Few days before my birthday, Yvonne wanted to give me a surprise. I felt a little bit suspicious that she left the house early. She told me she had to do something in QV. She didn't tell me what she wanted to do, neither did she asked me to accompany her. Anyway, I found out later that she went to The Cupcake Family located at QV Centre to pre-order my birthday cupcakes.


On the same day, (I had no idea she just went there at that time) I went to the same shop to get some macarons after my lunch. Since I had my camera with me, I thought of taking some photos so I could post up in this blog. The sales lady in the shop asked me to delete the photos I took with a stern face. She didn't bother to ask me what I wanted to do with the photos. I could have written a nice review on their shop for free publicity. Too bad, they probably assume that I am some spy that trying to copy their stuff. They could have asked.


On my birthday, I found out Yvonne had gotten me four cupcakes, custom made into Tiffany & Co. and Chanel design. Really lovely...



The day we collected the cupcakes, there were unpleasant experience too. There was a clueless man before us, making up his mind which cupcakes he wanted to get. As he was trying to figure out his choices, Yvonne passed the collection slip to the lady. She looked at Yvonne and said, "Wait!". As a sales lady, I think she should be more courteous and polite instead. We felt that she was ordering us in a way she was trying to execute his discretion.


All she needed to do is to take the collection slip and retrieve our cupcakes to us. That probably will take less than a minute. Instead, we had to wait 15 minutes or more for the man to finally decide what he wants. I know they have first-come-first-served policy. But times like these, you really have to bend the rule so that you'll be more efficient. Don't you think so? If the man is going to take half hour, it doesn't make sense for other customers to wait there without getting served.


We weren't that happy with the cupcakes too. Yvonne ordered two blueberries and two vanillas, and each of the flavor for each design. So we can get different design for different flavor. Instead, they gave us two blueberries for the Chanel design and two vanillas for the T&Co. They totally fucked up the order.


I could have forgive all the misfortunes if the cakes very nice. Sadly, they're not. The cakes were too dry. And the frosting was too sweet. I felt like I just put a cup of sugar into my mouth as I was chewing. The frosting was too hard, I had to peel them off and throw them away to avoid getting diabetes.


If you're wondering... No, I will not go back to this shop. There is a better cupcake store in Melbourne (which I will blog about it after this).




The only credit I will give to this shop is their fabulous design on the cupcakes. The customer service sucks big time. And the most disappointment is the cupcakes taste itself.


The Cupcake Family
22 Red Cape Lane
Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia

J Restaurant is famous of their Sushi Burger. An invention that leaves you craving for more! Besides the awesome sushi burger, they have awesome daifuku as well.

The strawberry daifuku is really rare to find. Only authentic Japanese restaurant has it.

I love the red bean daifuku. There's no artificial sweetness at all.

If you happen to be there, do try out their daifukus. Perfect way to end your meal.


Restaurant J
167, Exhibition St
Melbourne 3000
VIC Australia

While my visit to the Cascade beer factory, I couldn't stop giggling over the fact that they have stout ice-cream on their menu. I've heard of stout ice-cream before, but I never had the chance to try it because it's quite hard to find in normal ice-cream store.

It tasted really creamy and rich. Very distinctive. I don't really know how to explain how familiar the taste is. But the closest I can explain is creamy milk caramel taste.

The environment at Cascade beer factory is really peaceful. It is located out of town, with a huge garden for your al fresco dining.

If you ever see the stout ice-cream on any menu, do try. It's only available in certain places.


Cascade Brewery
140 Cascade Road,
South Hobart
TAS 7004,
Australia

It was my last dinner with my girl friends in Hobart and I brought them to Marque IV. Apparently it's the best restaurant in Tasmania. I hadn't got the chance to try it out although I was living within few steps away.


Few years back Alwin told me that the food there is good. I've been wanting to go there. Until one day when we decided splurge on our food, I suggested we go there. And he told me it's already closed down. *gasp* Oh well, that's when I thought I missed out my chance to try the food in the best restaurant in Tasmania.


When they announced that Marque IV was reopening, I waited with jumpy feet. But Alwin refused to dine there with me. Since he's the one who knows a lot more about restaurants in Tasmania, I just have to follow suit (more like, he's the man and he wants to be in charge of where we should eat). He said Marque IV is under a new management (which according to them was only closed for renovation), and the head chef is some dude called Justin. Justin's creation is not really of Alwin's taste. So, to cut the story short, I didn't have the chance to eat there until when I was in charge to choose a place for dinner with my girlfriends.


Should have listen to that old man. The main course wasn't so great. I had steak, but Ball & Chain serves better steaks (duh! it's a steak house). I just love my beef!


The girls were so concern about putting on weights, so we shared two desserts. Girls will always be girls.


I ordered Moscato Berry Jelly.

It comes with strawberry 'clouds', raspberry sherbet, and sheep's milk sorbet. The sorbet was fantastic! Bias review.... I'm a fan of sorbet. But the moscato jelly was a bit disappointing. Probably because I put too much hope in it. It just tasted like moscato! I know it's lame to say that because it's a moscato jelly anyway. But in a place like a fine dining restaurant, I know they can do better. Anyway, what's a dessert chef's for? If I want the taste of moscato on my tongue, I have better selections if I just buy a bottle of wine and gulp it down. When it's a dessert, I expected some recreation.


I'll rate this 4/10.


Another one we had was the Banana Chocolate Pudding.

This was a better choice. After all, you can never go wrong with chocolate unless it's totally fucked up. It comes with salted caramel banana and chocolate toffee. I must say, the banana chocolate pudding was very good. It was moist enough. And the chocolate was so rich.


I rate this 7/10.


Marque IV
Elizabeth Street Pier
Hobart Tasmania
7000 Australia

Since I was a baby, my grandfather taught me a lot about tea. I remember we have a small tea table in the living room where my grandfather make his tea. When I discovered Chado, I was so happy because I haven't been drinking tea from tea leafs since I came to Australia. Right now I'm a frequent customer there, to the point I can memorize their tea menu - they have blooming tea, green tea, oolong tea, and black tea. I'm still waiting for them to import white tea and chai tea.


Anyway, I had some sweets to go with my tea. I had daimyo matcha iri genmai cha uji, it's Japanese tea (duh!) brewed with brown rice. It's my favorite tea of all time after monkey's paw. I don't know how to describe the tea. It tasted like green tea but with extra brown rice fragrance. If you have a chance, please try it. You'll beg for more.


I saw wagashi daifuku in the desserts menu so I picked it. It's scrumdililycious!!! 100% Japanese taste. In Australia, whenever I see a foreign name on the menu, I always expect it to be fushion instead of the original taste. But the daifuku surprised me!


For those of you who don't know what a daifuku is, it's actually called mochi too. If you don't even know what a mochi is, it's a rice cake with filling. The one I had is red bean paste. It's quite funny why they name it wagashi daifuku. Normally it's called kuromame daifuku. Wagashi is the cake name, whereas daifuku is the type. I don't know how to distinguish the different types of wagashi because I honestly don't know how they make this.

When I'm sitting in the tea house, I observed how the caucasians here order their tea. You can definitely tell that they have zero knowledge of tea. I almost choke with that daifuku in my mouth when I heard someone wanted Oolong Milk Tea. For god's sake, there's no such thing as Oolong Milk Tea. I'm not sure who came out with that kind of fusion tea, but it's definitely an insult to the proper art of drinking tea.


Chado Way of Tea
134 Elizabeth St
Hobart TAS
7000 AUSTRALIA

After Piccolo, I went to Solo the next day. Two days of Italian food back to back. Solo is a pasta and pizza restaurant. Normally people not only go there for the good food, but they also go there for the good looking guys. I'm not sure what happen, all the good looking guys are no longer working there.

Actually there's nothing much to choose from in terms of the desserts. I had chocolate ice cream. It's too sweet for my liking. It's too sweet to the point that I keep drinking water after every bite I take. I rate this 2/10.

My friend had the nutella desserts. It's like a baked pan cake filled with nutella. And it was served with vanilla ice cream, drizzled with chocolate syrup (I prefer melted chocolate more) and icing sugar. I had to finish up my friend's dessert after she declared that she couldn't eat anymore. The portion was HUUUUUUGGGGGEEEE!!!! I prefer this one than the chocolate ice cream. This one is fabulous! This rate 7/10.

Solo Pasta & Pizza
50b King St,
Sandy Bay, 7005,
Australia.

First of all, sorry for the bad quality photos. I didn't pack my camera with me because I was late and Alwin already waiting for me in the restaurant. Well, another excuse is I was shopping with Shikin before that, so I didn't thought I need to bring my camera.

I freaking love Piccolo after the first visit. According to Alwin it's a relatively new restaurant. No wonder I've never heard of it before. I had slow cooked lamb shoulder, it was madtastic! However, Alwin's gnocchi with duck was a bit disappointing to him. Not that it wasn't nice, but the serving is too small compared to his XL size. Ahahahaha....


Before we ordered the dessert, he told me we're going to share because we're trying to cut down our sugar intake. However, when I asked him whether we should have the chocolate mousse cake or the strawberry semifreddo, he insisted that we take both. Guys, so contradictory and indecisive.

This is the most fantastic chocolate mousse cake I've ever tried in my life! Mainly because it was sprinkled with dark chocolate powder. So it's a bit bitter on the top. Then there is layer of chocolate mousse and cake. And it's so soft like cotton! If you ever go there, don't miss this one. Unless you're not a fan of dark chocolate. Because I taste dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate in the cake.


This is the strawberry semifreddo.

To be honest, I don't really fancy this one, although Alwin said it's much nicer. Don't trust him. He probably want me to have the chocolate mousse cake because I like it a lot. The reason why I don't like this is because it has traces of dried fruits in it. I don't like dried fruits in any shapes or forms. However, the semi-frozen custard was quite good. And the strawberries were really fresh.


This is just some fun facts: I heard that semifreddo was orginally from Italy. However, some food historian made a research and now the Spanish claims that semifreddo belongs to them. It is called semifrio in Spanish. Not sure if it's true because I only heard it from word of mouth.



Piccolo Restaurant & Wine Bar
323a Elizabeth St
North Hobart
TAS 7000
(03) 6234 4844

Before I talk about where to get sweets in Tassie, my friend Yvonne in Melbourne has been busy baking cupcakes. And she took photo of it and tag me on facebook. That's so sweet of her. I can't wait to bake cupcakes with her.

Here it is:

I can't remember which is mine. Was is the strawberry one or the cupcake one?

And there's more:

My name! She actually made only one E. So she had to paste the last E on photoshop. Teehee...



I found this small little hut on the way to Taroona from Sandy Bay. It really looks like those cowboy saloon. So I went in with the intention to get some Guiness Stout. But then I saw it on the board, "Desserts Special".


Makoto ordered the flourless orange cake. I took a bite and it's super good.

And I ordered the blueberry panna cotta. Hmmm... I love it too. But I prefer the orange cake more.

And then on some other day, I went up to North Hobart for dinner with friends. We stop by the ice-cream shop after meal. It's the shop next to Chatterbox. I love the setting of the shop, it looks like 1970s ice-cream bar with jukebox and leather chairs. You'll love it. I was feeling bad that I didn't tell my partner that I went out for dinner with other guys, so I bought him some gourmet chocolates. Since he's an alcoholic, I bought all the alcohol chocolates they have. It was quite pricey though. I text him that I bought some chocolate for him. At night when he came back drunk, he was shouting, "Where the hell is my chocolate???"

I love the champagne one. But the others.... erm.... I won't eat it even if it's free of charge. Word....


My best friend has been buying me cupcakes. She buys it whenever I'm really upset. That's like once a week. I think I'm experiencing mid-life crisis that's why my mood swing is so unstable. Here's the mix and match box.

And then, last week, she surprised me with the most beautiful cupcakes I've ever seen in my entire life:

I left the cupcakes on my dining table overnight. At night my partner was so tempted to eat it. I didn't let him, of course. Look, it has bling bling on the frosting.

There's also the rose flavour one. I love love love this one:

Life is so sweet!