Crave 2010 – Sugar Hit Rush
Inspired by the Sugar Hit marathons by A Table for Two, Grab Your Fork and Chocolatesuze; D and I decided to test our skills in the sweet department and try and fit in as many Sugar Hits we could sink our teeth into in one night. We are joined on this quest by a few other brave souls of Pupu, C, cupcake, Fefifofum, Santa and Kwanky who all probably regret coming along the sugary journey. Initially we were very optimistic and aimed to hit up 5 places in total but after careful consideration about time and our future health issues we settled for 3 places. Here Comes the Food
Beginning the night with style and grace we entered our first arena of Grace Hotel.
Chocolate fondant with self-saucing chocolate centre, Kahlua ice cream, chocolate macaroon macaron (lolnoobs) and chocolate fairy floss
Mmm dessert wine
Starting with the fairy floss, it is always a good touch of airy and fluffy fun in fairy floss form. It always brings out the inner child from whoever eats it as it involves biting and pulling away at the sticky strands. The chocolate macaron was done surprising well with good creamy middle and crispy yet airy shells. The ice cream seemed to be the highlight for everyone and I totally agree although I also really loved the soft and gooey innards of the fondant. The fondant could had been a bit warmer but the melty centre more than made up for that. The outer cakey case of the fondant was not the best but it was still pretty decent. The waffle basket was a bit out of place in my opinion although it did add nice textual contrast to the dessert along with the chocolate sticks.
Gooey goo goo centre!
Gotta love that things that self-sauce as well hee hee. We all powered through this one fairly easily but with 2 more ahead of us, we thought it might be wise to change up our play.
A small stroll round the block and into the QVB leads us to our next destination of Bacco
A chocolate tasting plate of berry chocolate fudge, gianduja macaroon macaron (lolnoobs again), and glace apricot and milk chocolate ganache tart
We spy ready platters of our next opponent but unfortunately they were not for us. Ours take a fair while before it reaches us and the wafts of savoury foods from the kitchen were not helping at all. However when they did arrive we all dig in whole-heartedly sharing one serving between two.
More sweet sweet dessert nectar of the Gods
A more substantial macaron than the previous one which packed a beautiful flavour of nutty chocolate. The crispy shells contrasted beautifully with the creaming middle.
The berry chocolate fudge was very cakey and slightly dry for me. If they had a bit more jam or chocolate icing that would had made it better in my opinion but otherwise flavourwise it was very nice without being sickly sweet or over-chocolatey.
This tart was the highlight of the trio for me. The sweet combination of milk chocolate and apricot was a winning one in flavour and soft squishy texture with a smooth richness to it. The base of the tart was also done well to complement the rest of the tart. However overall, this dessert would had been quite rich if eaten all by onesefl I would had imagined but hey, it is a Sugar Hit after all!
Finally a brisk walk to aid digestion and reach our final destination of Shangri-La Hotel
I really liked the chill atmosphere of Shangri-La and it was a perfect way to wind down the night with
Red for royalty… or red cienna
Black Forest Cocktail – vanilla pannacotta, cherries in kirsch, chocolate bonbon, cocoa sponge, chocolate cream
D:”Is that chocolate corn?” to which we all stared really carefully at first and concluded it was just a chocolate mesh. The gold umbrella was a real nice touch to make it that extra bit cocktaily, however I didn’t realize it was based on a black forest cake until I bit into it (also because I already forgotten the description when we arrived). The snap of the chocolate components along with the smooth mousse married beautifully. The cherries had a weird taste which was most likely the kirsch but I personally thought it was alright. The pannacotta was a bit on the unglamorous side with not much flavour and not wobbly in the expected pannacotta fashion. However finishing the night off lounging in the soft and comfy sofas we were all ready to fall deep into a sugary food coma. 3 was definitely a good number to settle with and although we did overdose on sugary goodness, I still feel the urge to try more Sugar Hits this year heh.
Grace Hotel
Corner King and York St
Sydney, 2000
Ph: (02) 9272 6636
Bacco
Level 2, QVB Building
455 George St
Sydney, 2000
Ph: (02) 9223 9552
Shangri-La Hotel
176 Cumberland St, The Rocks
Sydney, 2000
Ph: (02) 9250 6123
FFichiban
October 22nd, 2010 at 2:36 am
“future health issues” hehehe mmm 3 sugar hits in one night sounds perfect lol did you have dinner beforehand?
October 22nd, 2010 at 7:43 am
Hiiiiiii! “Unglamourous” is a pretty good way to describe Shangri-La’s panna cotta =p And I admire your drive – husband and I tried two Sugar Hits in one night even without dinner beforehand and we couldn’t finish them.
October 22nd, 2010 at 8:35 am
The Grace Hotel one actually looks really yummy! But the Shangri La one is gorgeous..!
October 22nd, 2010 at 8:47 am
Woah… chocolate overload! The tart at Bacco looks particularly inviting though! I haven’t been to any sugar hits yet, but well done to you and your team – 3 in one night is a supreme effort!
October 22nd, 2010 at 9:59 am
I liked Bacco the best. The macaron, the tart and the fudge cake.
The perfect Sugar Hit of the night would have been this:
Warm fondant with kahlua ice cream, glace apricot and milk chocolate ganache tart and gianduja macaron :]
October 22nd, 2010 at 11:08 am
Bacco one looks good! What a tremendous effort by all.
October 22nd, 2010 at 8:47 pm
ugh so much sweet!
October 23rd, 2010 at 10:28 am
Awesome effort! I don’t think I’d be able to fit more than one in a single night!
October 27th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
try so hard to manage to secure a seat this Sunday for the one in Grace hotel, looking at your blog feel more confidence that it is worth it, thanks =)