Tag: donut

Categories
Bakery Italian

Pasticceria Tamborrino – Five Dock NSW Restaurant Review

We pre-ordered online and subsequently picked up in person a cake from local bakery Tamborrino, taking the opportunity to try a few quick snacks whilst we were there.

The REASON FOR VISIT was this ricotta and pear semifreddo (around $40). Semi-freddo as a concept is not something that we’re particularly familiar with, and we were told to keep this out of the fridge for 3 hours prior to serving. Due to poor planning on our part, we consumed this cake after only 90 minutes at room temperature, by which point it had devolved into extremely soft, almost custard like texture. Being non-Italian and not having had any semi or full freddo before, I wasn’t sure if such a degree of softness was intentional, but it certainly did not help with the cake’s overall overpowering sweetness. Though sacrilegious as it may be, I think this would’ve been much better eaten straight out of the freezer, giving it a bit more structure and muting the sweetness just a little bit.

I should admit that I did enjoy the little gold encrusted cereal balls, which were a bit chewy and a bit crunchy. Despite this, this was one of the few occasions where I actually preferred the backup cake from Savoy, the classic taro cake, that is always present at such events.

Though I didn’t love the main event, I did quite enjoy this ricotta mini cannoli ($~4 or less). We had made a separate trip some months ago to Mezzapica in Leichardt to get their allegedly very good cannoli, but I honestly don’t think Tamborrino’s was any worse – possibly even better. We had been lured to Leichardt on the promise that Mezzapica’s cannoli would be extra crispy due to their piping to order, but to be honest Tamborrino’s cabinet cannoli crisped just fine. Unlike the other things we had from Tamborrino, the cannoli was not too sweet.

The other little snack we had was this pistachio mini bomba ($4) – essentially a donut filled with an absolutely huge amount of pistachio filling. This, much like the cake was also quite sweet. But somehow more enjoyable – perhaps due to its small size.

Pasticceria Tamborrino Five Dock
75 Great N Rd, Five Dock NSW 2046

Categories
American Bakery Café

Small Talk Coffee & Snacks – Dulwich Hill Restaurant Review

This is Small Talk’s Lox Bagel ($17.50). I don’t know the physical or legal difference between a bagel with filling and a sandwich, apart from the type of bread, but nonetheless enjoyed this bagel with filling. The bagel has a sweet and savoury flavour, with a mildly dense texture providing a perfect balance of bite and chew. The filling of smoked salmon, caper paste, pickled onion and cream cheese was deeply umami, with a good mix of different textures and flavours. My partner and I shared the one bagel, and I do not think it was inadequate. They come pre-sliced in half, so if eating with a friend or colleague they are optimal for sharing two different halves of two different bagels.

Another item pre-destined for sharing is their Raspberry Fritter ($7.50), essentially a square glazed donut with a light hint of raspberry filling. If you were to close your eyes it would be almost indistinguishable from a Krispy Kreme original glazed donut, though the grooves did make it extremely convenient to tear and share. Not the strongest dessert though, and I feel too expensive for what it was.

Please note that this venue is more takeaway oriented, with only very limited outdoor benching available.

Small Talk Dulwich Hill
Shop 2/355 New Canterbury Rd, Dulwich Hill NSW 2203

Categories
Bakery Dessert

Berry Donut Van – Berry NSW Restaurant Review

(The Famous) Berry Donut Van. I don’t know exactly how famous it is, or why it’s a van. I’d never heard of it until I drove past it one day, and I don’t think it actually moves. My first donut from them was brought to me by my housemate and colleague DTC, and my second donut was eaten fresh and hot on the spot – a big difference.

The van’s cinnamon donuts, essentially their flagship product, are sold for $2.20 each, with larger quantities attracting a reasonable discount. I chose to splash out on a donut & cream ($7), billed as “Our famous original cinnamon donut cut in half with a scoop of Serendipity’s smooth vanilla ice cream in between”. As you can see from the photo, this was not what I received. I kind of expected, as per the description on the menu, to receive a ice-cream sandwich like item, but what I actually received was a donut sat on top of a scoop of ice cream. It was, in this format, not so readily edible for one as unco-ordinated as me. While the donut was seriously delicious, perfectly warm and soft and fluffy with just the right amount of cinnamon sugar, It ultimately meant that I spent $4.80 for a scoop of very standard vanilla ice cream which I could’ve had more donut instead!

UPDATE

I went back with my partner for some straight up donuts ($2.20). They were hot, fresh, and extra good.

The nutella donut ($4), with molten nutella injected at regular intervals throughout the ring, was also quite nice, and surprisingly not too sweet. Is it definitely worth almost double the price of the classic donut though? Unsure, but worth the try.

Comments: Just get the donuts. Skip the ice cream. Signage needs to be updated.

(The Famous) Berry Donut Van
73 Queen St, Berry NSW 2535
(02) 4464 1968

Categories
Asian Fusion Dessert

Duo Duo – Roselands NSW Restaurant Review

I wanted to try Duo Duo’s social media hyped Asian-inspired ice cream and desserts for some time, especially as they’re quite close to where I’m currently living, but left sad and disappointed after a moderate wait in wet, cold, and dark conditions.

It’s hard to explain why exactly the things that I tried at Duo Duo didn’t tickle my fancy, but the Pandan Coconut Kaya Filled Donut ($6.50) just didn’t do it for me. I’m certainly not a pandan hater, some of my best friends are pandas, but I think what hurt this the most was more the odd sticky-but-pasty consistency of the icing rather than anything else. Such a weird feeling in my mouth.

The brown butter and caramelised apple deep fried ice cream was actually my first ever experience with deep-fried ice cream, being I think more an American-Chinese restaurant invention than an actual traditional Chinese dessert. The ice cream was quite sweet for my taste, and I didn’t love the batter, though I think that’s probably more of a problem with the format rather than the execution, and I wouldn’t have this again. 

THOUGHTS
I really wanted to like Duo Duo, but I just didn’t. I think I will try and go back and give it another shot this year, since I live so close by, but I will leave the above thoughts up online regardless of what I find on my next visit.

Categories
Asian Fusion Bakery Japanese

Azuki Bakery – Newtown NSW Restaurant Review

Despite their small size and tiny amount of available seating, Azuki Bakery in Sydney’s inner west has some of my favourite pastries of recent times, incorporating mostly-Japanese but broadly East Asian flavours into a universally loved medium (bread).

We’ll start by talking about this Kimchi Pork Sausage Roll ($5.80). This Korean inspired sausage roll was the savoury highlight of our meal, with a good flaky pastry and a warm and flavourful meaty filling.

While I had great expectations for Azuki’s Beef Curry Pan ($5), this was unfortunately not quite the picture of perfection that I had hoped. I enjoyed the light and sweet bread and the crispy oily external layer, but sadly found that the internal filling was just a bit too cool for my liking. While it is true that we waited maybe five minutes for one of the three outdoor tables to free up (our prediction for which of the three Asian couples presently seated would leave first and be replaced by us, also an Asian couple, was completely wrong – the ones who had finished eating first actually ended up staying the longest to sit and chat), this bun was otherwise straight from their counter. It is a shame as I could tell that the filling would otherwise be pretty good, but was just lacking a bit of warmth to open up the flavours and aromas.

Azuki is not the first bakery to advertise its Hot Cross Bun ($4.20) as the best in Sydney, but to be honest my knowledge of hot cross buns is neither deep nor broad enough to dispute or support this claim. This particular hot cross bun was quite densely packed compared to your average supermarket variety, with a good amount of spice in the dough and a deliciously heavy load of fruit and walnuts. It was, all in all a good hot cross bun.

The Yuzu Doughnut ($5.20) was pretty good, not too sweet apart from the candied citrus slice on top. I enjoyed the soft dough and the mild but delicious yuzu custard cream within.

This Custard Puff ($4.80) came on its own in a little cake box, so you know it’s special. It had a strong Beard Papa energy, and I loved everything about this, from the sweet and buttery cookie choux pastry to the light and creamy vanilla custard filling. So good.

The Strawberry Extra Decoration Cake ($58), which I ordered for a family birthday based on our good experience with their other offerings was sadly not as exciting as the rest. It was a fairly basic sponge cake with an interior layer of strawberry, and in my personal opinion too much whipped cream. It did not stand out as a cake against competitor cakes. At least it was not too sweet.

THOUGHTS

We tried and liked a great number of things from Azuki, but the one dessert I think you can’t walk past is their excellent custard puff. We’ll definitely be going back for another, along with some other things.

Azuki Bakery
3/63-71 Enmore Rd, Newtown NSW 2042
(02) 8542 9317