During my week away in Melbourne, I hit up a few dessert places during the day as I love my sweets! (Also, see my Breakfast in Melbourne post for ideas on breakfast stops).
The Dessert Kitchen
I tried the Nippon warabi ($10.50) aka the raindrop cake with house made matcha balls and red bean. The raindrop cake was basically a clear sweet agar jelly with no actual flavour. Nevertheless, everything worked well together with a bit of sugar syrup (kuromitsu), roasted soybean flour (kinako) and red beans that were served with it. A simple dessert that jiggles. The Japanese have been doing this kind of dessert for years.
I also couldn’t resist trying the kitty caramel latte ($7) for the cuteness factor. A pretty strong coffee for my tastes but there was certainly plenty of it served in a large mug. It helped that the air conditioning was on extremely high for some reason so the hot coffee was a nice treat.
The Dessert Kitchen can be found at 105 Little Bourke Street in Melbourne’s Chinatown. Open seven days – from 3pm until late, and from 1pm Sat and Sun until late.
LuxBite
I only had time to travel to the T by LuxBite in the CBD offering take away only. I was surprised to see an assortment of cakes and macarons available as it was about 4.30pm when I got there. I decided on the brown bear (Kuma) tart as I was told it was the second most popular selling item, and the limited edition pink Hello Kitty cake with strawberry mousse, raspberry compote, coconut mousse and white chocolate sponge. The kind lady provided me with a complimentary panda – the Wang Wang, a newly released cake, and placed it into my take away box. How nice! It was a black sesame pannacotta filled chocolate tart with coffee mousse, sour cherry jelly, white sesame caramel and white chocolate glaze. My and J’s favourite by far was the Kuma tart as it was filled with strawberry and banana cream, white chocolate milkshake mousse, flourless chocolate sponge and caramel glaze on a baked choc chip cookie base. Think of a banana, chocolate and caramel milkshake. The strawberry was too subtle for me, but I didn’t mind. It was so good!
I was disappointed that I had just missed out on all the Easter creations at LuxBite. I didn’t have the time to go back to the store, but I should have just ordered via Deliveroo. Ah well.
T by LuxBite can be found at 517 Flinders Lane in the Melbourne CBD. The regular store in South Yarra can be found at 38 Toorak Road.
Lune Croissanterie
I caught the route 96 tram up to a stop closest to Lune Croissanterie and walked a few blocks over. I could smell the eatery before I spotted it. It smelled like buttery pastry goodness. The croissanterie is situated within an old warehouse – it’s very spacious with a kitchen in the centre surrounded by floor to ceiling glass so you can peek in and watch the magic happen. There were a few stools at a counter looking into the kitchen, and a few low tables around the windows at the side of the building towards the entrance. When I got there at about 10am on a weekday, all the seats had been taken but there was only one person in front of me ordering.
The front counter is lined with the day’s croissants, cruffins (croissant muffin fusion) and other pastries. I chose the twice baked pandan coconut croissant ($9.50) to eat there, and took the almond croissant ($8.50) and cranachan cruffin ($7.50) to take away. Luckily, after placing my order, one of the small tables was vacated and I sat down to wait. Coffees were also available at Lune but I wasn’t in the mood for one.
The coconut pandan was very sweet. I could definitely taste the coconut but had a little trouble distinguishing the pandan flavour. The croissant itself had crispy flakey layers but was still buttery soft in the middle. So bad for you but so good. The Munchies website mentions these croissants weigh between 65-70 grams, while an average croissant weighs 120 grams, meaning they can achieve the same volume with more air inside.
The cranachan cruffin was wonderfully crispy. The inside had been filled with a raspberry cream making it just a little bit more special. Although it was meant to be a croissant-muffin fusion, it was very similar to the croissant except for its shape.
I was a little disappointed that there weren’t any special croissants available like this sticky date pudding twice baked croissant!
Lune Croissanterie can be found at 119 Rose Street in Fitzroy. Open Thursday, Friday and Monday from 7.30am, and weekends from 8am. Unsure of closing times. You’ll smell it before you see it.
KitKat Chocolatory
Located in Melbourne Central, J and I walked into the KitKat Chocolatory where we could make our own KitKats using the ‘Create Your Break’ kiosks. Using the touch screen, you can choose the chocolate you want, up to 3 fillings and your packaging including what you want written on it for $15.
There were about 16 types of fillings available. I chose the milk chocolate with pecans, caramel fudge and cookie crumble. You even get to choose the design of the packaging and put your name, or any other name, on the box. After making our purchases, the I’m going to call her ‘chocolate lady’ commenced making our orders in the lab where you can stand and watch.
There were other flavours available that you couldn’t get anywhere else for purchase. As this was close to Easter, there were hot cross bun special edition KitKats! I regret not trying those.
We received a text message about 3hrs later notifying us that our KitKats were ready to be picked up from the store. The result? I loved my toppings, though I couldn’t really taste the pecans as they had been crushed into very small pieces. The caramel fudge and cookie crumble were definite winners for me.
The KitKat Chocolatory can be found on the ground floor of Melbourne Central. Open from 10am until closing every day.
Good Heavens
I wanted to try at least one roof top bar while in Melbourne so J and I decided to check out Good Heavens in the CBD. I was a little disappointed as it wasn’t exactly a rooftop bar – it’s only on the first floor! Nevertheless, we ordered drinks and sat down to soak in the Melbourne bar scene.
J got me a mocktail which he said the bartender put a lot of effort into (and I felt a little bad as it meant people wanting a beer on tap had to wait). It was a strawberry concoction and tasted fabulous.
It was a sunny day but we were lucky to grab a table underneath the shade of some umbrellas. It was busy for a weekday afternoon so it must get packed on the weekend. I forget that smoking is still allowed outdoors in a Melbourne pub/eatery so the smell of smoke turned us off, and we left after one drink.
Good Heavens can be found at 79 Bourke Street in the Melbourne CBD. Open Monday to Thursday 4pm-1am; Friday to Sunday 12pm-1am.
The Imperial Hotel – Rooftop Bar
We also checked out the Imperial Hotel which also had a rooftop bar. Compared to Good Heavens, I thought it was a lot nicer with much more room. It was much higher up overlooking Parliament House and the rest of the CBD.
I didn’t have a drink but J enjoyed one of the beers on tap.
The Imperial Hotel can be found at the corner of Bourke and Spring Streets in the Melbourne CBD. Open seven days.
Bibelot
I headed into Bibelot in South Mlebourne to try one of the gourmandise platters. The platter ($28) consisted of 9 different mini versions of Biblelot’s desserts. Mine had dark chocolate coated matcha sable, chocolate ganache tart, hazelnut praline cake, triple chocolate cheesecake, mango, yuzu and coconut dome, blueberry macaron, raspberry sponge, chocolate passionfruit dome and a chocolate bonbon. Sugar overload for me that afternoon! A great way to sample several of Bibelot’s options.
I purchased one of the egg nests to take away too – white chocolate decorated eggs on a dark chocolate nest, on a white chocolate stand. It was quite delicate and didn’t make the trip back to Canberra, but I did manage to take a photo before it fell apart!
There were so many other delectable looking items available to try – if only I had more time!
Bibelot can be found at 285-287 Coventry Street in South Melbourne. Open Sunday to Thursday 10-6, Friday and Saturdays 10-10.
Sweetie and Moustache
I wanted to try the new craze of mille crepe cakes – basically multiple crepes layered in between thin layers of cream until you get one massive cake. I was happy to find a dessert place, Sweetie and Moustache, right in the Melbourne CBD near Chinatown that made about 13 different flavoured mille crepe cakes. As I love my chocolate, I couldn’t resist ordering the rocher mille crepe. There was a layer of chocolate sponge cake on the bottom, then layers and layers of crepe, a hazelnut cream and chocolate. Although it looks quite dense, both the crepes and the cream were extremely light. It also wasn’t too sweet. It didn’t taste like a Ferrero Rocher but it certainly had pleasant hazelnut flavours. I remember thinking it needed some lashings of Nutella in between! It didn’t stop me from polishing it off within a few minutes.
I also purchased the matcha and red bean mille crepe cake to go. I loved that the crepes were made with matcha with layers of matcha cream in between. Again, very light flavours and I could have handled some stronger matcha in the cake. I also appreciated only one layer of sweet red bean in the middle of the cake which didn’t overpower the cake and complemented the matcha flavours.
Sweetie and Moustache can be found at 205 Russell Street in the Melbourne CBD. Open seven days from midday until late.
Long Story Short Cafe
After seeing multiple Instagram photos, I just had to catch a tram to try out the fairy floss dessert burger at Long Story Short Cafe. How pretty is it?!
I received a small jug of coconut milk on the side and was told to slowly pour it all over the fairy floss when I was ready. I wasn’t sure how deep the actual plate was and didn’t want to get milk all over the table so I was quite cautious in pouring too much milk on. The fairy floss slowly melted away to reveal the dessert burger inside. The brioche bun had been filled with honeycomb ice cream, fruit, white chocolate matcha sauce, fruit jellies and popping candy. Not the healthiest meal and definitely not filling (I didn’t eat all the fairy floss).
Long Story Short Cafe can be found 40 Crockford Street in North Melbourne. Open seven days for breakfast and lunch (all day menu).
And that’s it for the desserts and snacks in Melbourne for this trip!
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