If you've been reading
this blog for longer than 30 seconds (and if you haven't, hi, and
welcome!) you'd know I'm a sweet tooth. Teeth. Mouth. Face. Do you
get my point? Right now I'm eating choc chips and already my mind is
wandering over to the lemon tart sitting on the kitchen bench. That
I've already had a slice of. In the past half hour.
So anyway, you know
Cafe Rosamond? By day, cute little cafe just off Smith Street in
Fitzroy. By (Thursday) night, Rosamond becomes the vehicle of
dessert-wielding chef de patisserie, Pierre Roelofs and his
degustation of happy endings.
Now in its third year,
these Thursday dessert evenings are quite popular. Indeed, the night
we planned on going, our friend was very anxious that we wouldn't
score a table, having been disappointed in the past. For sure, Cafe
Rosemond is not flush on space, but when we arrived around 8:30 en
route for a drink at Josie Bones, we put our name on a list, gave an
indicative time on when we'd be ready and the rest is history.
Despite its size,
Rosamond transforms itself in the evening, with tea-candles casting
flattering shadows, and making food bloggers all the more
conspicuous.
Now, I'm not sure about
you, but I quite often like to have a warm drink with my sweets. If
it's an afternoon catch-up with a girlfriend, I tend to opt for chai;
if I've overindulged in the previous two of the three dinner courses,
peppermint tea it is. Having eaten my dinner some hours earlier, I
opted for a chai, which was a little slow to arrive. It was, however,
worth the wait, as it arrived in a dainty tea pot with the sweetest
little saucer of honey, its own honey dipper, and an equally quaint
tea cup. CUTE!
But on to the desserts.
We opted to go the full
three-course dessert menu, beginning with a 'tube'. It doesn't sound
great, but trust me here, you want the tube.
Cola spider tubes, complete with beaker of warm water |
Two tubes arrived,
crossed like cigars, and a beaker of warm water by its side. The
instruction: dip the transparent end in the warm water for a few
seconds, then suck. It's not elegant, but the effect is really quite
cool. On the evening we were there, we had Cola Spiders: cola jelly,
ice cream and cola sherbet. Amazingly, once all ingredients were
mingling in my mouth, it really tasted like a cola spider. Surprising
that!
With our minds somewhat
already blown (it's a great way to start!) the next course was more
refined. The waitress set down our plates, and announced 'guava, musk
and strawberry'. Now, I can't really remember the way this was
presented (I ate it before I photographed it. Tends to happen with
desserts) but I've written down 'dehydrated stawbs, musk marshmallow
and meringue, guava puree jelly'. I do remember having a moment with
texture. Oh, people, I really love texture, and this dessert got it.
Dehydrated berries take on a crisp, spongy consistency (er, bit of an
oxymoron, but...) and are very light, but with an intensified
flavour. In this case, very tangy. Combined with the chewy
marshmallow and the crunchy meringue, both musk, which dissipates the
tang from the strawberries, the final hit comes from the zing of
guava puree, which was almost overwhelming.
After a bit of a
breather (chai finally in hand!) our next course arrived looking much
like a parfait. Starting on the bottom: apricot compote, pannacotta,
rhubarb granita , passionfruit *mumble* (can't remember), and puffed
millet.
Bloody food bloggers and their bloody flashes (oops, iPhone) |
This certainly isn't
your typical sticky date pudding or crème brulee dessert choice.
While sometimes these traditional desserts can go down a treat,
occasionally they can be cloying, even for me. But rhubarb granita?
Puffed millet? While it's a strange combination, it works. And while
it may work, I would have to say this was my least favourite course.
I don't generally go for sorbets and other icy desserts, but I
appreciated what was going on there with the granita, which I
originally thought may have been beetroot, not rhubarb, due to its
dark crimson colour. Being icy, the taste was muted, hence my
confusion.
The final course was
more down my ally. Presented in a little heap, it looked sandy and
rugged, like a little beach. Dehydrated green tea was the sandy
substance, which, powder-like on first contact, dissolved in the
mouth with a very subtle green tea flavour. Chunks of green apple
added acidity and crunch, while puffed rice added lightness. Sticky,
sweet molasses held it all together, with cardamom-roasted salted
cashews adding the buzz flavour combo of the minute – salty/sweet.
The cardamom was a beautiful, fragrant addition to an already
delicately flavoured dish.
Much tastier than an actual beach. |
And that rounded out
our evening at Rosamond. I didn't spy the master in my sweet-induced
haze, and I wondered if he was actually there. It was a nice
experience, and the courses were certainly not your typical desserts.
The complexity, texture, and clever use of flavours all demonstrate
some real thought. I'm looking forward to returning again and seeing
what the master concocts next time.
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