I never thought one of my most pleasurable experiences would be in a cafe in Windsor with a group of women. My senses are now yearning for those moments of spooning. Spooning luscious mouthfuls of high quality desserts, resulting in moaning and climaxing in a sugar hangover.
Everything about our Dessert Feast at Windsor Deli last Friday night was perfect. The company (a group of lovely Melbourne bloggers, organised by Kate),, the host (Katrina Higham), the drinks (prosecco, and beautiful softdrinks of elderflower, pineapple and ginger), the serving ware (jars, vintage cutlery, paper straws) and the table settings. Oh the table settings! Look at these flowers. I didn’t care about my hayfever, my itchy eyes and sniffles were brought on by the beauty of these dainty posies.
I took two photos of bloggers. My priority was taking photos of the food and flowers. I apologise. I sat next to the gorgeous Kirrily from Sunny Side Up.
And across from Renee (About a Bugg), Suz (Sergovia Suz) and Sharon (Twitchy Corner).
Naomi (Under the Yardarm) and Sandra ($120 Food Challenge) were also at my table. We laughed and sighed and talked and sighed some more over the food.
Pastry chef extraordinaire Matthew Forbes put together a special degustation menu for us. Comprising only dessert. We were in sugary, dairy heaven. I hadn’t seen elaborate pastry cheffery in action before, and so it was a treat to witness Matt’s talents. So clever, so delicious.
I still couldn’t stop admiring the flowers. When I grow up and become a better housekeeper, this is what I want to do.
The only savoury course was a palate cleanser – a jar of verjus sorbet with cucumber – think of a fancy cucumber raita you get with Indian takeaway. Tangy, creamy and crunchy. I heard Naomi say “is there any more” as she scraped her spoon at the bottom of the jar. Yum!!
Next up was sorrel and celery creamy whats its (I can’t descibe them any better than that) with sheep’s yoghurt and honeycomb. And clover. Too pretty to eat. But we ate it. So good. I liked the savoury, grassy aspect of the sorel, celery and clover. It was a bit like having a green smoothie for dessert.
Now this was my favourite course. Ladies at our table sighed, moaned and exclaimed “I don’t want this to end”. I do believe it was better than…
It was a bowl of tangy rhubarb salad (stewed and raw grated), white chocolate cream (thich and dense, lining the bowl), milk cookie crumbles, and Sechzuan icecream (tasted white peppery). Oh my god. I can’t even. This was as good as the Momofuku dessert, if not better.
Matt and his assistant took great care in preparingnthe last main course, while us bloggers reveled in the delight of having just dessert for dinner.
This was a share plate (a wedge of slate) that looked amazing. We all busily took photos before tucking in. It was chocolate ganache quenelles, licorice icecream quenelles, pear, choclate crumb, meringue and fennel. See that silvery sponge looking stuff? That was silver meringue!!
Look at the detail! Mini Christmas trees!
Our after dinner chocolate was salted caramel and cardamom truffles, served on grated dark chocolate. The truffles were oozy and rich and salty and their goodness may have made grown women cry.
Finally, a nightcap of white chocolate and malt milkshake. Really subtle but so delicious. I did not expect to like this one given I don’t drink plain milk but I wanted more!
I had such a wonderful night – I was not able to talk to all the bloggers due to time limits, but after dinner I had lovely chats with Pip, Jody, Cherie and Jane.
I love dessert and I love blogging and I came away from the feast so happy blogging has enabled me to do fun stuff like this and especially make all these new friends. It was a good end to a tough week.
If you go on Instagram and Twitter and search the hashtag #dessertfeast, you can see more photos and commentary.
Thanks Matt, Katrina, Kate and the other wonderful bloggers. What a beautiful night 🙂
Note: I was not paid to write this post. I paid for my own meal, great value at $45.
Wow Carly, how on earth did you manage to get so many photos!? I was so busy yakking that I forgot to photograph the first and second courses. It was such a great night wasn't it!? Matt really is amazing. There wasn't anything that I didn't like. So glad you came along and maybe next time we'll get time to chat!?
Sensational descriptions. I couldn't have written the evening up any better. Small Christmas trees, indeed just perfect. I seriously felt like I was munching on forest treats.
It was so amazing. I found it hard to write to accurately reflect the courses – but I so enjoyed remembering the sweetness of the night.
Oh my goodness, I MUST go there and eat all of that immediately.
That all looks and sounds so delicious!!!
What a fun/brilliant idea – YUM!
What a great post, C- don't think there's any point trying to up this 🙂 My first experience with dessert-as-dinner was great! As was the company and the atmosphere, and this glorious chin erruption I am nursing after kids party food on Sunday too. We are kindred.
I love your review as much as the desserts themselves, Carly!!!
It looked like a fabulous evening.
SSG xxx
Loving the photos from the blog post. Wish I could have gotten along myself.
Envy is not a strong enough word for my thoughts on these pictures. I want a meal of dessert! And I would even be able to justify all that icecream as soothing for my poor vocal chords (that is a good reason right?). I hope Canberra's food can stack up against that.
Drool! These look AMAZING!
Dessert for a whole dinner – sounds perfect to me!
Truffles that make grown women cry. Now that's impressive!
all of it looks so interesting, there are combinations I would never think to try putting together, although I'd certainly try eating them if they were put in front of me!
Thank you for all the comments. The night was amazing. So good!
Haha, this could just generate a stampede!!
Oh my goodness!! The desserts look amazing, so gorgeous – flowers too 🙂
Heidi xo
thanks for sharing..