling but the slightly tart cherry offers some relief.
The chocolate bavarois turns out to be my favourite with its smooth, mousse-like chocolate filling bound by jaconde sponge. The mini-pipette of raspberry coulis adds a bit of fun but the dessert is complete in taste even without its inclusion.
We find the gâteau opera a little dry, perhaps from sitting in the chilled display cabinet, but it does have a balance of chocolate versus coffee flavours. The whisky candy bar is saved until last due to its perceived richness but surprises us by being only rich in texture, and not too sweet in taste fortunately. A few chocolate-coated rice krispies adorn the top of a chocolate fudge square which sits on a rice crispy base with texture a lot like a Crunch bar. The chocolate has a hint of bitterness with a note of warmth at the end from the whisky, but it's the crispy base which wins me over.
Definitely a Sugar Hit which delivers good value but I still long for the days when the bulk of venues would offer up a dessert designed exclusively for Sugar Hit purposes only.
176 Cumberland St, The Rocks, Sydney NSW
Tel: (02) 9250 6123
happy eating!
Brasserie Bread artisan baking workshop
October may mean (multiple) Sugar Hits for me but, more importantly, it is a month-long celebration of food and all things gustatory across Sydney and parts of regional New South Wales.
Brasserie Bread is holding several events as part of Crave Sydney International Food Festival but if you are unable to make it to any of these, never fear – Brasserie Bread offer a range of baking classes normally themselves. And having attended their Artisan Pastry class several months back, I knew I would be in for a night of fun when I received an invitation to attend an Unearthing Artisan Baking class which drew elements from various baking classes offered at Brasserie Bread.
The class is once again led by training manager Matthew Brock who starts the lesson by providing a bit of background to artisan baking. We are treated to a traditional ciabatta which we hear is going to be supplied to Jamie Oliver’s new Sydney restaurant!
The evening sees us making Brasserie Bread’s famous caramelised garlic loaf but in cute miniature form. If you are a garlic-lover and have never tried this bread, then you are seriously missing out! The bread is sticky in parts from caramelised garlicky juices and is studded with hidden pockets of whole garlic cloves which have been slowly cooked down with balsamic vinegar and sugar to an earthy sweetness.
We learn that salt kills yeast, so it’s best to add the two to opposing sides of the mixing bowl and that, as Ms Sourdough has informed me from experience, sticky dough makes for good bread! A tour of Brasserie Bread’s factory introduces us to the cool room where vats of starter live and are fed twice daily. Some of the starter is migrating to Melbourne and will be calling the exciting, new Brasserie Bread offshoot its new home.
Venturing through the different factory areas exposes us to giant machinery as well as the delightful aromas of cakes, pastries and, most of all, the bread. Unsold bread from the retail area is offered to staff at the end of the day or collected by charity organisations or, I learnt, used as pig fodder which apparently makes for rather tasty suckling piggies!
So it is quite by coincidence that my coulibiac, made with kindly pre-prepared brioche dough by Brasserie Bread staff, emerges from the oven somewhat resembling a roasted suckling pig rather than the hamster/gerbil/guinea pig which I had intended. The brioche dough is wonderfully silky and soft to the touch and truly a sensual experience to work with.
And if getting your hands dirty and playing with your food is not your, erm, slice of bread then make sure you drop into Brasserie Bread’s café to feed your sweet or savoury desires instead. They are well into preparations with their fruit mince tarts for Christmas, which really will be here sooner than you think, so start organising!
Mademoiselle Délicieuse this one-off baking class as a guest of Brasserie Bread.
1737 Botany Rd, Banksmeadow NSW
Tel: 1300 966 845
Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-3pm
Sat & Sun 8am-2pm
happy eating!
Sugar Hit 2011: Sydney Harbour Marriott & InterContinental
October
has come around once again and, apart from Christmas paraphernalia popping up
in department stores (some since early September!), it also means the Crave Sydney International Food Festival is
upon us. For Monsieur Poisson and I it means another year of Sugar
Hit desserts, but we have both promised ourselves to take things a little
easier than last year where we racked up a mammoth ten
Sugar Hits – our most ever!
Sugar
Hit desserts are offered at participating venues throughout October with a
glass of Brown Brothers dessert wine for $20 from 9-11pm – some only on certain
nights of the week so make sure you check before rocking up.
Sydney
Harbour Marriott
Although
we don’t spot anyone having the Sugar Hit when we arrive at 9pm, we were told
when making our reservation that it would be a full house that night. The thing
to take note of is that places often have a limited number of desserts prepared
for each night and that once they’re sold out then that’s it.
The
Sugar Hit here is billed as ‘A chocolate tasting including milk chocolate and
hazelnut tower, white chocolate mousse and rich mud cake’. The ‘tower’ appears
not so much as a tower as a slice of gelatine-set mousse on a chocolate brownie
base and adorned with a puffed rice crunch. The white chocolate mousse is
smooth and not overly rich nor creamy. Supported by a thin disc of sponge
underneath, it is bound by a dark chocolate woven “basket” which has echoes of last
year’s Shangri-La Sugar Hit. The mud cake is rich and dense but the least
sugary of the three components, and rounds off the chocolate theme nicely. Served
with a glass of Brown Brothers Moscato, the overall presentation of this Sugar
Hit has me thinking of portions of desserts from a hotel buffet assembled together
on a plate. The swirls decorating the plate are a plus point however, being raspberry
coulis rather than a flavoured gel.
I’ve
ordered a pot of Earl Grey on the side which, at only $5.50, is the popular
hotel choice of Ronnefeldt and is
elaborately presented on a silver tray with milk, honey, rock sugar and two
bite-sized coconut cookies!
InterContinental
Sugar
Hits at the InterContinental have consistently impressed both Monsieur Poisson
and myself so we keep coming back year after year. It’s a popular choice as we
spot two medium-sized groups of Sugar Hit goers as we are taken to our seats.
When the dessert is placed down in front of us, we notice it is very similar in
composition and presentation to last
year’s.
The
description of ‘Home-made pistachio and bitter chocolate vacherin with blood
orange custard’ doesn’t actually prepare me for the elaborate layered chocolate
slice with which we’re presented. Interspersed with windows of blood orange
jelly and custard, the chocolate slice is flanked by a blood orange, chocolate
ganache macaron perched on a strip of fruit jelly. I don’t detect any
discernible pistachio, meringue, nor bitterness about the chocolate, however
the whole dessert comes together well as a subtle and balanced interpretation
of the classic jaffa flavour combination. No in-your-face orange here.
As
for taking it easier this year, Monsieur Poisson and I have decided to share a
Sugar Hit at each place we visit rather than consuming one each. This doesn’t
stop him from ordering an affogato though!
30 Pitt
St, Sydney NSW
Tel:
(02) 9259 7279
117 Macquarie St (entrance cnr of Bridge St & Phillip St),
Sydney NSW
Tel: (02) 9240 1396
happy
eating!
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