One of my favourite things about Melbourne is the abundance of places that specialise in desserts. Given it’s suddenly gone crazy hot in Melbs, we were delighted to be invited to try some of The Dessert Kitchen’s cool sweet dishes.
Tucked away in Chinatown, it’s a small, unassuming venue but inside is crisp, modern and beautifully clean. Obviously, the desserts have an Asian flair but there are plenty of options to choose from if you don’t want to opt for any of the classic Asian flavours.
Now the first piece of advice I’m going to give you here is get the shaved ice. It’s probably the only thing you will ever order that looks better than it does on the menu. I initially shied away from it, thinking it would be ugly or interesting – and let me tell you, I’m an idiot. Shaved ice, in case like me you’ve never tried it before, is literally just that – flavoured ice. It lacks the creaminess of ice cream but retains the flavour, making it a refreshing, and very moreish dessert. You don’t need to worry about that though as the portion is huge, and there’s some fresh fruit, jelly and rice balls included to keep it interesting. If you’re on a budget, this is easily a dessert you can share. If you’re not, get this and another dessert and share both!
The majority of desserts here are ice cream or shaved ice based – but what else would you want as summer approaches. We went for a strawberry themed menu, trying The Snowy Land, Waffles with Strawberry Ice-cream, the above mentioned Shaved Ice and their newest creation: Frozen Mystery. ****Spoiler Alert**** This has delicious cheesecake hidden under all of that shaved ice. Everything was enjoyable. The Frozen Mystery is creative and has great flavours. It’s a more filling, substantial dessert option. The Snowy Land was a well balanced, creamy dish. The waffles were well done, and enjoyable, but were a little small and I didn’t feel they offered as good a value as the other dishes we tried.
We also sampled the super cute hot chocolate. This is a sheer novelty item. At $6 it’s expensive for what is a fairly small hot chocolate, and you will get much better at many of the chocolate shops in and around Melbourne; however, it’s the only hot chocolate I’ve had with a polar bear marshmallow with it – and it’s totally instaworthy. Would I go back and get it again? No. Am I glad I tried it? Yes. The desserts on the other hand are definitely something I’m keen to try more of. Thanks for having us The Dessert Kitchen!
P.S. I forgot to mention – It’s open until at least MIDNIGHT every day!!!