Girls’ Getaway to Melbourne - Dessert Edition

Tags

Australia, Dessert, Dessert Story, 雪耳龍眼糖水, 豆腐花, Food, friends, Little Bourke Street Melbourne, longan snow fungus dessert soup, mango pomelo sago in coconut milk, Melbourne, tofu pudding, travel, 楊枝甘露

For two people who love to eat, it may seem odd that V and I did not order dessert in Melbourne.  Or did we?  Of course we ate dessert!  … In fact, we went to the same place every night for take-out dessert!  

The first evening in Melbourne, V and I went for an early dinner as we had tickets to attend an arts event at the Melbourne Festival.  After the show, we left the Foxtel Festival Hub and walked back to Federation Square.  We decided it was time for some snacks or desserts and after bouncing around a few ideas, V and I headed towards Chinatown.  After walking up and down Little Bourke Street, we settled on a place called Dessert Story.

Dessert Story … a photo of the store front taken as we walked by in the afternoon

So many dessert options on their menu board!

I must admit that I wasn’t keen on walking in the darker laneways to check out some of our other options.  Dessert Story is brightly lit both inside and outside and advertises Taiwanese and Hong Kong style desserts.  Good enough for me.  I was suddenly craving a cool and refreshing asian dessert.

Perhaps it was because we were both getting tired or that we wanted to enjoy dessert in the comforts of the hotel.  Actually, I think it was because we wanted to use our hotel room’s big boardroom desk for important matters (eating dessert) that V and I opted for take-out.

Our desserts – round one

My Mango Pomelo Sago in Coconut Milk on the left and V’s Black Glutinous Rice with Mango and Coconut Milk on the right

Our desserts were fantastic.  It satisfied our dessert cravings and in fact it is probably a good thing we took our desserts to go.  I probably would have ordered another one (楊枝甘露) if I had been sitting in the shop.

We enjoyed the desserts so much that we went back again the next day after our very filling dinner at Il Bacaro.  When offered the dessert menu at Il Bacaro, I knew that I was so full it would be physically impossible to try any of their desserts.  However, V and I also knew that with a bit of walking (from Il Bacaro to Little Bourke Street and then back to our hotel), we would have ample room for dessert.  Yet another benefit of taking the dessert back to our hotel room.  We were able to let it sit for a few extra minutes before diving into our sweet meal of the evening.

our desserts – round two

My tofu pudding (left) and V’s tofu pudding with pearls (right)

This time, we both opted for tofu pudding.  Perhaps it was the rainy and colder weather that had descended on Melbourne that day, but I was craving something warm and comforting.  Once again, my dessert choice hit the spot.  At that moment in time, the only thing that could top my “warm tofu pudding” would be “warm tofu pudding in the wooden bucket” (木桶豆腐花).

Guess where we went for dessert on our third and last night in Melbourne? 

Yes, once again, V and I walked from our dinner at Taxi Dining Room to Dessert Story for another order of dessert.  It was becoming a daily routine for us… except then we left Melbourne the next day.

Our desserts – final round

My HK traditional style dessert soup (front) and V’s tofu pudding with pearls (back)

My dessert soup

I cannot remember what the specific items were in my dessert soup.  I seem to think longan was one of them and snow fungus as well.  Yes, longan and snow fungus dessert soup sounds about right (雪耳龍眼糖水).    Whatever I picked, it was good for me and it tasted great!

Well, it looks like my quick blog post took much longer to write and it is now quickly approaching midnight in Vancouver and the end of 2012.

Here’s wishing everyone a  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!  Best wishes for a fabulous 2013!