Let's Do Dessert: Intercontinental

Dessert: Double éclair of passionfruit and milk chocolate ganache with Chantilly cream, roasted pineapple, passionfruit jelly and hazelnut crunch

Cost:  $20

I think éclairs are beautiful, just the whole look. Just the idea of a pastry filled with cream makes me think of the work behind it all, and I allow myself to appreciate it all the more, because I will never be able to make something as beautiful. Ever. And this one at Intercon simply makes my heart skip a beat.

I think I have grown to love roasted pineapples, almost like the chocolate banana fritter at Jonkanoo. The way the pineapple tastes when charcoaled gives you that sweeter sense in a fresh fruity way, and the way this breaks through the sweetness of the chocolate ganache makes it so much easier to go down.

Layered on the bottom éclair lies the passionfruit jelly, there is no sourness to this, or there is but the chocolate helps balance it all out, but it makes it so fresh and light. The chocolate bark could be slightly hard to break through, and yes once the spoon goes through this beautiful éclair sure loses the pretty-ness, but hey it all goes down your stomach the same way, right?

Shangri-La and Intercon are two different desserts to compare, and it is hard to choose which is a favourite. But I am going to choose Shangri-La because it was just so fun to snap and look at. But taste wise, I love them both!

What dessert do you look and simply love to admire? And do you have a nickname for it? I tend to name all things filled with cream a heart attack bun.

Intercontinental - Cortile

117 Macquarie Street,
Sydney

Aroma Festival 2014

Humans everywhere…

Hoards of people….

Crowds…

…And yet, I was part of this crowd.

Coffee from Double Roasters stand $3 (8 oz)

I am no coffee consumer, nor would I know whether I had a good cup of coffee or a bad one. So, what on earth brought me to the one day event of the 2014 Aroma Festival? Well, of course it was the food they have on offer! And perhaps just being out in the open and squished between people, and taking complete joy in queuing up for food. That last part … I lie.

Tummies rumbling, Miss CC and I snooped around at which kiosk we wished to start with. I know this is a coffee lover festival, but I was still slightly disappointed at the lack of foods available.

Happy chappy :)

Production line

Gourmet hot dog $10

First up, gourmet hot dogs from the Intercontinental Sydney tent. Yes, not any old hot dog, but a gourmet one! How so? The bun they used were pretzel buns from neu’s, with a cheese kransky wedged right inside. I said I didn’t feel like a hot dog, but boy after that bite I was in my happy land. The pretzel bun was nicely seasoned with a touch of salt, the kransky wasn’t oozing with cheese but offered that nice bite. Gourmet? I hear you!

Ok, so it wasn’t exactly noon yet. But Homer Simpson never said no to doughnut – so why should we? “There’s a nutella filled donut and -” I was cut short because Miss CC was already approving, “What about the coffee custard?” She contemplated, but declined. So we split ways as I walked to the La Renaissance stand.

Nutella filled doughnut $4

Innards 

Before I handed the boring brown paper bag to Miss CC, “I saw the coffee custard and it looked good, the nutella on the other hand…” I nodded in reply as we pulled out our doughnut. Nothing special, as a matter of fact it was a disappointment. The nutella was clumped in one spot inside the doughnut, and to be honest it just tasted like a clump of chocolate. No hazelnut chocolate taste. The doughnut itself was more like a bun.

Coffee custard doughnut $4

But low and behold, no one obviously likes to think like Homer – so I headed back to the stand and purchased a coffee custard doughnut! BOOYEAH! On your Homer approving sized doughnut, the coffee custard was squeezed on top. A combination of sweetness and coffee on a doughy round cake - now that was satisfaction.

Miss CC was sure she saw that there were food trucks present, and being a little on the lazy side we decided to ask the information man. No help, he had no clue. Giving no loss hope, we flipped through the pages and BOOM “Food trucks” were right there in the map!

TSURU! I FINALLY GET TO INDULGE YOU!

Pork belly bun $8

Fluffy buns, soft fluffy buns! Ok, I may have not looked into the pork belly (as you would have thought I would), I thought there would be crackling. But it was a braised pork belly. Though slightly disappointed with no crackling, I still gave it a shot and the sweet tender pork, refreshing cucumber and coriander took me to a lovely place. I am happy, two slabs of pork belly in one bun, thank you for your generous serving!

Ok, this ain’t anything special from the festival itself. But walking towards the Rocks Markets I spotted corn! Fresh corn! Yummy corn! Come to Cassie! Choosing your toppings from butter, salt, pepper, and chilli OR all of the above you watch the markets surge with people.

Corn + drink $5

Beware: contents are hot! I attempted to take a bite a few times only to fear the hot corn juice spitting right back at me and stopped before taking one little kernel. It’s sweet and juicy along with buttery goodness.

So, you may have figured I’m not a fan of crowds along with the fact that I’m not a coffee drinker. You may be questioning, why was she there then?

My answer: I honestly don’t know.

Have or do you ever attend anything that you have no interest in, have a distaste in the environment it’s in yet at the same time – enjoy yourself thoroughly?

Tell me I’m not the only one… or am I?