Spice Magazine features Dessert Club
Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 8:30PM It was a delight to write an article on Dessert Club for Perth's Spice Magazine.
An opportunity to describe our sweet and saucy nights out at Perth's best restaurants was a challenge for me, not being a writer. But having done it, I noted the wonderful feeling at achieving something outside of my usual vocations.
Here's the first page:
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You can read my article here thanks to their generosity of spirit!
exiles on mains’ treat
Dessert Club skips mains and gets down to the business of desserts.
HAVE YOU EVER DREAMT whilst dining out that you could gladly skip straight to dessert and not be judged?
Or ever wanted to just get that fish of the day out of the way so you could explore the delicate textures of a saffron and vanilla crème brûlée with orange and tequila sorbet and citrus tuile?
If no ... what is wrong with you!?
If yes, then I think you will find that you’re not alone ...
It began late one night in the flocked surrounds of a candlelit restaurant. An unusual pair sat down to satisfy their sweet teeth, expecting a simple slice of tried-it-all-before cake. What came instead was sugar-coated enlightenment as they were delivered a visually splendiferous chocolate brownie, orange blossom poached pear with side of liquorice ice cream accompanied with specific instructions for consumption and a chef-recommended sticky.
An imperative of the senses inspired the heady decision to begin a club, an exclusive dessert club. A club exclusive enough to get itself into the doors of Perth’s finest restaurants.
The experience of Perth’s gourmet desserts is something to be taken quite seriously, not as some main meal afterthought, but as a experience in and of itself. A torrone and pistachio semifreddo with orange caramel, to be most fully appreciated, should not have to squeeze in next to pork belly with seared scallops. And yet, so often we sit in these glorious establishments with a gut full of entrée, main and wine, unable to attend to the dessert menu appreciably.
Dessert Club offers all the decadence of fine dining but on a smaller budget. So friends with varying economic circumstances found this regular $15 - $25 experience quite palatable. Of course many of them splurge the monetary equivalent of main meals on aperitifs, dessert wines, affogattos and all those other things you rarely order. Sugar lovers tend to follow their urges more so than those of a savoury disposition.
Dessert Club has become a somewhat secret society where one can indulge with likeminded pleasure seekers. No dessert is overlooked when ordering and with a clamber of forks and spoons, each meets the taste buds of the members.
Through the shared experience, complete with starry eyed ratings, the group is learning the language of desserts, from the unpredictably joyful olive oil ice cream through to the experience that is strawberries with rose petal sorbet and a Moscato induced spider. Nothing turns the serious conversation of well dressed guests into a gaggle of squeals like mango and coconut tart with a side of basil sherbert.
The Dessert Club circuit has included the finest of Perth’s restaurants, Balthazar, Harvest, C, Il Lido, Must … with new restaurants opening all the time, the list of hosts never tires.
The Club meets monthly, with empty stomachs, at 8pm on a chosen weeknight. The challenge is to secure the longest table in the restaurant, as the group often swells to sixteen or more. A restaurant has to be inspired to cater to such a large group who won’t be spending up big. We have had a couple of knock backs, or the request to make it later, but mostly restaurants are amused enough to offer us up their best seats and have a group indulge in the lower regions of their menu. Each experience has been entirely unique and a celebration of divine flavours.
That is, with the exception of Balthazar, where there was some suspicion as to whether the chef was toying with our senses. The dessert menu included pumpkin soup, which sadly tasted exactly like pumpkin soup. And other dishes that resembled bread with peanut butter and beetroot crisps with goo. Was it an avant garde deconstruction gone too far? Never the less, the experience resulted in one of the most entertaining Club meetups as we debated the tastes and pondered the motives.
The Dessert Club has actually held itself thrice at Harvest Restaurant in North Fremantle. Their desserts would be the finest of all and the menu keeps changing, bringing us back to do it all again. We have made requests to have the original menu back, probably for the one particularly architectural dessert that came with a side of mint tea that we just can’t get over. But perhaps, like love, familiarity of dessert would breed contempt.
The Club is as much a social occasion as a gastronomical one. The diversity of the members was designed by the co-founders to generate sparks of conversation. People were pulled from different social circles to create an engaging dynamic. Table discussions tend to take odd tangents, when fueled by glucose. We have addressed whether Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory was better in book, Gene Wilder or Johnny Depp format; or should oil rigs be made to dissolve over time for the environment’s sake (put sugar in with the steel)? All the while the spoons slide into clouds of cream, crack through toffeed edges and scrape off the remaining coulis smears.
Dessert Club has inspired a deep respect for the gourmet third course. Orange blossom poached pear and a rhubarb mascarpone dacquoise with liquorice ice cream makes it clear that to limit one’s self to sticky date pudding is, simply, a wasted opportunity.
[current mood] Apple Tarte Tartin made by Neets & Conference Calls from the Balcony Overlooking Mountains
food in Inspiration
Reader Comments (6)
Super that you could join us for our winter issue, we really enjoyed your work and your moxy in getting restaurants to do it. We've also had more than a few requests to join the club : )
i love it!!!! think i should start the south african branch :-) although i'm already part of a book club, a poker club and a sewing club, so maybe i'm all clubbed out for the moment?
Well done Nat!
The headline is also genius!! : D
xx i
Hi Inari! How I wish I came up with that headline... that'd be the editor's genius! :)
Hope it inspires others to start some clubs of passion!
x nat
Hi,
This club sounds like a great culinary adventure... do you have any info on joining?
Thanks!
'grintr' the club is on hold as I left the state, but you should start your own, that's the real point of my article. Make dessert clubs throughout the land!