Last night, myself and two fellow sugar fiends had only one thing on our minds other than the weekend. Sugar Hits. Well that and a dinner of sticky chicken wings and duck pizza at The Aussie but we were determined for a sweet double hitter to end the night. Since we were in the upper part of Sydney we booked for Sugar Hits at the Macquarie Lounge at the Sydney Harbour Marriott and The Four Seasons Hotel.
Valrhona Chocolate and Raspberry Symphony Delight
I realise I could’ve just condensed the two Sugar Hits into one easy post but frankly I’m too tired to write more than I have to. First up was the Sydney Marriott Hotel which is virtually across the road from Circular Quay on Pitt Street. The Macquarie Lounge (at the lobby) was pretty empty but we could see that they had a Sugar Hit booking for 15 people later in the night. I wasn’t sure whether to believe it as incidently, they thought my booking was for 9 people instead of 3.
We arrived about 10 minutes early but they happily sat us down with our drinks before we waited half an hour for our Sugar Hits. Not a big issue but we did have The Four Seasons to head to in 30 minutes. Plus the Kenny G-esque hotel lobby muzak was slowly eating away at my soul.
Chocolate Macaron
The dessert was simply described as a Valrhona Chocolate and Raspberry symphony delight. It was basically two chocolate mousse slices; one topped with a chocolate glacage and the other a raspberry jelly compote. It came adorned with a small chocolate macaron and a tempered dark and white chocolate latticed pipe.
The macaron had just came out of the fridge so without coming to room temperature, the filling was sadly hard and the macaron not as chewy as it should be. I loved the requisite snap of the tempered chocolate pipe but unfortunately the actual chocolate dessert didn’t set off any fireworks. It was good but only for the first half before that sickening chocolate-overdose feeling set in.
Glass of Brown Brothers Orange, Muscat and Flora available with every Sugar Hit
Now as I mentioned in the title, a teensy gripe with the sticky wine selection of the Sugar Hits… or rather lack thereof:
As with all the other years of SIFF (formerly known as Good Food Month), all Sugar Hits were served with a cognac or a glass of Brown Brothers Orange, Muscat and Flora (except for Perama who served a lovely Greek Muscat). I don’t know if Brown Brothers are a silent sponsor of SIFF Sugar Hit but there’s only so much Orange, Muscat and Flora you can drink if you were having multiple Sugar Hits year after year. I would love SIFF to change the wine to something less pedestrian than Brown Brothers or at least inject a bit more grape variety amongst the different Sugar Hits next year. Maybe a deeply rich muscat for a chocolate dessert at one place, a sweet rosé for a fruity offering at another or maybe a light botrytis? Hell, why not a plain old fortified? Anything but Brown Brothers Orange, Muscat and bloody Flora.
Seriously. Please. Veto the Brown Brothers for at least one year.
Thus endeth my gripe.
SIFF Sugar Hits are available every night 9-11pm (10-12am at Perama) until October 31st 2009. Bookings are highly recommended.
Macquarie Lounge at Sydney Harbour Marriott
30 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000
(02) 9259 7279
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow, you were quick! It was a fun night. I agree, the dessert wine should definitely be matched to the dessert they're serving it with. Would be a much better experience all round.
I love the look of the latticed pipe – very pretty. Pity it didn't satisfy.
Get ANGRY. Or, more productively, get a katana >:D You can borrow one when I'm on sabbatical.