Taste of Melbourne 2013 preview at Burch & Purchese + giveaway
Disclosure: I attended courtesy of Taste of Melbourne, B&P and Hothouse Media.
Hello and happy end of October! November is rolling in quickly.
November means (hopefully) – warmer weather, more sunlight and also Taste of Melbourne, which is returning to Albert Park on Thursday 14 November – Sunday 17 November. The other week I headed to Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio for a preview event.
Those familiar with Burch & Purchese know that it’s basically a sugar wonderland, full of fun and innovative desserts and cakes. At the preview night we sampled the desserts they will be serving at Taste of Melbourne, all presented on a table with edible soil and gold painted chocolate leaves and mini meringues. Pretty!
Salted Caramel, Hazelnut & Dark Chocolate Royal Tart – 6 crowns
Chocolate tartlet brushed with Belgian dark chocolate filled with salted caramel, topped with chocolate velvet sprayed marshmallow, hazelnut cream and crumble topping.
This dessert is like chocolate and nutella and salted caramel in overdrive – very rich and gooey. The top is made from a chocolate velvet sprayed marshmallow, and inside the tartlet is salted caramel and hazelnut cream. Whoa. Sugar lovers paradise.
Explosive Raspberry Ice Cream on a Stick – 8 crowns
Tangy raspberry ice cream on a stick dipped in Belgian milk chocolate and topped with explosive chocolate coated popping candy and freeze dried raspberry crumb.
During Taste, this dessert will be an ice cream on a stick – we had an equivalent in tube form as it’s a bit hard to display ice cream at an event without it melting everywhere. I will definitely be eating one of these ice creams at Taste.
Coconut Passionfruit, Ginger and Mint – B&P Signature Tube Dessert – 10 crowns
Salted oat and ginger crumb, passionfruit jelly, coconut caviar, mint jelly, velvet sprayed coconut mousse, white chocolate and mint square served in a 130ml clear acrylic tube.
Anyway who’s been to B&P will be familiar with their range of tube desserts. This one is so good – I really love the coconut caviar / tapioca and the passionfruit curd together.
Icon Dish: Nitro Poached White Chocolate, Raspberry, Peach, Lemon & Champagne – 14 crowns
White chocolate and raspberry parfait poached in liquid nitrogen, Laurent Perrier Champagne jelly, white chocolate and raspberry liquid centre mousse, fresh raspberry compote, peach meringue, lemon curd and raspberry shortbread.
The last dish is B&P’s icon dish for the event. We all gathered around the workbench while Darren Purchese freshly poached white chocolate meringue in liquid nitrogen before plating up the rest of the dessert – a soft mousse made from white chocolate with a raspberry centre, some raspberry compote, peach meringue and jellies made from Laurent Perrier Champagne.
So fun with the mix of different flavours and textures, while still being a bit grown up (probably the champagne jellies). And if you eat it straight away, rather than taking five minutes to take photos, it’ll still be all misty from the liquid nitrogen.
At Taste, there will be a limited amount of this dish available each night, so if you are interested, get in quick.
Giveaway
I have two double passes to Taste of Melbourne 2013 to give away.
All you need to do is comment below telling me which restaurant you’re most keen to check out – you can see the list on the Taste of Melbourne website.
Make sure you include a valid email address when you comment ā it won’t be published, but I’ll use it to contact you if you win. This competition will close at midnight on Wednesday 6 November, is valid for Australian residents only, and I’ll draw the winners randomly. Good luck!
Check out the Taste of Melbourne website for more details of the event, or see my post on last year’s opening night.
Update: This competition has now closed. Congratulations to Jia and Caroline. Your tickets are in the post. š
Taste of Melbourne 2013
Pelican Lawn, Albert Park
Sessions:
Thursday 14th November: 5.30pm ā 9.30pm
Friday 15th November: 12.00pm ā 4.00pm OR 5.30pm ā 10.00pm
Saturday 16th November: 12.00pm ā 4.00pm OR 5.30pm ā 10.00pm
Sunday 17th November: 12.00pm ā 5.00pm
Jia
October 31, 2013 @ 10:41 pm
oh which restaurant to run to first, such first world dilemmas!
Ummm… Saint Crispin!
jess
October 31, 2013 @ 11:53 pm
Albert St and Saint Crispin!
Reanna Clark
November 1, 2013 @ 7:09 am
Mamasita! I love Mexican.
Sheena
November 1, 2013 @ 10:23 am
St Crispin most definitely!!!
April
November 1, 2013 @ 10:41 am
Saint Crispin – just because it’s the new kid on the block, and a very rising popular kid too! would love to check out what it has to offer š
Effie B
November 1, 2013 @ 12:30 pm
My children are driving me batty,
Iām totally stressed to the max,
A Mamasita dinner is just what I need,
To sit, eat, drink and relax!
Lucy
November 1, 2013 @ 1:29 pm
Huxtaburger. I live in Brisbane and keep reading about it on people’s blogs. I think it might deserve an interstate trip to experience it!
Judith
November 2, 2013 @ 1:45 pm
Huxtaburger! š
Deb
November 3, 2013 @ 12:53 pm
Saint Crispin! š
Keren
November 3, 2013 @ 1:32 pm
Oh wow this looks stunning, Burch & Purchese has just moved right up my list!!
(P.S. I’ve been kinda lucky with giveaways lately and I’m on my own this weekend so don’t count me in as an entrant)
Ross S
November 3, 2013 @ 2:06 pm
I sense something from “Burch and Purchese” is on my daughter’s list… and I can’t let her eat alone š
Di
November 3, 2013 @ 2:36 pm
The Botanical, my style of cooking š
DIANA O
November 3, 2013 @ 2:38 pm
Longrain – sounds interesting.
Ian Hawkins
November 3, 2013 @ 7:34 pm
huxtable
Stephanie C
November 3, 2013 @ 10:32 pm
I’ll go straight to the MoVida’s pincho pit and try a delicious Chorizo bocadillo. Yum!
Lisa
November 3, 2013 @ 11:21 pm
Would definitely like to try St Crispin and ALbert St Food & Wine š
Jackie
November 4, 2013 @ 10:14 am
I’m slightly ashamed to say but I still haven’t been to either Mamsita or Chin Chin (I know, revoke my Melburnian card) so I’d be making a beeline for them.
msihua (@msihua)
November 4, 2013 @ 11:26 am
Sweet Jesus!
Allan Hong
November 4, 2013 @ 2:43 pm
No doubt – Chin Chin – hopefully not a long queue in this case.
Theresa W.
November 4, 2013 @ 4:32 pm
Let’s go for Bomba — seems like everyone has been there except me!
Megan
November 4, 2013 @ 11:12 pm
Wow, Agnes – difficult question! I think St Crispin is probably the one I’m most keen to investigate…
Annette
November 5, 2013 @ 8:50 am
OMG –if only I could eat sugar!!! These look amazing!! Cooking in liquid nitrogen makes me think of the Hester meringue we had.
ephemeris
November 5, 2013 @ 11:39 pm
B&P – I’ll go there even if I’ve stuffed myself silly.
Caroline
November 5, 2013 @ 11:58 pm
I would absolutely LOVE to go to the Taste of Melbourne this year after missing out last year. There are some absolute gems on offer this year – and the ones I am most excited to check out are Chin Chin’s (I can’t believe I haven’t tried this restaurant yet!) and their Chicken Wings dish. And I can’t go past Albert St Food and Wine’s Taste ‘Melba’ dish – I have such a sweet tooth!
Margaret
November 6, 2013 @ 3:15 pm
Burch & Purchese – hoping for a sunny day so that Nitro Summer Fizz will be just what I need !
Vin
November 14, 2013 @ 11:51 pm
Tonka