10 year Celebration of Espresso di Manfredi
Chocolate fatness in the middle… These sweet words stood out perused the posters and photos around the office-turned celebration room. Although my mind was temporarily occupied with the thoughts of chocolatey fatness, it was actually one of it’s good partners that we were celebrating – coffee. Stefano Manfredi; a man with an impressive biography in the food industry having opened and operated restaurants such as Bel Mondo, Restaurant Manfredi and now currently running Bells at Killcare. Also the proud author of four books and weekly column ‘Seasonal‘ for Sydney Morning Herald’s Spectrum section. Furthermore he developed coffee brand Espresso di Manfredi by Piazza D’Oro for which has been successfully providing coffee culture to Sydneysiders for 10 strong years.
I so wanted to grab that buffalo mozzarella ball and run…
Entering the venue out of the rain into a warm and cozy atmosphere, the first thing to hit us was the sweet aroma of fresh ground coffee beans. Then as we entered into the main area we could spy the preparation counters where delicacies of sweet and savoury nature were being assembled. Here Comes the Food
Espresso & Hazelnut Tart
Pretty much every dish had some coffee inspiration or infusion, as it should had been for that was the star of the celebrations!
Naturally, Kahlua is involved
Espresso di Manfredi Cocktail
These cocktails had a good strong hit of coffee, a bit strong for some, but I found the contrast of sweetness of vanilla infused-vodka and bitterness together with the warming effects of alcohol very enticing. I did manage to work my way through a few of these over the period of the night.
An impressive list of pastries, panini, biscotti and dolci were available and the best method was to wander around grabbing nibbles here and there and meeting people from all different areas of the industry.
Panini
Vitello tonnato; Cured ocean trout, soft egg with salsa verde; Mozzarella di bufala, tomato and pesto; Proscuitto, pecorino, Franci “Villa Magra” gran cru extra virgin; Taleggio & grilled radicchio
These bite-sized sandwiches contained beautiful combinations of flavours. The bread were soft and crusty, just the way I like it. My favourite would probably have to be the proscuitto panini although the buffalo mozzarella also has a place in my heart (especially with pesto, much love for pesto!). Although does not have any coffee, these provided the savoury hit in between the sweeter dishes.
Olives
Pastries & Biscotti
Set up in a tiered manner just like high tea! Oh how sophisticated I felt seeing these on the table. A variety of pane e cioccolato, lemon custard pastry, aniseed honey roll, espresso fingers, walnut & quince, sbrisolona (polenta shortbread), ricciarelli and cioccolatini tantalized our tastebuds. From the soft and fluffy aniseed honey roll to the crumbly sbrisolona, I was able to enjoy them without drawing attention to myself by wandering from table to table and “researching” bits from here and there.
Cool wall art
Espresso, cardamom & mastic panna cotta
Smooth and silky panna cotta and although I couldn’t check out its’ wobble factor it definitely had a pronounced hit of cardamom back up by the espresso layer. The crunchy biscuit on top adds a wonderful textural contrast and bite to this dessert.
Cappuccino torta
Delicate layers form together to create a light and airy dessert. The coffee flavour is heady and aromatic but with the soft texture, it was an excellent combination.
Espresso & Hazelnut tart
I had been eyeing this from the beginning of the evening and with good reason. The pastry was baked to a wonderful soft texture and flavour and the filling had the right balance of coffee, chocolate and hazelnut. The nutty flavour goes magically with coffee and chocolate, and crumbles in the mouth to release all the flavours at once.
Tartufi di cioccolato
These chocolate truffles topped off the night wonderfully. With a light dusting of cocoa and a chocolate shell that bursts with a gooey, liquid centre of bittersweet chocolate at the slightest touch of the tongue. I could had stayed there and popped these all night long but the night must come to an end.
Congratulations to Stefano Manfredi for 10 years of Espresso di Manfredi by Piazza D’Oro.
Here Comes the Food attended this event courtesy of Stefano Manfredi and Laura of MPagency
FFichiban
June 6th, 2010 at 1:39 am
Amazing. All this food looks incredible, and I really love how they wove in the coffee theme into so many desserts.
I admire your ability to taste and note down so many flavours from so many things! I’m an aspiring “food snob” or food critic, and I find that my tastebuds are maddeningly insensitive. Any pointers?
Wei-Wei
June 6th, 2010 at 3:30 am
Oh dear me! This is coffee and chocolate mecca!
June 6th, 2010 at 11:43 am
The spread looks amazing and I agree, the words “fatness in the middle” jumps out at me too
June 6th, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Haha top notch research work
You should switch degrees to food appreciation
June 6th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Is everything better if you lance it with a toothpick? This food looks great. You have taken some fantastic photos.
June 6th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
I would like to sincerely thank FFichiban for being my food sampler the whole night :p
June 7th, 2010 at 9:47 am
Mmm that espresso & hazelnut tart has got my name written on it!
June 7th, 2010 at 4:46 pm
Lovely food – and photos! The espresso tart looks like it could give the crack pie a run for its money
‘By the way, I’m probably showing my ancientness, but I remember going to The Restaurant years ago when the Manfredis were just starting out (it’s all a bit hazy, my memory isn’t what it used to be…)
June 7th, 2010 at 9:32 pm
woah, thats a lot of food. i’m hungry for sweets now & strangely Kahlua