Sugar Hit 2011 @ Shangri-la Hotel, Sydney

As a part of the Crave Sydney International Food Festival a few restaurants are providing late night (after 9pm) sugar hits, each for $20, and each providing a different experience. For more information on different Sugar Hit events check out Crave Sydney Sugar Hit.

On Thursday night I was invited by a friend to attend Sugar Hit at the Shangri-la hotel and had a very interesting food journey. The outside of the Shangri-la hotel doesn't look like much but once you walk in you can engage in all the glamour behind the name (and that was just the lobby).

We were all seated on luscious sofas in the lobby lounge and provided with our desserts with a side of Brown Brothers Dessert wine.

Everyone enjoying their sugar hits!

Some of the desserts were really good, as others not to much. Starting from the top right and going clockwise.

Tart: The little tart was filled with chocolate ganache with a glazed cherry. The cherry was glazed in some sort of red wine which gave it a distinct taste. I prefer white wine over red, so the cherry was not my cup of tea.

Chocolate macaron: It was too chewy for a macaron but the chocolate taste was there.

Pistachio slice: One of the best pistachio cakes I have tried. It had a great nutty taste and in the cream there were little jelly type balls which added lightness to the dessert. It was a great tongue cleanser after all the chocolate.

Opera cake: I am pretty sure it was opera cake, and if it wasn't, than no matter what it was it tasted good. With layers of ganache, sponge and a layer of crunch it tasted extraordinary. After each bite there was a new flavour tasted.

Chocolate mousse cake: As you can see there was a little pipette with raspberry sauce in it. It reminded of me a little Heston Blumenthal dining experience where you mix science with food. You squeeze the raspberry sauce inside and when you break through it, the sauce starts to ooze out. The dessert was fun to play with and had an exceptional taste. I like to believe that any dessert revolving around mousse can never fail to please.

Nutella cake: One of my favourites of them all. It seemed to be hazelnut (or nutella) ganache on top of a crispy wafer base. I loved the crunch of the base, it had a texture of layered crispy wafer which was a perfect balance to the soft hazelnut ganache. I think this was most people's favourite dessert, a definite crowd pleaser.

Delectable desserts

Cross section of chocolate mousse cake

Good food, good times!