Category: Dessert -

Euro Lounge

14/9/2016

This was a quick morning tea stop on a quiet Thursday morning when the rain was pouring down and all felt quite grey and miserable. Thank Heavens for tea and cake!

The tea was strong and well brewed and my friend and I enjoyed an eclair each. I had the chocolate one which had a secret layer of strawberry jam. Great choux pastry and delicious fresh cream. A touch sweet but the tea helped. Gold star for the coffee eclair though and definitely a case of food envy on my part. It was perfectly balanced in terms of sweetness and coffee flavour. That's the one to go for!

And with two pastries and two pots of tea, spirits were lifted. If only everything in life could be so simply solved!

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LuxBite

26/12/2014

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Boxing Day is my sister's birthday and for the first time in about 5 years we had the chance to celebrate together. I had planned a special day for her which included a late lunch at LuxBite before we went to the theatre. LuxBite is small with one big communal table to sit at and some outdoor seating and no reservations so I was a little concerned that we might not get in but lucky for us, when we arrived there was enough room for us to sit comfortably round the large marble table.

The men didn't want anything savoury so my mum, sister and I shared three dishes:

Steamed Sticky Rice on Flaky Pastry - With ginger marinated chicken, Shiitake mushroom, lettuce & cucumber salad, Malaysian chilli sauce
Slow Braised Beef - With caramelised bacon & spring onion mash, fried egg
Lamb, Mint & Rosemary Sausage - With 60/60 eggs, avocado, feta, tomato relish, toast

We actually wanted the pulled pork and lap cheong on corn fritters but it wasn't available hence we had the sausage instead. The hit was definitely the sticky rice which we all loved and the other two dishes were pleasant.

And then there were cakes too and a macaron lollipop for little Miss Amelia as well as the Endless Love which is inspired by Pierre Herme's Ispahan and is lychee ganache, rose cream, lychee and fresh raspberries - pictured below. And although the cake is called Endless Love, I think the photo also depicts endless love between Amelia and her por por (grandma).

The meringue cake pictured above is the Meringue Monster which is green tea sponge, pistachio, watermelon yoghurt, sour strawberry mousse and meringue. Graeme had the seasonal Rudolph which if I recall was all about chocolate and hazelnut.

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3 Kingdoms and Monga Dessert Lounge

4/2/2011

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Friday night adventure to Box Hill! Steve and I decided to get there by train which was made more exciting by the fact that a candidate of mine told me not to get the train back from Box Hill after 9pm "because bad things happen there after 9pm!" Our journey there started off grey and then the rain fell. When I say fell I mean it poured. Rivers were created on the platforms of the stations we passed through. We could hear it hammer down on the roof of the train.

We were greeted at the station by Ling and Noah and we headed to 3 Kingdoms. The trip involved a subway and wading through ankle high water. Ling got a piggy back from Noah to keep her shoes dry!

3 Kingdoms was reasonably busy. It smelt good as we walked in and we were hungry so good signs. We shared some fried dumplings which were tasty, kim chi pancake and spring onion pancake. The pancakes were ok - more veg than pancake. The courses came out one at a time too so it was quite a long meal. Noah ordered a fermented rice drink which came in a can and the response from both Ling and Noah after first sip wasn't enough to make me want to try.

Main courses - Noah had beef bulgogi, Steve and I had bibimbap which was a stone pot with beef, veggies and fried egg in it which I topped with chilli sauce and Ling had teriyaki fish. Ling's dish came out really late and tasted a little odd. Kind of sweet and salty at the same time. The bibimbaps were pretty good; lots of rice but not really authentic as the egg was too well done. Usually it's raw and you mush it altogether to get a bit of sauce from the egg so the dish ended up being a little dry. The beef bulgogi tasted fine - not exceptional but fine. It looked a but stringy too.

Wouldn't bust a gut to return but it was acceptable and the company made it fun.

We then went for Chinese dessert at Monga Dessert Lounge. Got to say I'm not a huge fan but because we were in Box Hill and the weather was humid like Hong Kong, it felt like the right thing to do. Plus it's Chinese New Year so I guess I should do things that are the traditions of my people.

Once again Ling's dish was delayed but Steve's waffle with green tea ice cream and red bean paste was even later. The waffle and ice cream was good but the red bean paste was a little bit too much like Mexican refried beans which don't really go with waffle and ice cream so Steve pushed the paste to one side. Lings sweet green bean (like a pulse rather than the vegetable) with kelp was declared ok but she wished she'd ordered her usual red bean sweet soup. Noah had a basil seed and watermelon dish with coconut milk that looked like frog spawn with balls of red melon. Nice colours. I had the sago with coconut milk and ice cream which was like runny rice pudding and nice enough but far too much coconut milk so I couldn't finish it.

I think we'll return to Monga Dessert Lounge and bring my mum as she likes stuff like that but Chinese desserts are not really my thing.

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Sofia's Pizza House and Trampoline

11/12/2010

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We made plans with Ling and Noah to meet up for lunch at one of Noah's faves: Sofia's in Camberwell which is ideally situated halfway between where they live and where we are. We decided to take public transport so we could enjoy some wine and our research showed that there was a direct train from close to us to really close by the restaurant. Simple...or so we thought! What we failed to look at was how circuitous the tram route was and what we thought was a 20 minute journey was actually 45! We were half an hour late to meet Ling and Noah. What a first impression to give Noah!

Anyway finally we arrived with starving tummies and we quickly ordered. We'd been warned portions were big. Noah ordered soup as he wasn't too well and didn't have much of an appetite. Ling asked for a chicken salad, I went for a spaghetti in tomato sauce with prawns and Steve went for the old favourite - carbonara. Well the portions were humungous! Mountains of pasta and the chicken salad must have had a whole chicken in it!

So the quantity was there but what about quality. It was a little more than acceptable; not out of this world but excellent value. The pasta was cooked nicely with the right amount of bite not the soggy mush it can be. Sauce ratio was good so it wasn't too sloppy or dry. I'm sure there's better quality out there but I also know there can be much worse so this was a decent lunch. Service was attentive but not overly so and they seemed ok about Ling and Noah sitting there waiting 30 minutes for us! I think in some Chinese places where the food is cheap and they like to get people in and out quickly our tardiness could have been a problem so nice of them to be accommodating. Our share of the food came to $50 which included a bottle of wine ie £30 so the value is there.

After a quick walk round some of the shops in Camberwell we came to an ice cream stall called Trampoline. It's a chain and there's one near us in Southbank but we've never tried. Steve and I shared a tub with three flavours: hokey pokey which is honeycomb bits in butterscotch, lamington which is coconut, choc chip and raspberries and a white chocolate and berries. I really enjoyed the ice cream as it wasn't overly sweet unlike Ben and Jerry's.

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Hopetoun Tea Rooms

4/12/2010

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So good I've been there twice in one week! Very naughty of me but just too nice! My first experience of Hopetoun Tea Rooms was with Ling and she had scones with jam and cream and I had the pikelets with strawberries, ice cream and maple syrup. The scones must have been good as they inspired her to try and re create them at home. I have yet to hear how they turned out. My pikelets were like pancakes and they were very light and each mouthful was a delight. They looked pretty and tasted great; far superior to the Pancake House ones we had when we first arrived. I had Earl Grey tea and Ling went for a Bolivian Green Tea. I had no idea Bolivia produced green tea.

I know that Steve has a sweet tooth so today during our day out I suggested we pop into Hopetoun for some refreshment. There was a queue so we had to wait about ten minutes for a table but during that time we could gaze upon the delights in the cake cabinet. Hopetoun Tea Rooms is done out like a refined English tea room with green flocked wall paper and little round tables to sit at. They have a wide selection of loose leaf tea but with it being so warm I had an iced tea but Steve had their English Breakfast tea called the Bard's Tempest. Steve opted for a cake called a Cosmopolitan which had a base like carrot cake, a cheesecake type layer and then topped with raspberry. I went for the Lime Tart which came with vanilla ice cream. It was just gorgeous. Sharp and tangy with a sweet finish. Steve agreed I'd made the better choice!

There were people there having proper afternoon tea with dainty sandwiches, cakes and scones so I think next time we will have to do that. When not in England, re create it with afternoon tea!

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Max Brenner

25/11/2010

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I've mentioned Max Brenner previously but never really reviewed it. Charlotte and I went for dessert yesterday and given we went there after our second date for hot chocolate, it's become a little bit of a tradition and one we're more than happy to continue with.

There are Max Brenner chocolate cafés all over the World. I first saw one in Las Vegas this Summer and looking at their website they seem to be mainly in Israel, Australia, Phillipines and Singapore and 3 outlets in America. Surprisingly it was founded in Israel which I would never have put as a chocolate making centre.

Anyway I went for the chocolate dip with strawberries and Charlotte had the banana bread with chocolate dip. I loved my dessert. Not too sweet and the strawberries are considered 5 a day so almost healthy. Charlotte's banana bread, I get the impression was ok but she'll be sticking to her Italian Thick Chocolate next time. The cappuccino was good with drizzled melted chocolate and a square of melting chocolate rather than the cocoa powder. The mug had a funny lip to it which the call the roo cup. Not quite sure what that was meant to be for.

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Breadtop

6/11/2010

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I mentioned Breadtop a few posts back about it being as common as Greggs (probably a slight exaggeration but definitely lots of branches) and it being an Asian bakery. Well we've had a few breakfasts and desserts from Breadtop and I believe Steve is a real fan now! The items you see in the pics above are half a chestnut and hazelnut cake a milk bun and an almond and custard bun. The cake was so good we've had it twice now. It's light with a soft top and crispy base. The almond and custard bun was nice too not so big a fun of the milk bun; too dry and the filling was sweet coconut which was too sweet for me.

We called in one evening this weekend to take some goodies home and look at the cute puppy cake! I want one!

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Euro Lounge

LuxBite

3 Kingdoms and Monga Dessert Lounge

Sofia's Pizza House and Trampoline

Hopetoun Tea Rooms

Max Brenner

Breadtop

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