Style: Dessert degustation, modern, experimental
Address: Rear, 191 Smith Street, Fitzroy [Google Maps]
Phone: (03) 9419 2270
Hours: Thu only 7.00pm - 11.00pm
Prices: 3 dessert courses + dessert tube $50 (sets of 1-, 2- or 3- dessert courses available for about $10 each, tubes $9)
Bookings: Not accepted, line up no later than 6.15pm if keen
Website: http://www.pierreroelofs.com/
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| All you really need to know about Pierre Roelof's skill with sweets |
Norman Lindsay, in his eponymous tale about a pudding that regenerates itself each time it is eaten, describes it as being made from onions, bunion, corns and crabs, among other things. After an evening with Pierre Roelof's cardamom, kamut, lemon and salted caramel creation, I am left in no uncertain terms regarding the specifications of my would-be everlasting dessert, should the Arnott's Tim Tam genie ever materialize in my living room.
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| Café Rosamond |
Each Thursday night from 6.00pm, a queue begins to form down Charles Street, in anticipation of a seat for the dessert degustation in the small, cosy space of Café Rosamond. After two years, the weekly dessert event is still in high enough demand that simply showing up after opening and expecting a turn at sugary alchemy will lead to rich, creamy disappointment.
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| Cosy |
First up is the amuse-bouche, a tube full of jaffa cake. Our waitress asks that we dip our tubes into the accompanying beaker of hot water for two seconds, withdraw and suck as hard as we can. The cake rapidly achieves escape velocity and registers in my mouth as a bold chocolate orange flavour with the texture of custard. Watching the reactions of other diners "eating" their dessert tubes is worthwhile.
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| Dessert tube: Jaffa cake |
Our first dessert course consists of light milk chocolate mousse, dried rose petals, rose Turkish delight cubes and a scattering of toasted quinoa. The perfume of the flavours remains even after each of us has licked up every last morsel (except for Tych, who is too classy for the rest of our motley crew and insisted on using his fingers only).
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| Course #1: Rose, milk chocolate, quinoa |
Our next course is less pretty but more substantial. Weighty tumblers are placed in front of us, with individual layers of salted caramel sauce, lemon curd, vanilla pannacotta, cardamon meringue, lemon foam and cardamom-spiced kamut. I attempt to try each element individually, but Tych cajols me into plunging my spoon all the way down and capturing each part into one glorious spoonful.
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| Course #2: Cardamom kamut, lemon foam, cardamom meringue, vanilla pannacotta, salted caramel |
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| Excavating for viscous lemon curd and salted caramel sauce |
You will forgive me for the blurriness of the photo. While I did want to capture the viscosity of the lemon curd and salted caramel at the bottom, I was in a hurry to get back to a dessert so wonderful, I had to give consideration to the possibility that my g-spot is in fact located in my mouth.
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| Course #3: Chicory, custard, raspberry |
The final course showcases Pierre's adeptness for sculpture, as well as flavour. The chicory, custard, raspberry course is supported by creamy raspberry cheesecake, vanilla custard, crunchy crumble, berry marshmallow and droplets of chicory mousse.
If you've a taste for surprise, as well as dessert, don't put off visiting Café Rosamond on a Thursday evening. One member of our group, who joined us at the last minute, was the first to ask our waitress how often the menu rotates (monthly) and can we go again?
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