Sugar Hit - Swissôtel

"Mum, are you still on a diet?" I e-mailed my Mum a couple of weeks ago. "Because there are Sugar Hits to be had this month!"

Sure enough, my mother decided she could break her diet long enough to indulge in some dessert. After finding out that the Park Hyatt was booked out for tonight, I managed to get a reservation at the Swissôtel. Mind you, the first time I was told that no reservation was required. But I'd heard this before so I rang back in the afternoon, spoke to a different person, and was marked down for a table of five.

I was a little apprehensive because I hadn't seen this Sugar Hit on any of the foodie blogs I normally check but I've been to the Swissôtel before and have never had cause to complain about their food. The GFM site described the Sugar Hit thus:

Warm Lindt Ecuador Chocolate Torte with Wattle Seed, Quark Mousse, and a Strawberry Shot

but this really wasn't all that descriptive to me so I asked the lady on the phone what the desserts were like. She told me there would be three items: a chocolate fondue...or rather, a pudding, a cheesecake, and a shot with vodka. Mmm...that sounded pretty damn good to me!

The Sugar Hits were served at the Crossroads Bar but they seemed so popular tonight that many patrons spilled over to the restaurant for seating. My poor Dad arrived ahead of us and felt so lonely sitting all by himself at the far end of the room. The rest of us finally trickled in between 9 and 9:30pm.

I'm not sure if it was because we had a toddler with us and kept moving about but the service seemed very slow. It might have been because we were seated so far away. Whatever the case, our order of four Sugar Hits and one chicken quesadilla with jalapenos took what seemed like ages to arrive.

The dessert wines, though, arrived within fifteen minutes. Although the GFM site stated that we had a choice of dessert wine or scotch, we weren't actually asked our preferences. We all got the Orange Muscat. Which was fine by me as this was what I would have asked for anyway, but I guess I like to be asked. It makes me feel empowered.

Orange Muscat

We watched as patrons who arrived after us tucked into their Sugar Hits. When we got ours at last, I was glad to see that the desserts were plated quite well and not lost in a ridiculously big plate. The chocolate pudding smelled wonderful.

Sugar Hit @ Swissôtel - $15

Unfortunately, my photos suck, partly due to the dim lighting, but mostly due to my brother who insisted on poking everything with a teaspoon. His theory was that I needed some kind of pictorial trademark so people would remember them. Theoretically, not a bad thought, but I'm afraid that random bits of cutlery poking out of my food is not how I want my food pics to be remembered.

The problem with this plate is that I love chocolate and will therefore endeavour to eat it last, if I possibly can. Which means I must go through the cheesecake first, thereby ruining my tastebuds for the less sweet flavour of the chocolate pudding.

Quark mousse, otherwise known as a cheesecake

The cheesecake was, in a word, bland. Even Rob found it unremarkable so that's pretty ordinary indeed. I think it suffered from being in storage all day. The kiwi slices and lone blueberry seemed a somewhat paltry attempt to liven things up.

A view from the top

Alas, the dark chocolate pudding tasted even less sweet after the cheesecake. I was slightly disappointed as I had expected to love it. The cake wasn't too dry but it also wasn't moist enough for my liking. The chocolate inside was also a lot thicker than I would have liked...but maybe that's the difference between a pudding and mud cake with hot chocolate in the middle? I was expecting a moist cake with a hot chocolate centre so that the texture balanced out the lack of sweetness. What I got was a slightly dry, somewhat bitter cupcake with a thick, gooey chocolate filling. It wasn't bad but it also didn't taste as good as it looked.

The strawberry shot was a delightful surprise. Perhaps it's nothing too out of the ordinary but it went down really well and tasted like a refreshing shot of daiquiri. I couldn't taste the vodka at all. It was really refreshing and I wish I had a glass instead of a shot. :-)

In the end, we were all left looking longingly at Dad's quesadillas, which were steaming hot and served with a generous dollop of sour cream. He was kind enough to leave a slice for us to taste. I'm sure that somewhere, there's a rule which says you're supposed to eat dessert last but in my family, this is the one rule we consistently break.

The verdict? Not bad for volume, but in taste it doesn't beat the Sofitel. Rob still likes the Sebel best but keep in mind that he has weird tastebuds.

Swissôtel Sugar Hit
68 Market St, Sydney
02 9238 7082

For a round-up of Good Food Month in blogland, go and visit CucinaRebecca.
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