Saturday 2 July 2011

CAFE ROSAMOND - DESSERT NIGHT

www.pierreroelofs.com
191 Smith St, Fitzroy - ph: (03) 9419 2270

Cafe Rosamond offers a 'dessert night' every Thursday night . Dessert nights are notorious for getting a long line of people queuing all the way down the street for a chance to try Pierre Roelofs' creative desserts.

I had heard good things about this place for a long time and ended up trying it tonight totally by chance. Hubby and I wanted grab a quick bite to eat at nearby Peko Peko (post on Peko Peko to follow soon) and noticed that staff was getting ready for action.

We finished our dinner about 7.15pm (dessert night at Cafe Rosamond starts at 7pm) and thought we should try our luck. They were obviously booked out by then, but we managed to get a couple of sits by the counter as another couple cancelled their booking last minute. I was excited!

Take home tea selection

We started by ordering some tea - lemongrass and ginger - to cleanse the palate, as our lovely waiter recommended.

Lemongrass and ginger tea

Cafe Rosamond dessert night consists of a 'blind degustation': you let them know if you have any food intolerances and nothing else. They bring you 1, 2 or 3 surprise dessert courses ($20, $30 or $40, respectively).

In addition, you can have a single shot dessert tube, which is meant to be eaten (read suck in from the tube) in one go, so that you can get the combination of flavours happening in your mouth.

We ordered 2 'profiterole' tubes consisting of creme chantilly, creme patisserie and caramel jelly.

'profiterole' tubes - creme chantilly, creme patisserie and caramel jelly ($9 each)

I liked the taste of it, but not the concept. Although the tubes looked quite cute, I had to suck pretty hard in order to get the jelly out, and half of it ended up going straight down my throat!!!
The first dessert course was beautifully presented and consisted of: coconut, rhubarb, raspberry and violet (?)

Coconut, rhubarb, raspberry dessert

I loved the presentation of this dish and all the different textures. Each ingredient was presented in different ways - candied, in emulsion, creamy, jellied... It seemed like the chef had a fun putting it together. Taste wise, this was a bit too sweet for me. I didn't get that delightful, slightly sour taste of baked rhubarb.

Second dessert didn't look as flash, but tasted better than the first one in my opinion - lemon foam, apple sorbet, vanilla cream and raisins.

Lemon foam, apple sorbet, vanilla cream and raisins

Again, loved the combination of textures. And the different flavours were perfectly combined in this dessert to create an explosion of taste in your mouth with every single bite. As we dug into our bowl, we found new textures and ingredients. Very, very good.

Lastly, the third dessert was a rich chocolate cake with walnut and cumin.

Dark chocolate cake with walnut and cumin

Very decadent and deliciously rich dessert. This was probably the smallest dish of the night (for a good reason, I'm sure!). The cumin was a totally unexpected addition to chocolate and worked really well to contrast the dark chocolate's slightly bitterness.

The texture of the cake was divine - probably more like a brownie than a soft cake - gooey and creamy. The impossibly fine walnut 'biscuits' were equally delicious. I licked my plate clean. :)

Overall, Cafe Rosamond's dessert night was an interesting and memorable experience. It doesn't come at a low cost though - we spent $64 for 1 dessert degustation (3 courses), 2 dessert tubes and tea. Would have forked about $100 if we weren't sharing...

Save it for a special occasion.

Café Rosamond on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

  1. Hi
    Thanks for this posting
    i am looking for best restaurant in melbourne with best deal.

    ReplyDelete