Raw Karma

On my visit to The Market Shed’s Twilight Market, my friend and I scoured the stalls looking for the beautiful mini doughnuts posted on Instagram. After getting through a couple of savoury courses, we found them – success! There were six flavours on offer ($6 per doughnut) and we picked one each – Turkish delight and peanut butter. Disclaimer – we didn’t get to eat these on the night so refrigerated them overnight to taste test the next day. Raw Karma’s doughnuts are vegan, paleo, and gluten-free, and wow are they filling! Whilst they may look small, the dough is less of a dough and more like a fudge – dense and packed full of flavour. The peanut butter doughnut is topped with dark chocolate and crumbled peanuts – it could have had a stronger peanut flavour, but the chocolate is decadently rich. The Turkish delight leaves you in no doubt that’s the flavour you’re enjoying – the rose flavour is beautifully fragrant and cuts through the richness of the chocolate. I’d recommend getting these to share or eat over sometime, as they’re really very dense, but they’re absolutely delicious!

Raw Karma, fortnightly stall at The Market Shed, Holland St, Adelaide SA http://rawkarma.com/

Gelato Messina

A perfect spring day really does call for icecream, so we stopped in at Gelato Messina in Surry Hills. I love the vibrant colours and huge spheres of icecream in the display cabinet at Messina stores, and this one was no exception. The sorbets at the entrance caught my eye and I ordered a cup of the raspberry and mandarin sorbets ($6.80 for two scoops). The bottom scoop of mandarin was a bit bigger than the top scoop of raspberry, but the whole serving together was massive and I took my time enjoying it at the park across the road. I won’t talk too much about texture, because by the time I crossed the road the sun had started melting the edges and it went downhill from there (as to be expected), but the flavours were fantastic. The raspberry had a particularly intense flavour that is probably the most concentrated pure raspberry flavoured sorbet I’ve tried. The balance betwen tartness and sweetness was just right. The mandarin flavour was equally lovely – it was really juicy and whilst not as intense, it was beautifully refreshing and had real clarity of flavour. Ah Messina, you never fail to impress.

Gelato Messina, 389 Crown Street, Surry Hills, NSW http://www.gelatomessina.com/au/

Hyatt Hotel

When a friend mentioned that the Hyatt was doing a series of Latin Flavours feasts from around South America, we booked in quick smart for the Argentine one. We were met with one of the best buffets I’ve ever seen in my life. There were three buffet stations, PLUS a stand from which to get your cooked goat. Swoon. I started with seafood – cold crabmeat, octopus salad and fresh prawns, plus oysters and mussels. I also fell in love with the beetroot salad. Oh my. Next was the red meat – rib eye steak in chimmichurri, goat, mini empanadas stuffed with beef and cheese, cheesy cabbage rolls and a selection of cold meats (chorizo, jamon and salami). By this point my initial goal of three savoury and two sweet rounds was seeming overly ambitious. I ditched savoury and loaded up my plate with a melt-in-your-mouth mango cake (I don’t think they have mangoes in Argentina, but who cares?), churros dipped in chocolate from the chocolate fountain, dulce de leche pancakes, strawberries and cream and quince tart. The tango demonstration was a good digestion pause before cheese to finish. There are a couple more nights left (Venezuela and Mexico) so get in quick!

Promenade Cafe, Hyatt Hotel Canberra, 120 Commonwealth Avenue ACT http://canberra.park.hyatt.com/en/hotel/home.html

N2 Extreme Gelato

I’m generally not someone who leads others astray… unless it comes to food. On the way back to my aunt’s house, I convinced all my cousins to stop in at N2 in Chinatown (not that it took much persuasion, you guys are awesome). There were heaps of flavours to choose from – having tried the Brokeback Moment earlier this year, I went for the dark chocolate and raspberry sorbet. The servings here are great value – $7 for a giant tub! They joke on the menu that it’s $7 for one scoop and the price for 2 scoops is “you don’t need it”. They’re right. We watched as the staff in lab coats created our icecreams and swapped tastes. The dark chocolate and raspberry was really luscious and definitely something I would order again. There was just enough tartness from the raspberry and plenty of not-too-bitter dark chocolate luxury to almost make me doubt the lack of dairy (it tasted so creamy!). One of my cousins got the Ribena and Longan sorbet, which was a vibrant purple colour and very refreshing – definitely a winning combination. Smiles all around, even (or perhaps especially?) from the youngest who managed to get it all over his clothes – definitely a sign of appreciation.

N2 Extreme Gelato, 43/1 Dixon Street, Sydney NSW http://n2extremegelato.com.au

Bourke Street Bakery

After eating lunch at Bourke Street Bakery, we decided to treat ourselves to a couple of takeaway sweets and some bread. I picked the fresh-baked seeded sourdough loaf and two tarts – a classic lemon and the more exotic ginger creme brulee. Both tarts had a lovely pastry shell, which wasn’t too crumbly but had just the right amount of crisp. The lemon tart was utterly luxurious – I’ve never had one with such a creamy, lush-textured filling. The lemon flavour was nice and strong, but not too sharp as the creamy filling’s richness softened it out. Be warned, it’s a messy one to eat – the filling oozed everywhere! The ginger creme brulee tart was my favourite though. I loved the caramelised, almost burnt flavour of the top-layer, and there was an added bit of crunch and salt from the pistachios crumbled on top. The filling had a bit of body to it and the ginger flavour was well-balanced with the overall sweetness of the tart. Oh, and the seeded sourdough was delicious! There’s nothing like fresh bread on the day it’s baked! Yum, yum, yum.

Bourke Street Bakery: Shop 7/19-25 Grosvenor Street, Neutral Bay, NSW http://bourkestreetbakery.com.au/project/neutral-bay/

Mr Shabu Shabu

My love of shabu shabu is no secret, but on this particular visit, a friend and I indulged in dessert there after our reliably delicious beef shabu shabu. There are three icecream flavours on the dessert menu – green tea, black sesame and red bean – all traditional Japanese dessert flavours. I picked the black sesame and my friend tried the red bean flavour. The scoops were $3.80 each and came out in a side dish-sized bowl, with one reasonably sized scoop inside. The black sesame scoop was a not-completely-appealing grey colour, but had a really fascinating savoury taste. The icecream was very creamy and at first that hid the sesame flavour, which made an appearance on the back palate at the end of the mouthful. The more I ate, the clearer the flavour became, and whilst it wasn’t as sweet as I expected, my friend preferred that to the sweeter red bean flavour. I tried a bite of the red bean, and actually thought it worked better, the sweet flavour pairing well with the creaminess. The verdict? Japanese icecream flavours are an adventure, definitely worth a try with varying sweet-savoury options!

Mr Shabu Shabu, 6/35 Childers St, Canberra ACT, no website

Oscars

We went to Oscars to celebrate my brother’s birthday, and absolutely everything about our experience was lovely. We started with a plate of the housemade port, thyme and Cointreau pate, which was served with cornichons, flatbread and a divine apple and pear chutney. Best. Pate. Ever. The flavour was utterly perfect and I would love to be able to buy this in bulk!!! For the main, I went for a pizza (I always think of Oscars as a pizza place) and had zero regrets. The Idaho comes with potato, rocket, sour cream, caramelised onion, bacon and sweet chilli sauce, which makes for one damn fine pizza. The base was lovely and the potato was cooked perfectly. There was plenty of sour cream and sweet chilli sauce, and every mouthful was delicious. If I could have eaten more, I would have. Somehow we were persuaded into dessert and three of us shared the Belgian chocolate mousse – it was far heavier than I would usually expect from a mousse, but despite that wasn’t sickly rich, although my stomach was really struggling for space. A special mention must go to the staff, who were so friendly and welcoming and set the right tone for a truly lovely celebration.

Oscars, 201 Main Road, McLaren Vale SA  http://oscars.com.au/