Astonish Patisserie, Adelaide

After quickly inhaling some Sushi Train for old-times-sake, I did a quick waddle around the wonderful Adelaide Central Market and then made tracks down to Astonish Patisserie - a newly opened dessert cafe just south of the Adelaide city centre.

Just like the Adelaide Central Markets, dessert cafes are something else Adelaide has in spades over Sydney.  Sydney does have cafes serve desserts, wine and coffee (in addition to their savoury menu items) but Adelaide has a huge range of places that exist solely to service our sweet-tooth's.  I honestly cannot think of one cafe in Sydney solely dedicated to dessert...

In true food blogger form we order just about everything on the menu starting with the Half Cooked  Cheesecake ($15.00). I had NO idea what a Half Cooked Cheesecake would be like and I'm please to report it was delicious. The Cheesecake came in a lovely little ramekin and was lush and creamy, not dissimilar to a creme brulee or custard in texture. I loved the addition of the candied orange and tart citrus segments.

It would be un-Australian not to order Pavlova ($12.00) when it's on offer.  The deconstructed Pavlova was so delicate look but really packed a punch in terms of flavor (and sugar).

I thought the Seasonal Sweet Pizza ($12.00) was a really usual dessert - the addition of cheese scattered atop the stewed fruit gave the dish a savoury element that was offset the Balsamic ice-cream was fairly sweet.  I love the base of this pizza - a handcrafted puff pastry that was light and flaky.

The Chocolate Magma ($14.00) really lived up to its name.  A river of oozy warm chocolate sauce burst forth when we eagerly pierced the cake with our forks. This dessert was sinfully rich and delicious. Definitely a chocolate lovers dream come true.

I pitied the poor chef when he brought out our next dessert - we all jumped up form a chairs and raced towards him with cameras blazing. The Panna Fire ($18.00 is a fun dessert that has so many different elements to it. It's hard to know where to start, but I thought the Pistachio Bomb Alaska was a good place to begin followed by some of the Vanilla Panacotta, Rhubarb Jelly and bite of the crispy sweet Brandy Snap.

By this stage we're all feeling pretty full so I only manged a bite or two of the macarons that the cafe manager kindly sent out for us to try.

Dessert finishes with a lovely (complimentary) grapefruit granita that was refreshingly.  I found this a great counter-balance to the sugar fix we'd all just indulged in and I'm sure it stopped me from going back to my room and entering a diabetic coma.

Astonish Patisserie is at 393 King William Street, Adelaide. They open at afternoon tea time, how very civilized of you Adelaide.