Tales of a confectionist

Tuesday night is burger night @ the Calwell club!

That’s right! Not only are Tuesdays just reserved for ‘tight arse movie night’, it shall now also be remembered for the delicious gourmet burgers available at the Calwell Club.

I don’t really recall what was on my burger, they had me at ‘wagyu beef patty’ and ‘home-made tomato relish’. I happily gave away my pickle ‘hat’ to someone more appreciative of it.

For those who have watched me eat a hamburger, I always eat most, if not all of the salad from it first, leaving a delicious meat patty covered in cheese. Even though this burger was very tall, I ate the whole thing without deconstructing the layers (except for the pickle). It was sooooo tasty! The meat, the cheese, the fresh salad down to the roll that it came on was all fabulous.

Due to sheer excitement (and I didn’t think I was going to blog this dinner) I didn’t take note of the price but all three burgers were <$15.00.

For those who can unhinge their jaw a little more than others, they can attempt to eat the Hawaiian burger with egg, pineapple and bacon. Also two thumbs up from another patron.

The third burger choice was a gourmet chicken burger, but I’m not one for chicken on my burger unless it’s a schnitzel, so I didn’t really take note of what was on it. 

With several large tables, I thought it would be a really long wait for the food but the garlic bread arrived at the table before I did (I was too busy asking everyone what they were ordering). The service was very prompt and food came out in a timely manner during a ‘rush hour’ of people. Those who didn’t order from the gourmet burger menu also enjoyed their food (their steaks looked really good). The restaurant has a family friendly atmosphere with friendly service. I also like how they have several condiments (mustards and sauces etc) available for everyone.

3 states in 3 days- Sydney: High tea @ the Swissotel

——-11/03/2012——-

It probably wasn’t the best idea to go to an all your eat High Tea @ the Swissotel before trying on bridesmaid dresses but we had 2 for 1 prepaid vouchers and we’re not all together that often. 

They offer you bubbles after you’re seated. 

Now for the cakes! Everything looked so beautiful and uniform, a lovely spread.

Dark chocolate Lindt fountain.

The scones were really small dense and hard, I didn’t waste my time with them.

A great selection of sandwiches on different breads- white, rolls, wraps and baguettes.

Complete with a wide selection of tea 

and a piano man.

I could show you my countless plates…

but I’ll just show you all the different cakes. 

A great selection cakes and savouries including passion fruit curd tart, dark chocolate tart, fluffy light chocolate mousse, hazelnut cake, jaffa cake, char sui bao, prawn toast, spring rolls, vegetarian and quiche Lorraine.

 

I also stocked up on savouries! Yum yum 

I was unimpressed with their lack of attention to taking away used plates as we had to leave them clumsily stacked to the side and some things weren’t restocked once depleted like spring rolls and prawn toast, so it’s best to get there early and not miss out.

I do like how they change their selection of cakes and savouries because I have been here before. It’s definitely one of the better high teas that I have been to.

Venue: Crossroads Bar, Swissotel Sydney

Address: CBD, 68 Market St Level 8, Sydney, NSW 2000

Phone: (02) 9238 7082

High tea: $55pp Monday - Sunday 2:00pm - 4:00pm 

3 states in 3 days- Sydney: Adriano Zumbo Patissier

——-10/03/2012——-

Okay, you caught me out, 85% of the reason of why I dragged my family out to The Star was so we could go to Adriano Zumbo Patissier afterwards. I wasn’t crazy enough to even attempt to line up for a dessert train, where the number of people waiting clearly outnumbered the amount of chairs on the dessert train, but I did intend on grabbing a few treats to go and share them later with Timmy.

I didn’t want to stand around and play ‘the Hunger games’, I grabbed my goodies to go!

But what to choose?

Hot Cross bun ($2.50) this was so awesome, each nibble contained fruit and tasted exactly like a hot cross bun with a completely different texture and salted butter caramel ($2.50) You could taste the salt which really brought out the sweetness of the caramel, the macaron was nice and chewy and might have been the best salted caramel I’ve eaten (or rival Dream Cuisine’s)?

Ssnowmanorr- Pate a choux, bubbles tea custard, lychee coconut creme legere, lychee gel, coconut crunch ($9.00) The chewy coconut shell encased a light fluffy custard and in the centre there was sago was in a thick dark lychee custard. The different textures and flavours was fabulous, definitely a cake to try!

Carmello ($8.00) Okay I forgot to take a photo of the description of this but I can tell you it was like an extravagant apple strudel and it was AH-MAZ-ING. It had sweet pastry sandwiching a delicious caramel custard with apples to balance out the sweetness of it all. Hard to cut due to the nature of the pastry and custard so not worth sharing and because it is so delicious, it is definitely not worth sharing!

Good things: they have enough staff to make the ‘take away line’ go quickly, everything is delicious you cannot go wrong with what you choose, everything looks amazing and wonderful and cute custom packaging

Bad things: such a long line for the dessert train and when you get to the dessert train it is easy to spend $80+ without realising it, all the cakes look so good, it’s hard to choose just one.

Venue: Adriano Zumbo Patissier

Address: Shop 1, Cafe Court, The Star, 80 Pyrmont st, Pyrmont, NSW 2009

Entry Via Edward St

Opening hours:

Monday

Store: 11am- 10pm

Dessert Train: Closed.

Tuesday to Thursday

Store: 11am till 11pm

Dessert Train: Closed Tuesday 

Wednesday - Thursday: 6-10:30pm 

Friday & Saturday

Store: 11am till Midnight

Dessert Train: Friday: 6pm -11.30pm

Saturday: 2pm -11:30pm

Sunday

Store: 11am till 9pm

Dessert Train:12pm - 6:30pm

Introducing Sugar Daddy

6-8pm Wednesday through Saturday

Pink and White Plates are $4 and Black Plates $8

Wish List: Quay restaurant

Just add Jamie: capital may be latest city to serve up pukka tukka