South Yarra 3141
03 9827 7060
www.burchandpurchese.com
It’s nice to see French patisseries trending the Melbourne food scene. Burch & Purchese has soared into the spotlight with delicious desserts and appearances on Masterchef. It’s cute outlet at the quiet end of Chapel (between Toorak Road and the river) is now constantly abuzz with dessert devotees.
Visiting the shop for the first time, my expectations were high with memories of such places as Lux Bite.
The cakes displayed are exclusive in both numbers and prices. The mini cakes are about $9 each and the jams a little bit more.
I took two: the dark chocolate, pear and hazelnut and the smoked white chocolate, coffee, aniseed, lemon.
The smoked white chocolate was in layers of different flavours. The lemon curd in the middle was too firm against the rest of the dessert. The sponge was drunken with coffee. The aniseed flavour was very light on the finish. Overall it was like a modern tiramisu. There were many flavours and whilst they came together, their individual subtly was lost in the mixture. I was eager to taste the smoky white chocolate, but this was unnoticeable.
The dark chocolate dessert was less complicated but I enjoyed it more. It was well balance with the crunch of hazelnuts in the brownie at the bottom. The pear in the centre was poached but firm. The best part about this one was the Tarakan 75% chocolate and vanilla mousse. The quality of the chocolate used in this outer mousse made a big difference.
I enjoyed the desserts but found them expensive and not as good as other places I have tried lately.
