Not Quite Nigella Eat Your Heart Out!

I realise I am straying slightly into Hurley's territory here, but I cannot resist.

What it takes is a little dedication. Dedication in the name of food... Yesterday Country Bumpkin (CB) and I took a brekkie trip to the Bourke Street Bakery (sigh...) in Surry Hills. The Bakery opens at 8am. We were there at about 8:30ish. Yes, we both woke up early, and I mean early! 6:30am and 6:45am respectively. Reason being? We needed those ginger brulee tarts. Ha!
We did our research via Not Quite Nigella and UrbanSpoon before heading there. The bakery itself is a little difficult to get to when you aren't entirely sure where you're going. We started from Central and it took about 4 detours before we actually arrived. (However, having been there once, I can totally take you there again with my eyes closed.) It's a cute little, and I mean little, place right on the corner of a street. Once you're there, you cannot miss it, there's really not much else in the way of shops around it, lots of beautiful terraced houses that I dream about, though.

A very cute little place.

Because we arrived so early, there was no queue and no attitude from the staff (Ha! NQN and US!) and everything was still there, including the much-longed-for ginger brulee tarts. Yes! NQN actually arrived too late in the day and missed out on these absolutely amazing (and I am not exaggerating) tarts, so yes, a moment of satisfaction for CB and I. However, since we were so early we did miss out on the famed sausage rolls - the lamb, harissa and almond sausage roll I especially wanted to try. Together, we bought the pan au chocolat (chocolate croissant), rhubarb and almond tart, vanilla brulee tart with strawberry puree, chocolate mousse tart and of course, the ginger brulee tart. It's a little pricey, but not so much so that I won't be going back multiple times (I think it was about $4.40 for the 8cm tarts and $3.70 for the croissant).

Sigh.... pastry...

The croissant was beautiful. Not too sweet or buttery, and really nice and flaky. The chocolate was dark (yesss!) and there wasn't a massive amount, like you often get which detracts from the pastry. It wasn't the best croissant I have ever had in my life, but by all means really, really good! We ate this one before I remembered to whip out my phone for a picture, so no picture here guys, sorry!

The next one we tried was the ginger brulee tart, which was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Really. It was chilled so the custard wasn't too runny (On an interesting side note, they also use a 45% fat cream, instead of the 35% fat cream we usually get in shops, which results in a firmer custard) and there was, as raved about so much, that crack when we broke through the toffee on top. mmmmmm. Like US said, you can tell it's real ginger, not too gingery but a really lovely balance and I just wanted more. CB was right, we should have bought 2. Instead we bought the vanilla and strawberry brulee, which admittedly, we left for a little too long before we ate it. This one was also really nice. The custard was not too sweet and the strawberry puree at the bottom was really good! Because we let it go warm, the custard was a bit runny and there was no crack (why?!?).

Clockwise from front: rhubarb & almond, chocolate mousse, vanilla & strawberry puree, ginger brulee (unfortunately due to my inability to remember to bring a knife, we have no pictures of the inside. But please, let me refer you to NQN - she has beautiful pictures. Click Here!)

The chocolate mousse tart was something, though! This one is my cousin's favourite so I was expecting big things. And it was really, really good! The mousse is not too rich, a lot lighter than I expected and less firm too. And at the bottom was a "surprise" spoonful of raspberry puree which really took it to the next level. Raspberry + chocolate = heaven! And they put chocolate cake crumbs on top (not Milo, NQN!) which were cute and different, I thought. This was so much better than the rhubarb tart, which I have to admit I was a little disappointed in. All in all, it was quite nice, but a bit too much frangipane and not enough rhubarb. The result was therefore a bit too sweet and almondy for my taste. The pastry on all the tarts though is very nice - rustic looking and crunchy! Yum!! I am so going to try to make pastry now!

This trip made my day. Absolutely beautiful pastries which I will definitely be going back for. Definitely a high 8/10 (Only because it's a little hard to find and that rhubarb tart wasn't so great) And the top it all off, when I came home that night my lovely brothers presented me with my birthday present, which was the Bourke Street Bakery Baking Companion! Yay! Of course, I did give many not-so-subtle hints ("Hey! This is what I want for my birthday! And it’s on the Book Depository so get it there, okay?" Ahh... joys of the Book Depository...) haha! Nonetheless, I have been spending the best part of the last 12 hours reading through the book, and hence the little insights to how and what makes up the tarts.

My new 370-paged beautiful baby... complete with drool-worthy photos and step-by-step photo guides for pastry! (Including pate brisee! haha)

CB and I will be heading back to taste the breads and savouries and that chocolate ganache tart which has caught my eye... and for another ginger brulee tart, but in the meantime, I have my new baby :)

c.c.