My Journey of Sights, Tastes & Smells: June 2007

Payday can be a good thing AND a bad thing. The good thing is, I have money to spend on food and go out to eat; the bad thing is, I usually spend most of it almost too quickly. But enough said, I've always walked by this store (Brioche by philip) on Commercial Road but never had the opportunity to pop in and peruse their selection. The man (Philip Chiang) who owns it used to have a store right in Daimaru when it was still in Melbourne. Taking the chance that I've just got paid, I walked in and took note of the buns & breads they had on offer. An impressive range of buns, breads & pastries, all well-presented and definitely looked gourmet-y. Most of them generously portioned. A funny looking bread "Big Brioche" stood out, as it looked like a huge round bun with a pox growing on top of it (pardon my really bad metaphor). Other delights includes a smaller version brioche, almond croissant (i heard this is really good), read bean an pan, raisin loaf, orange loaf, blue cheese brioche, chocolate sourdough with hazelnuts and sour cherries, etc. Opting for a pick-me-up having had lunch just awhile before, I picked the red bean an pan ($1.50). The bun had freckles of grey sesame seeds, nicely scattered over its smooth shiny top. The top, though slightly toasted which gave it a brown tinge, was soft, while the bottom was stark white with a doughy texture. I don't know if that's how it meant to be, but it made me question the outcome. After getting home I decided to pop it into the oven to toast it a little. 5 minutes in, took it out and took a bite. It did taste better after being toasted - the top was crusty and the whole bun was warm. However, there were a few things about the bun that I couldn't decide whether it faulted. The bun was a bit salty and gave out a little bit of a 'meaty' smell (maybe it could've just been me?). The dough was thick which made the red bean filling scarce. And the red bean filling was also not very sweet. All in all, the presentation was well-done, but the overall taste is very disappointing. I would probably buy it if it was a meat bun. But I would never get myself to buy the bun again.

Red Bean An Pan

While waiting for the tram, I also spotted another cake shop/bakery (Eugenie's French Cake Shop) and popped in to grab something (anything!) Made a bold decision and went for something I wouldn't normally get - orange cake. Honestly, I was kind of attracted by the way it looked. When asking how much it was, was surprised to know that it was rather pricey ($5.50) since the cake was pretty small (palm-size). But I paid for it anyway, because when it comes to food, you can't really put a value to it, unless you know for sure that it's not worth paying for. But then again, that's subjective on each person's opinion. I felt it was sorta worth it because the cakes they sell are authentically French, though I have yet to have a taste of it (will do tonight!) Hopefully, this cake shop will leave me with more to desire from. And just to tantalise ur tastebuds ...