Hopetoun Tea Rooms

Shop 1 & 2, 282 Collins Street

Melbourne, VIC 3000

03 9650 2777  

www.hopetountearooms.com.au

I had an interview last week far far away at Dandenong where I'm working now as a trainee :) Anyway, I had nothing to do after that while my tummy kept on calling so I decided to meet my lovely little sister in the city. I chose Hopetoun although it was lunch time. As usual, there was quite a line in the front but it only took us 10 mins to get a table. We were seated in the very corner behind the coffee machine. Its not bad, its just not enough lightning and yes this is my alibi for the bad pictures :p

I'm sure anyone who come to this place will be mesmerised by their cakes. They don't have that elegant looks but somehow they are pretty and delicate. Me and Olivia had our own turn to go out and pick one cake. Well, we couldn't control ourselves and kept the staff asking anything else...

ME and OLIVIA

This drink was a bit weak to be called an iced chocolate, the milk truly overpowered it :( 

Iced Chocolate 

The pavlova was the winner. The meringue was crisp and soft while the inside was really light and sweet. We kinda doubt the choices of acid fruits but after we ate all together its all perfectly balanced. 

Tropical Fruits Pavlova

The chocolate mousse was chocolatey with praline base, more of dark than milk chocolate. It was good but I couldn't say its great.

Royal Chocolate Mousse

Olivia's brother told her to try the egg tart so she did. I truly like the custard filling but the pastry itself was a bit soggy rather than crisp. 

Portugese Egg Tart

The staffs, mostly girls, were all wearing black and so pretty with their smiles on all the time. The service was excellent, as expected from a place like this. 

Drink : 3  Food : 4  Service : 5

Coming back? I will for sure because I know they have more goodness for me besides some of the disappointments.

Chez Dré

287 Coventry Street
South Melbourne, VIC 3205
0396902688
chezdre.com.au

This is truly an unplanned date with Nixie. I was locked out from my apt because i forgot to bring my keys (Yes this is one of my biggest problem!) and had to wait at her place. It was another 3 hours till my brother came home and we had nothing to do so we decided to go to Max Brenner. However, we ended up going to Chez Dré because of my huge desire to blog this place :p
   
Chez Dré, one of the gems in South Melbourne, is a patisserie and cafe open from breakfast to lunch. This place is usually packed on weekend but we managed to get a table straight away since its weekday afternoon. What I love the most about this place is the wide open kitchen and we could see all the cooking and baking process clearly since there's no glass covering. Although I had been to Chez Dre once last year before i start blogging, I was still amazed with this place :)

Every single cake is just amazing and I just want to try all of them! 

It was a tough decision for me and I chose this red looking cake but I made no mistake. I love every component of this cake from the smooth chocolate mousse, raspberry compote to the crunchy base of cocoa nib. 

Chocolate Raspberry Mousse - $8.5

Nixie couldn't bear the shiny look of the chocolate tart. One of the best I've had so far, the tart base was so crunchy and firm which made it hard for us to make a good cut for the camera. It was also filled with chocolate mousse and covered in chocolate ganache. In short this is layers of chocolate! 

Chocolate Tart - $8.5

Believe it or not both of us were so full with these two cakes. This was because we spent almost 1 hour to finish them as a result of taking too much pictures. The staff even laughed and joked with us, when we had our first cut he came to our table and said "Finally, I thought you guys would never eat them".

After paying the bill, we were still looking at the macaroons on the counter. Then the cashier nicely asked if we wanted to have some of the broken ones. And without further thinking we grabbed one each. Both the blackcurrant and lemon are great in flavours but the shell was not goey enough for my liking. 

Blackcurrant and Lemon Macaroons - $3 each

Food : 4   Service : 5   

Coming back? YES, I would like to have a brunch and another round of dessert :)

Burch & Purchese @ The Langham

1 Southgate Avenue
Southbank, VIC 3006
038696888
website

647 Chapel Street
South Yarra, VIC 3141
0398277060
burchandpurchese.com

 I went through the high tea society blog and found the Langham's tea session interesting so I went to their website. What a surprise, they have been collaborating with Burch & Purchese to create a series of "bespoke" Afternoon teas. Having seen this, I called my friends straight away and made the booking.
The series are offered on selected Friday every month till October 2012, so you better pick a date and call for a booking. The cost is $69/person which includes three tiers of FOOD, unlimited tea, hot chocolate or coffee.

I was so excited because its my first experience of Afternoon tea. I have been longing to try for a long time but never had the chance.

The session took place on the second level of Hotel Langham, next to Melba restaurant. 

On the way to the tables, there is a big table fully decorated with Burch & Purchese's masterpieces. It would be really great if they are real cakes :p

They have many choices of tea from the usual ones to its signature tea selections that are really unique, but these cost extra 2 or 3 dollars more. I just love their tea sets, they are really antiques. We ordered different types of tea and this pink colour tea caught my attention although the taste's below my expectation.

Not long after the teas arrived, the staff came up with the three tiers and YES another plate. 

Well, there're just too much food to fit in one stand i guess.

The first tier consisted of five different sandwiches, one of each per person. Don't get it wrong, this was a set for two so it looked like we had more. What I like best was the free range chicken, the chicken was really tender, its not strong in flavour but it did taste great.

Egg and Mayonaise, Free Range Chicken, Cucumber and Cress
Cream Cheese and Chive, Smoked Salmon Pin Wheel

The second tier were the scones served with fruit jam, butter and clotted cream. The scones were perfectly baked for me, the outside was crisp and not dry in the inside. I enjoyed both the plain and the raisin ones although I'm not a big fan of raisin.

Plain & Raisin Scones with Fruit Jam, Butter and Clotted Cream

Burch & Purchese here we come! 

This stunning looking dessert tube was just praiseworthy. The creamy coconut mousse was balanced out with the freshness of the passionfruit curd. 

Coconut, Ginger, Passionfruit, Mint

The chocolate moussed was not only look elegant because of the chocolate mirror glaze but also tasted great. I had to carefully cut the piece as it's really smooth. 

Chocolate, Mandarin, Salted Caramel

However, the blackforest eclair was a let down for us. The cream filling did not bring out the flavour so it tasted a bit plain me. 

Black Forest Eclair

I would say all these three desserts were amazing. The meringue cloud was truly crisp, the sweetness was balanced out by the sourness from the dried passionfruit. The rubble was made with homemade popcorn & honeycomb, together bounded in Spanish milk chocolate. It was indeed addictive as written in the menu. The last piece was the gold bullion bar that was made with Spanish dark chocolate and filled with salted caramel. I would really take away some if they did sell this bar by itself that day :p

Passionfruit Meringue Clouds, Popcorn & Honeycomb Rubble, Burch & Purchese Gold Bullion Bar

I thought this was just gonna be like "snacking" but i was wrong since all of these food were totally fulfilling. However, i couldn't resist myself to order a hot chocolate when the staff was asking for last orders. And yes, I didn't regret it. I didn't expect it to be nice, but this hot chocolate was rich and had the right amount of milk. Totally YUM!!!

Hot Chocolate

Overall : 9, it was a really pleasant experience and i didn't regret it at all. Both Langham and B&P have done a great job. The service was really great too, staffs were friendly and helpful :)

Dolcetti

223 Victoria Street
West Melbourne, VIC 3003
0393281688
www.dolcetti.com.au

Because I was half full after brunch, I started looking for a dessert place nearby and found Dolcetti. The name reminds me of "il dolce Freddo" and increase my expectation. Dolcetti is located not far away from Queen Victoria Market. The place is quite small with only few seats inside but it's a really sweet cafe. 

These hanging tea cups just made this cafe even more lovely. 

"Made with LOVE" Isn't this appealing?

There was only one girl serving us and the other staffs were inside the kitchen baking for their huge orders. Just look at the freshly baked goodness on the trays!  

I forgot to take note of the tea price. Again and again, the tea set is just adorable. It feels like those sets in High Tea. 

My favourite is the mini Fruit Tart! Sweet and buttery crust tart filled with some fruits and granulated with sugar. What i like is the crust is crisp and the filling is not too sweet and refreshing. 

Fruit Tart - $ 3.9

The strawberry tart that comes with the same crust tart is also nice. The size is about twice of the mini one but the fruit tart filling tastes better. 

Strawberry and Pistachio Tart - $ 5.9

The danish is also good and not too sweet. But the pastry is not really crisp as i'd like it to be.

Pistachio, Pear and Strawberry Danish - $ 4.5

Devil Cake? Hmmm, i doubt this one. It says that there's a layer of caramel but I could hardly taste it. What's disappointing is its not a rich chocolate cake, more like sponge cake with chocolate flavour. 

Devil Food Cake with cream - $ 4.5

Overall: 8, i totally enjoyed spending my afternoon desserts there and looking forward to try their famous biscuits. Staffs and the place itself are just lovely. Cakes and pastries are all freshly baked and good with cheap prices!