Wednesday 3 June 2009

SWEETNESS - The Patisserie @ oxford st., epping

I've been following Ja's blog for awhile now. I've never actually met her in person although she's told me that she's seen me walking down the street near my work (but it happened to be a rainy night and my focus was probably on getting to the station so I didn't see her). Our story goes quite a fair way back and these days, I call her my twin stomach. There's been numerous times now where we've blogged about the same places or the same foods within the week of each other and these are not just your average places, even our bookings for Tetsuya happened within a week of each other. It's quite bizarre!

Anyway, she posted on her blog recently that she was working at SWEETNESS - The Patisserie in Epping and after a handful of messages on facebook, I said I'd visit her on the Saturday that she was working. Unfortunately, her shift got changed to the Sunday at the last minute so didn't actually get to meet the girl that I'm calling my twin stomach. Hopefully I'll get to meet you soon Ja!

You'll find parking just outside the shop. The shop isn't all that big. There's a display in the front window; to the left is a bookshelf housing packaged biscuits, toffees, jellies; in front of you is the counter with an assortment of fresh-baked pastries including muffins, tarts, rocky road, florentines, brownies; and finally to the right is the register, the shelf housing all the packaged marshmallows and a handful of books belonging to the chef (I noticed a few that were also on my bookshelf at home!) The majority of the shop is actually made up of the kitchen which is sparkling clean!
As tempting as it was to take one of everything, I only took home a small selection (all the more reason to head back there again soon). Here is the banana streusel muffin ($3.50), chocolate brownie ($2.50), pack of 12 mini biscuits ($7.50) and finally their famous mini marshmallows 150g ($8.00). Mum did express a gasp of shock when I told her how much the biscuits and marshmallows were. They are tasty though!
I actually had the muffin the next morning (microwaved it for about 20 seconds and then in the mini oven for another 5 minutes - the muffin was warm throughout and the streusal topping resumed it's slight crunchiness!)

I highly recommend both the muffin and the chocolate brownie. Both were great and after eating the brownie, I was inspired to bake my own! Post to follow. The marshmallows are so soft, I'm not sure if you can even get a marshmallow softer than these ones but these ended up a little too sweet for my liking. The biscuits, whilst pretty were very average and I wish I'd spent this money on a handful of florentines that were on the counter (another of my loves!)

Whilst at the register, I spotted a handful of loaves that were in the kitchen. Asked the girl that was serving me and she said they were $10. Spoke to Ja who has highly recommended these so I've got that on the agenda for my next trip!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks great and a bonus to get the chance to meet Ja. What a shame that she wasn't there that day!

panda said...

the patisserie is definitely worth a visit! and i'm sure there will be a time and place to meet Ja - i think once another food blogger becomes part of your world, it's just a matter of time before we meet!

Bean Sprout's Cafe said...

hahaha.. I love this word ''my twin stomach'' :D

Yeah, I am also amazed about our food story. One more funny thing, I work near your place and you work near my place lol.

About the biscuits, I did tried some. Actually it is very very good, short and melt in ur mouth , but sometimes its just normal, maybe depents up who make it.. I did prepare the dough once.. I am not sure it will turn out as good as chef do or not.. Maybe the one that you tried is the one I made..hehe.. If its true, so sorry though :P

Wish to meet you soon :)

Stephcookie said...

I've tried their chai loaf before, that's lovely! Good idea warming up the muffin, yum! And it's a pity about the biscuits, I'm surprised because I tried the chocolate shortbread once and they were divine.

panda said...

hehe...you are my twin stomach! we eat almost identically! and yep, we should pick a day and we can go out and eat either near your place or mine (will facebook you and arrange something!)

like you say the biscuits were just normal...weren't bad - could be that i picked up the wrong pack! there were a few to choose from. and i've seen the food you've made - i know without eating that it's good! you haven't posted up any of your cooking recently?

panda said...

steph - i'm thinking i bought a dud pack of biscuits! all the more reason for me to buy another pack the next i'm there! and yep, will keep an eye out for the chai loaf. looks like they bake a different flavour everyday so hopefully i'm lucky :D

Gena said...

hi Panda. Chef Gena here thank you lots and lots for your all of your feedback! Next time you're in, your mini biscuit pack - your choice of different selections - is my shout! Also, we have Chai most Saturday and if you want to see Ja on a Sunday (2-8pm), let me know and I'll hold a Chai loaf for you to purchase on Sunday (FYI, shops not open to the general public on a Sunday. See you soon!

panda said...

gena - next time i'm in, i'll say hello! thanks for the heads up on the chai loaf -will make sure I try and catch one on a saturday! and thanks for helping me and ja try to meet; somehow or other we just keep missing each other!

Bean Sprout's Cafe said...

wowww... haha..Chef came lol

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