Sydney Eat Street: Sweet treats to enjoy over the Easter holidays
For foodies who favour their sweet treats with a side of flare, this Easter there are plenty of places that have added a bit of fun and frivolity to the dessert menu.
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For foodies who favour their sweet treats with a side of flare, this Easter there are plenty of places that have added a bit of fun and frivolity to the dessert menu.
Take a tour of the area’s best eateries right here with The Sunday Telegraph’s Eat Street. Are you hungry for more inspiration? Follow us on Instagram.
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ANNA’S EASTER GARDEN
Kids of all ages will be jumping for joy when they explore the enchanting surrounds of Anna’s Easter Garden. A child at heart, Shangri-La’s executive pastry chef and television personality, Anna Polyviou, along with the hotel, have melded her eccentric style and passion for pastries to create a wonderland suited to a playful Easter Garden High Tea picnic.
Follow the bunny prints and walk past the large colourful toadstools to the green hedge maze guarded by giant rabbit sporting Anna’s signature pink Mohawk.
Behind him is a “lawn” filled with cafe tables covered in red and white checked picnic blankets. And befitting a garden setting, high tea is presented in a classic wicker basket with an array of Anna’s sweets including a Chocolate Pot and Cracked Egg Tart.
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By day these are presented alongside hot cross buns, chicken salad sandwiches and rice paper rolls the by night, it’s a selection of sliced gourmet meats cheeses.
There is the option to add on a Belvedere spritz, glass of pink Chandon or Anna’s personal favourite, the popcorn caramel martini.
While you’re there don’t be surprised if Anna happens to pop in to take everyone on an egg hunt, with whoever finds the egg receiving a box of her coveted caramel cake mix. Reservations are required and the garden closes its gate at the end of April so you better get hopping.
— Shangri-La Sydney, 176 Cumberland St, Sydney; shangri-la.com/sydney/
KOI DESSERT BAR
People come from far and wide to admire (and eventually eat) the perfect rows of pretty cakes that fill the display cases at KOI.
It takes skill, patience and a steady hand to replicate these lovely desserts day after day, but come the holidays Ike Malada, the matriarch of the KOI clan, always manages to slip away and work her creative magic to develop a cake where both the taste and look are inspired by the occasion and include some element that reflects here love of nature and her garden.
For Easter the brief was simple: “Create something beautiful that is a take on the typical dark chocolate cream filled egg.”
After deliberations and tasting, Ike opted for two different desserts, the first being a pure and simple egg made with white chocolate, a coconut mousse filling and a dollop of bright mango to replicated the look of an egg yolk.
The final element being of course tiny sprigs of green dusted with gold powder. To counter that one Ike has produced something that she describes as “dramatically elegant” — a jet-black version (inspired by the Chinese century egg) that gets its dark colour from activated charcoal. Besides being stunning, Ike also sees it as way of harnessing nature into everything she creates.
— Chippendale and Ryde; koidessertbar.com.au
TEXTBOOK BOULANGERIE PATTISERIE
Starting off in the Southern Highlands, Textbook Patisserie’s owner, John Ralley followed that up with stints overseas working in Michelin-starred restaurants before returning to Sydney with an abundance of experience and the desire to branch out on his own.
As a patissier, John arrives at 3am to begin baking the loaves of bread and croissants to fill the shop plus those that are to go out to restaurant around the city.
Come the weekend though, that’s when John lets the creative juices flow with a few fun tweaks he’s made to his tasty croissants.
He started off innocently enough with a chocolate filling wrapped in mixed layers of chocolate and traditional dough, producing an amazingly symmetrical spiral.
It’s a stunning look, and after perfecting the technique, John began experimenting with more exotic fillings such as sudachi lime or Thai milk tea with boba, those chewy tapioca pearls.
These clever concoctions, dubbed appropriately enough “Weekend Croissants” developed their own cult following which led John to begin making more holiday-themed versions such Australia Day’s lamington croissant, fresh cream and strawberry jam in side chocolate dough topped with chocolate dough, with fresh cream and strawberry jam and now for Easter, the Hot Cross Bun Weekend Croissant made with a fresh fruit custard.
Get in quickly though as the queue starts early and supply is limited.
— 274 Botany Rd, Alexandria; textbookpatisserie.com.au
BLACK STAR PASTRY
From little things big things grow but still it’s hard to imagine that the bakers behind the world-famous watermelon cake started off in a small Newtown coffee shop away from the crowds on King St.
Once pictures of the delicate layers of watermelon and rose scented cream started going viral, Black Star’s creation was bestowed with the title “The World’s Most Instagrammable Cake”.
No longer an afterthought on a suburb side street, the small space then had dozen of people queuing for cake so out of necessity, they took on a larger space in larger space in Rosebery and later Moore Park.
While this enabled them to meet the demand for the cake, it also gave them more room to work on other baked goods including their coveted Easter season hot cross buns made with allspice, orange peel and frankincense syrup.
This year they’ll be making more than 10,000 of these soft and sweet (as well as vegan) buns, which will be distributed to their four outlets until April 22.
— Various locations; blackstarpastry.com.au
HEARTS OF CUPID
Established caterers, sisters Kelly and Nora, decided late last year to mix it up a bit in the kitchen by exploring the novelty chocolate business, specifically the 3D chocolate hearts.
Using different fillings such as Nutella and peanut butter, these colourful creations proved popular which gave them the confidence to add other items to their catalogue including the timely football-size chocolate Easter eggshell, cut in half and filled with a cake base, mounds of Nutella, mini-chocolate eggs and for added texture a generous amount of Oreo pieces.
To make sure theses sweets send the write message, there are also block letters filled the same as the hearts making it easy to spell out “Happy Easter”.
— To order, go to heartsofcupid.com.au
MUST TRY
EASTER BUNNY BAO
Made with fluffy bun dough that is shaped in the form of a bunny face with huge ears, these little guys are almost too cute to eat, that is of course till you notice the egg cup filled with melted chocolate.
Looks like the little cutie is about to get a dunking.
— New Shanghai; various locations; newshanghai.com.au
THE GOLDEN WATTLE EGG
The Golden Wattle Egg is back bigger than ever. A larger Cadbury Easter egg means there’s more chilled wattle custard to enjoy before you bite into the gold dusted chocolate masking as an egg yolk followed by the cracked chocolate shell that has doubled as the cup.
— T Totaler; The Galeries on George St and Newtown; ttotalertea.com
CHICKADEES AND SALMON SALAD
Making yummy dishes with a sense of whimsy is a daily doing at this petite and cheery cafe, so come Easter you can be certain something fun will pop up on the menu.
This year chef and co-owner Mem Toncharoenp has taken the brief and produced a salmon salad that shares its glass bowl with two little devilled egg intruders disguised as baby chicks.
Round it out with a blended drink topped with a meringue nest complete with three little chocolate eggs.
— Two Sis & Co; 306 Harris St, Pyrmont
CHOCOLATE BUNNY COCKTAIL
The iconic chocolate bunny has moved on from the comfort of his Easter basket to a place at the bar and poured himself a drink.
This April, one of the featured drinks will be a Baileys-based cocktail served in a foil-wrapped chocolate bunny.
While you’re feeling nostalgic for childhood sweets, try other lolly-themed cocktails including one made with chocolate freckles or one with banana paddle-pop and fairy floss.
— Made by the Hill; Rooty Hill RSL, 55 Sherbrooke St, Rooty Hill
Originally published as Sydney Eat Street: Sweet treats to enjoy over the Easter holidays
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