I was more excited than Willy Wonka swimming in his own chocolate river last week when I arrived The Establishment for the March Into Merivale Just Desserts festival. Just like Charlie Buckett, I too had received a Golden Ticket. In fact, I’d received five, which I would exchange for sweet treats.
The first of which was a nitro lemon squash and soda from M Events Pastry. Lemon soda was frozen to a crisp by liquid nitrogen with crushed meringue and pineapple pieces inside. I sunk my in spoon enthusiastically and cold steam poured out, momentarily blinding me. It was the most interactive dessert I’ve ever had the pleasure of consuming.
Next up was Mr Wong’s strawberry ice cream with jasmine yoghurt, black sesame, peanuts and strawberries. It gave me a massive brain-freeze but once I’d meditated my way back to reality, I was able to appreciate the perfect crunchy texture of the black sesame.
Ms. G’s had a dish called Jewels Coconut with Jackfruit, grass jelly, lychee pearls, strawberries and shaved ice . It was like eating a holiday in Barbados – sweet, fruity, light and delicious. My date took a huge bite and – mouth still full – yelled with pleasure ‘oh my f*cking God!’ so loud I’m still blushing.
We headed to Lorraine’s Patisserie, where we tried the Peach Melba and a Swiss meringue roll with banana and passionfruit confit swimming in what looked like a cream and ice-cream hybrid. Genius! This totally solves the problem when a waiter asks you if you want cream or ice cream with that and you want both, but everyone’s looking at you and you don’t want to seem greedy in front of your boyfriend’s parents…Erm, anyway, the point is – it’s no longer a problem.
Full of sugary happiness, I went to the bar and ordered an Espresso Martini. If only they served them at my local Starbucks!
Something about coffee makes me crave chocolate, so I ducked back to Lorraine’s Patisserie to snap up a Cassata ice cream. It looked like the Pyramids of Egypt made out of chocolate ice cream – both things I admire. And it tasted good enough for the Pharaoh himself.
The Espresso made me a little jumpy, so I asked the bartender to make me something relaxing. She gave me the ‘Little Bow You Can Peep’, made with passionfruit, mint, ice and…I stopped listening half way through, because whatever it was it hit the spot and because I was distracted by my massive sugar high.
There’s plenty of sweet food action happening during the month of March at Merivale. For a full guide on what to do visit www.merivale.com.au