The Foodie Dream Realised – Le Petit Gateau, CBD

Hello hello!  Hope you are all well :).  Sprained my ankle yesterday which was no fun but was so thankful to have friends around me to assist and get me home! Thank you, lovely people – you know who you are ;).

The thing with being out of action is that you don’t feel like really doing anything that requires too much brain energy… so though, uni work remains on the desk, I thought it was time to make good on my blogging routine promise – though a few days later than scheduled ^^’.

A few weeks ago I got this message:

So per doctor’s orders, on a rainy and cold Melbourne day last week, I set about rectifying the situation ;).  Since I was on placement in the city, and after being thoroughly impressed by the various photos appearing on my Instagram feed and Daisy’s post, there seemed like no better place to catch up than Le Petit Gateau!

As the description says… hand crafted chocolate display!!

I didn’t get a chance to take a photo of the exterior but you’ll just have to imagine with me the excitement I had when I saw that little sign that hangs above the entrance… there’s just something so special about finally making it to the place that you’ve been hearing and reading about for so long :).

all photos taken on Samsung Galaxy SII

It was my first time there but my friend (we shall call him Mr KO hehe) who’d come before and is of Malaysian origin, informed me that the chefs here have served the Malaysian Prime Minister (there was also a letter on the wall to prove it) so it was kinda cool to think that we’re eating the cakes of the prestigious ;).

But first things first – a proper savoury lunch.

Beetroot, Pumpkin and Feta Salad (~$7.00)

After reading Daisy‘s post, I knew I would definitely have this salad for lunch. Beetroot, pumpkin, feta and spinach is one of my favourite combinations and the pine nuts just added that crunch to each bite, while the dressing was light and not overly sour or sweet.  Mr. KO had a pie (I forget which one) which he said he liked (I resisted the urge to take a photo since I thought I was already embarrassing him enough by gushing over the food hehe).  I thought the pot of sauce on the side was cute too!

Onto the main events!  Mr KO let me choose the cakes so after perusing the display, I picked out these two…

Honestly, I’m not much into very rich desserts so I liked the sound of this cake which was on special – from memory, it was a banana and ginger cake topped with mandarin jelly and chocolate ($8.00) :).  I liked the smooth banana cream on top and the cake itself was very light.  Mr. KO liked this one which was fortunate because in spite of my general preference for fruity-type cakes, the Brownie & Passionfruit Chocolate Gateau ($8.50) was the clear winner for me:

All I could think as I was savouring the flavours was “pure indulgence on a plate”.  The combination of the brownie base, crunchy praline, passionfruit custard, chocolate mousse, covered with the chocolate ganache and topped with the mango square left both Mr. KO and I speechless for quite some time!  I liked the balance between the rich mousse and the tangy taste of the passionfruit custard :).

Overall, I had a truly lovely experience there and would be keen to go back and try out some of the other cakes – perhaps one for a birthday in the future? ;)  Thanks Mr. KO for the catch up and making a foodie dream come true! :D

Mona Lisa display was made entirely out of sugar!

Le Petit Gateau

458 Little Collins St, Melbourne, VIC 3000

(03) 9944 8893

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In other foodie related news, do you remember my Juice that fights for you post?  Well, I was pleasantly surprised to be notified that:

Yayness!  I had enjoyed trying out the juice and had lots of fun writing the post too so it was a bonus for Golden Circle to like it too :D.  For other Nuffnangers, if you want to try the product out for yourself, I saw that there is a second opportunity to do so :).

Also, special shoutouts to Daisy @nevertoosweet and Vien @wedarefood!  Thanks for a lovely meet-up over Nando’s the other day :).  It’s always such a pleasure to meet other food bloggers and find out how much you differ but also how much you have in common.  Food definitely brings people together :).

Have a great weekend everyone!

Question: What was your latest foodie dream come true? Can be product/restaurant/cooking experience related :).

♥ Ames

bittersweet afternoon at Dessert Story, CBD

Lately, the end of a uni semester brings with it mixed emotions.  Though I’m always elated that I don’t have to take an exam or attend classes for the next few months, it also means that my uni days are being numbered.  I’m on the brink of heading out into the real world and I’m not certain what the future will hold.  It also means that I’m saying goodbye to some of the lovely people of whom I’ve crossed paths with during my uni stint.  One of the people I recently sent off was Ms L. who had been on exchange from the US.  I’ve only known her for a short period of time but have loved her warmth, her smile, her faith and her friendship.  So having recovered from the exam period, I set an afternoon tea date with Ms L. before she headed back to the States :).  Since we had both wanted to visit Dessert Story there was no better time than the present…

It was a Saturday afternoon and the Swanston St store was packed.  We quickly grabbed a table as a group left and set about perusing the menu (we later went to the counter to order).

Loved how there were photos of the food but there was too much to choose from!  When it comes to food, I generally have a bad habit of never knowing what to get unless I go on recommendations so thankfully Ms. E was also on hand to help out :).

Really liked the clever bookshelf wallpaper :)

With Ms. E’s help, we chose one of the dishes from the Taro Ball series (~$6.00 from memory and sorry can’t remember which one).

When this arrived, we had to double-check with the waiter that this was indeed what we had ordered.  It looked nothing like the photo in the menu and what Ms. E had ordered previously!  But of course that was because we’d decided to choose the ‘Hot’ version (as opposed to the ‘Cold’ that Ms. E had last time) so most of the taro balls, pearls etc. had sunk to the bottom lol

Here’s some of what was beneath the surface!

This dish was alright, but nothing spectacular.  Moving on…

I really couldn’t pass by these glutenous rice balls!  If my memory serves me well (I really need to start taking notes lol!) the ones in the ginger soup were $5.00 and I decided to mix both sesame and peanut balls :D.

Only issue with having a mix of both is that you can’t work out which one is which… I guess if you’re a fan of surprises it works well but because we were sharing, I wanted to make sure we all got to taste one of each :).

Personally, my favourite was the sesame seed ones.  Not too sweet but full in flavour :).  Just make sure you bite into it slowly or it can burn the tongue!

The last dish came highly recommended by both Ms. E and Fatboo so it was a must-try… and boy, am I glad we did!  The Green Tea Snow Ice w Red Bean and Chocolate ($8.90) was fluffy and just a pure delight!  I enjoyed the texture of the shavings of green tea ice-cream and the generous servings of red beans complimented it very well.  Definitely a winning dish!

So there you have it :).  I was glad to share some of Ms. L’s favourite memories of Melbourne and treat her to some Taiwanese/HK desserts :).  Hopefully, the next time I go to Dessert Story, it won’t be bittersweet but sweet all the way instead.

Question:  What’s a bittersweet memory that you’ve had related to food? (bit random, but I guess these questions always are!)

♥ Ames

P.S. Don’t forget to be in the running for the mini giveaway if you haven’t already!