THIS PATISSERIE IS NOW CLOSED. This mysterious patisserie is hidden away in suburbia, practically blending in with the other eateries in the small food court area of the St Ives Shopping Centre. It seems that they have quite the local fan-base built up but luckily while you’re waiting to be served there are samples of their baked goodies on offer. As we nibbled on a sample of their delectable Caramel Slice, we gazed up in wonder at their colourful macaron tower balls and various frothy creations sitting daintily behind the glass display cases.
The macarons have been hyped up for me by my friend who mentioned that Brendan Dewar trained with Adriano Zumbo and a bit of online research shows that he also worked for Lindt and Pierre Herme, one of the top French makers of macarons. The hardest part was choosing which ones to get – I eventually settled on the Rose Lychee, Salted Caramel and Watermelon ones.
They’re all quite big compared to other macarons I’ve had around Sydney so I think they’re pretty good value for money. The Rose Lychee was overwhelmingly sweet and had some fragrant jelly in the middle. However, the macaron shell itself was a bit harder than I was used to. The Salted Caramel was delicious, as it is really hard to go wrong with the wonderful salty sweet taste of this flavour. But surprisingly my favourite this time was the Watermelon one which was adorably decorated to look like an actual watermelon. The fruity candy notes of the Watermelon macaron perfectly matched its appearance and embodies the fresh taste of Australian summers.
Macarons, $3 each
For serious macaron fans, there’s also the whimsical B.Mac which is a sweet version of the classic Big Mac burger. This elaborate masterpiece comes complete with bun coloured macarons sandwiching a caramelised white chocolate slice of “cheese”, raspberry jelly “beetroot”, chocolate ganache, lime scented lettuce, fresh strawberry and granny smith apple. It is even served in a proper burger box for authenticity and genuinely looks like a shrunken Big Mac. It was almost too pretty to eat but when we eventually did get around to eating it, I found out that it looks better than it tastes. It was just too sweet for us thanks to the 5 different types of jelly/chocolate/fruit packed into the sesame seed dusted macarons. It was also really strange to chew through a piece of lettuce amongst all those sugary flavours, not complementary at all.
B.Mac, $6.50 (gluten free)
Our designer, Helen ordered a pavlova and was very excited to dig into it until she realised that the meringue was hard and crumbly, instead of light and fluffy as she was expecting. There were various slices of fresh fruit and puffs of cream also artfully heaped on top of the meringue but overall it was a bit of a disappointment for her.
Pavlova, $4.50
We also tried a couple of their freshly baked pies to balance out all the sweetness. I got the beef and mushroom pie, which had a buttery flaky pastry and a tasty filling I was quite satisfied with.
Beef and mushroom pie, $4.50
The chicken pie which DK got turned out to also have some mash and broccoli. The fillings were soft and tasty, and thanks to the broccoli has some nice colour! The only criticism was that the meat to vegetable ratio was quite low, so there wasn’t that much chicken apparent.
Chicken and broccoli pie, $4.50
All in all, Brendan Dewar Patisserie has some unique and quirky creations which are worth heading into St Ives for, even just to look at them and marvel at the intricate handiwork on them. But keep in mind that not everything in there is a hit and you should choose your sweets carefully.
Brendan Dewar Patisserie
119, 166 Mona Vale Road
St Ives NSW 2075
Phone: (02) 9144 5768
I just had the worst tomato and meat pie I have ever eaten in ST. Ives. Burnt pastry and not much meat. Needs a lot of improvement ot meet Australian meat pie standards
Correction, Adriano Zumbo was an apprentice to Brendan Dewar…