Smooth Festival of Chocolate, The Rocks

How gorgeous is this view of Sydney on a warm, sunny day? No doubt, the weather was keen to join the festivities a few weekends ago where we celebrated our love of chocolate at the Smooth Festival of Chocolate at The Rocks. Sure it may have melted the chocolate but isn't the messiness what makes this indulgent sweet so damn good? More than 60k attending on its Facebook event with Adriano Zumbo and Anna Polyviou can't go wrong!

In the lead up to the event, I got the chance to sample a variety of sweets that will be available on the day. There was also lots of Tim Tams to devour between myself, the family and my Tim Tam obsessed colleagues. One of the sweets in the pack was the Tim Tam special edition Chocolate Banana flavour that will be available for a limited time only at Coles stores from next month. Minions will be thrilled!

Speaking of Tim Tams, I also got the chance to attend the sneak peek of the Tim Tam Temptation tent before it was open to the masses on Saturday morning. There was even a special appearance by Zumbo the man!

There was also the opportunity to watch your fave dessert chef working their magic in the demonstration kitchen. I only got the chance to check out Anna Polyviou and her superstar team making their infamous "Wag-Anna" - a twist on the classic old school Wagon Wheel.

Caramel Wag-Anna, Berried Wag-Anna, Ferrero-reveal N2 gelato ($20.00)

There was also The Chocolatier's Quarters where you can check out this delicious tree artwork made entirely of chocolate by Josophan's Fine Chocolate as well as a robot made entirely from Tim Tams and the chance to sample some more sweets from various producers.

Again, pictures tells more than words so enjoy drooling at all the chocolate in many shapes and forms! One of the highlights was the Zumbo teams competing with their dessert creation. While the Zumbo "cheeseburger" sold out super fast on both days, personally I think they're all winners.

Zumbo "cheeseburgers"

Zumbo "Kebabs"

Nutella ball cake by Zumbo

Black Star Pastry was also very popular with their dessert offerings including the "angel" and "devil" tacos, the chocolate torte and the famous watermelon cake with added white chocolate.

Cakes and sweet mini-tacos from Black Star Pastry

Making the crepes

Very cute cookies from Cookie Crazy

PACMAN!

Cronuts from Queen's Pastri House

Oregano Scrolls from Scrollies by Oregano

Churros by Dos Churros

Various sweet delicacies from Choco Samta

Selected eclairs from Passion Tree

Tim Tam espresso martini at the VIP area

Because of the ridiculously insane hype of the overstuffed, extreme milkshakes of late, it was no surprise how long the queues were. Plus it was hot so a milkshake would have gone down a treat *cue a certain friend singing Milkshake out loud*. 

Those notorious extreme milkshakes from The Vogue Cafe

Well that's enough drooling for tonight. Even though it was so packed (unsurprisingly), it was still an enjoyable event where we got to see our fave patisseries creating some new desserts that wouldn't be available in store. Looking forward to more sugary action next year!

Disclaimer: The Random Foodie attended Smooth Festival of Chocolate, courtesy of Nova Entertainment. 

Smooth Festival of Chocolate
http://www.smoothfestivalofchocolate.com.au/

Mooberry Dessert and Breakfast Bar, Neutral Bay

It's funny remembering back in 2012-2013 when there was a new frozen yogurt shop opening in nearly every suburb around Sydney. In 2014, the opposite has happened when you begin to see the closures of froyo shops here and there - most notably the original Moochi store in Strathfield. I could remember a few years ago when everyone lined up outside Moochi and Noggi in Strathfield like a nightclub when that was the only place you could get it. So it's interesting to see some froyo brands still doing strong despite the change in market such as Mooberry, which opened their Neutral Bay branch early this year.

Unlike the original Mooberry Newtown branch, the Neutral Bay store was actually the flagship dessert and breakfast bar with three levels of seating to chill out on a cold and wet evening. It actually feels very spacious with lots of cute decorations here and there (especially those little cows at the checkout downstairs omg!). You could also check out the great view of Neutral Bay's busy Military Road if you decide to sit at the top floor.

While the first thing you think about is froyo when you hear about Mooberry, you could not be further from the truth. Upon glancing at the laminated menu on the table, you could see that there is so much more that Mooberry offers. If you are there for breakfast, you can get classics like deluxe bacon and egg roll, breakfast waffles, ham and cheese croissant and even eggs benedict! Name me one froyo bar that has eggs benedict on the menu. For their dessert selections, Mooberry has their signature sweet classics such as the coconut affogato, churro sticks and chocolate fondue. 

Froyo: L-R: Chocolate, Salted Caramel (Mini: $4.50, R: $7.50, L: $14.50) 

We met Jamie the store manager who treated us to a froyo of our choosing for starters. My pick was the chocolate while CC decided on the salted caramel flavour. We both found that the froyo was light, smooth and refreshing. As usual, I like to go overboard with various chocolate toppings (and watermelon balls hehe) for my chocolate froyo while CC was more health conscious with her fruity toppings. Bonus points for Mooberry offering unlimited toppings for $1. Then again, I always preferred the fixed sizes and prices system than the "fill up your own froyo" system like Yogurberry and Yogurtland which gets too pricey even when it's half-full.

Belgian Hot Chocolate (R: $5.00, L: $5.50)

Mooberry offers a generous selection of hot drinks including four different hot chocolate flavours. These hot choc flavours include Belgian, Coconut, Salted Caramel, and Mint. Since it was a Thursday night, it got fairly busy so there was a bit of a wait for our hot chocolate and waffles. When it arrived to our table, I literally had a massive smile on my face from its presentation. Particularly the chocolate swirls on top. It was smooth, creamy and not too rich or intense. Good balance of flavours with the chocolate and the milk. So good to have on a cold night.

Wicked Waffles ($14.90 for 1 waffle, $17.90 for 2 waffles)

Our sweet journey ended with the Wicked Waffles, which was decadent chocolate heaven for the chocoholic especially with the many drizzles of milk and dark chocolate across the plate. This was served with lots of strawberries and bananas for a bit of fruit in your system. There was also a coconut froyo on the side but we were getting very full from the crispy, rich and dense waffle. While there was a lot of chocolate, the waffle itself wasn't as sweet as we expected. This made it slightly easier for us to manage. 

Even though I am personally not much of a froyo fan these days, I was impressed by what Mooberry delivers. Like its Newtown store, Mooberry has distinguished itself from the other franchises in delivering way more options than just froyo, whether it's breakfast or a late night dessert. While Neutral Bay is too far for me to get to, it's a suitable option for dessert if you are a local or happened to be around the area for work or any special occasions.

The Random Foodie Vault: Check out my experience at Mooberry Newtown back in 2013!

Disclaimer: The Random Foodie dined as a guest of Mooberry Dessert and Breakfast Bar, courtesy of Jenny. Opinions are however, my own.

Mooberry Dessert and Breakfast Bar
Shop 2, 164 Military Road, Neutral Bay NSW 2089
(02) 8957 9758
https://www.facebook.com/MooBerryFroyo
Sun-Thurs: 8:00am - 11:00pm
Fri-Sat: 8:00am - midnight

Four Friends, Crows Nest

Those who know me well will know that I rarely venture up north because of the distance especially from South West Sydney. Even travelling to Sydney CBD everyday for work and the occasional partying can be tiring. As a few friends tell me, I need to explore further because I'm missing out on loads of delicious eateries such as Ryo's, Via Napoli and the various eats around the Chatswood, Crows Nest and Neutral Bay areas. Recently, I finally made my way further up that way thanks to an invite to try out the High Tea and chocolate at Four Friends at Crows Nest. As a die-hard fan of Lindt and Zumbo, this little boutique cafe really blew my mind away.

The cafe was owned as a family business by the delightful Katze and Jimmy. It was created for the couple's love, passion and happiness of sweets, chocolate and desserts. Katze recently overcome a life-threatening auto-immune illness, scleroderma, which had initially led her to close her cafe in Artarmon. She then opened Four Friends with she aimed to deliver sweets, chocolate and desserts with lots of happiness and healthiness. It's personal stories like that which make you realise that you can overcome and be stronger even when times are tough. The name "Four Friends" actually came from a Buddhist philosophy about four different animals who learn to work, co-operate and respect each other with mutual harmony. I'm sure everyone can relate that in everyday life with group work at work and uni. 

Unlike many cafes where you get a hipster, twentysomething atmosphere that can be pretentious at times, Four Friends is clearly a family friendly vibe with Katze and Jimmy's children and friends playing around as we eat. Great place to chill out and relax on a weekend.

This high tea was not like your standard high tea of cakes and sandwiches. Each month, Four Friends introduce an International High Tea session with a different culture or theme. This month there was an East-Asian twist to commemorate Chinese New Year with two bamboo steamer baskets consisting of savoury and sweet treats. There were traditional savoury and sweet treats that many of us recognise when eating at our own family banquets. My personal favourite were the rice cake and a cup of what appeared to be noodles but was actually strings of tofu skin. Perfect for vegetarians and vegans! Also loved the sweets which included the celebration truffle (aka the secret flavour truffle) and various traditional Asian sweets. 

The Anticipation...

The Savoury Tier - L-R: Vegetarian Dumpling, Tofu Noodles, Rice Cake, Fried Cheese Won Ton Pastry

The Sweet Tier - L-R: Sweet Jelly, Pan-fried coconut soft cake, Celebration truffle (containing tea), Sesame Ball 

There was even a few surprises in store for us during our high tea. While we were eating, we've noticed Katze and Jimmy making jasmine ice cream using dry ice. It felt like we were either at a Heston cooking session or waiting at N2 Extreme Gelato when the dry ice smoke emanated across the table. As weird as that sounds, it actually tasted sensational with a creamy yet popping candy-like texture that delivers a load of excitement to your taste buds. 

Dry Ice Jasmine Ice Cream

There are more than 40 different selections of teas from around the world to choose from so this will definitely please any tea lovers.

Rose tea (can't recall the exact name. Sorry)

Cherry Lips Green Tea

If you prefer coffee over tea then Four Friends offers various roasted coffee beans also sourced from different parts of the world including the local Pablo and Rusty's. 

However one of Four Friends' main pride is their generous and incredibly scrumptious range of organic and fair trade chocolate sourced from Belgium. By organic, this means that Four Friends do not use any artificial sweeteners and colouring. Made into many different shapes and sizes and firmly coated to hold the ganache, each chocolate piece looked so cute and they are deliciously sweet to eat including a caramel robot (which ran out) and the equally popular popping kitty chocolate. Move over Lindt, you've got competition!

The truffles were divine with its smooth ganache in the middle that did not leave a strong after-taste in your mouth afterwards. So far every chocolate piece I've tried has been incredible that it saddens me when I finish each piece so far. Everything at Four Friends was made from scratch using seasonal ingredients so expect something different at your next visit.

Assorted chocolate ($2/piece)

Chocolate Truffles: Clockwise L-R: Dark 70% Coco, Celebration, Hazelnut, Saffron, Rose

Clockwise L-R: Dinner Mint, Rocher, Vanilla, Salty Caramel

Popping Kitty! 

Inside of the Celebration Truffle (has a green tea-like taste)

If you are keen for desserts, there is a decent range of macarons and cakes to enjoy as well as a special dessert platter to share between two people. Personally I'm a huge sucker for mini- macarons. The flavours are more unique than your usual salted caramel, pistachio and the like, possibly similar to the ones you get at Zumbo or Cafe Cre Asion. Macaron flavours at Four friends include lime yuzu, nougat apricot, chocolate mandarin poppy raspberry and white chocolate lemon to name a few.

Assorted Macarons ($2.50/piece, $10 - Box of 4, $15 - Box of 7) 

Macaron Tower

Chocolate Indulgence Lava Cake

From Katze's personal story to the mouthwatering food and drinks they deliver, you know that she really cares about this business so much. And despite the challenges you face, you got to appreciate every moment of your life because you never know what may happen next. It also shows that sometimes even the smallest businesses make the most remarkable discoveries. From this experience and exploring the surrounding Crows Nest area has made me appreciated boutique businesses on a greater scale. Will certainly be coming back here to try the dessert platter (looks soooo good!), tea and coffee before or even after my eventual ramen session at Ryo's on the weekend very soon.   

FYI: International high tea at Four Friends is $45 for 2 persons and made to share. This includes a pot of tea and is only available at the beginning of each month. Each month there is a new cultural theme. 

So tell me readers: Which food culture do you want Four Friends to try for high tea next month? 

(Personally I would go for Spanish because that mean more pintxos hehe ;))


Disclaimer: The Random Foodie attended the Four Friends High Tea as a guest of Four Friends and Polkadot PR. Opinions remain personal.

Four Friends
5/29 Holtermann Street, Crows Nest NSW 2065
0415 068 881
https://www.facebook.com/FourFriendsCoffeeChocolateTea
Mon-Fri: 7:00am - 5:00pm
Sat: 9:00am - 5:00pm