Desserts Lately
In November/December I visited Masons of Bendigo and The Dispensary Enoteca. You can read about my first visit to Mason's here. Don't you find desserts taste so much sweeter when combined with good company? :)
My dessert is above left: chocolate mousse, passionfruit, honeycomb roulade & meringue pinwheels. I selected this because last time we went to Mason's, Luke had a similar dessert and whilst mine that night was delicious...I got a case of dessert envy and vowed to have it next time! It was scrumptious...the presentation just lovely...in particular I love their use of fresh edible flowers on almost all of their desserts. At the time of writing, this dessert is still on the menu. Above right is a tasting platter of the `sweet bites' from their cake cabinet...we barely had room to squeeze these in!
The other desserts from the night were:
Creme caramel, oranges and raspberries, hazelnut & honey kataifi
Honey roasted pear crumble, sherry custard with
Favourite Flavours salted caramel ice cream
The Dispensary Enoteca
This was the first time I've been to The Dispensary outside of stopping in of an afternoon for their legendary (not sure how wide the legend has spread but I'm doing my best to start one!) bowl of hot chocolate. Needless to say, now that I've dined there, I may well be hooked on more than just the hot chocolate. We loved it...not just the food but the atmosphere. There's something about the combination of mood lighting, good music, a smaller more intimate seating area...not to mention the ever changing record cover wall...all of this tucked away in one of Bendigo's favourite laneways. My selections were as follows...
Stuffed zucchini flower, broad beans, char-grilled zucchini, quinoa. wild rice, smoked almonds, piquillo pepper puree
Pistachio frangipane and poached cherry tart, turkish delight ice cream
with persian fairy floss
I will say that previous to that December night, I wasn't a massive fan of quinoa or fairy floss...but they changed my mind :) Sadly, because of the mood lighting it was tricky for me to get proper photos for you...but you'll just have to take my word for it, if you haven't visited yet...you must!
Before the lights went down, I took a photo of our menu, click through for a larger version. But, as always, check their website as Tim etc. are a creative crew, so things are constantly changing.