The girl who ate Halloween!

So, its Halloween this weekend and I found myself all alone with the boyfriend away for the weekend.
Whats a girl to do? Why, ditch the diet for a couple of days and enjoy some baked goods while shopping! Of course!

I start off the day with my favourite:

young coconut juice =) Then I hit the town...

Stop one: Chinatown.

Now I am lucky enough to live in ashfield, which has a couple of little asian bakeries. Living so close to these has made me quite partial to things like mochi balls and red bean pastries. So I headed off to Chinatown to see what else is on offer.

At St honore on Sussex st I bought a cocktail bun, a taro mochi ball and a coconut tart.I was tempted by my usual favourites chestnut buns and red bean buns, but decided to be adventurous and try something new.

The coconut tart reminded me of the tarts my grandma makes at Christmas. It was nice and sweet but a little bland, and not moist enough for my liking.
The mochi ball was very nice but tastes much like the plain ones I usually get, nothing made it disctinctly taro flavoured, I had never tried sweet taro before, only savoury taro root, so I had been looking forward to tasting something different. And I enjoyed the cocktail bun but couldn’t finish it, it tasted a little too buttery for me.


At no.1 cake I got a shallot bun and a red bean cookie.
The shallot bun was nice, the bread was very soft and sweet with lots of shallots.And the red bean cookie was deliciously crumbly with lovely sweet nutty bean paste.
I also got a mango pancake, this was one of my favourites, the pancake was blank and tastless but inside there was a deliciously soft sponge, sweet cream and lots of very fresh mango.

Last stop was Emporers Garden bakery for a chestnut tart. The tart was disappointing I have to say.
The pastry base had a coating of chocolate which was rather cheap tasting and hard, the sponge inside was lovely and softy, but the chestnut puree was rather bland, tasting neither sweet not chestnutty.

I also got a ‘date paste cake’ which looked like a mini moon cake. I am quite sure they gave me a lotus seed cake which was sitting in the next container by mistake, as the filling tasted much like lotus seed paste, and nothing like date. I didn’t mind cause I enjoy lotus seed paste, but it wasn’t what I ordered…

I also, amazingly, got some Christmas shopping done (so early!) my little sis loves stores like morning glory, so I was finding it hard not to buy everything in Chinatown for her.

Stop two was Fernades patisserie Marrickville.
I picked up a sweet potato biscuit, almond tart, and a custard tart.

The custard tart was not so much a tart as a big firm round piece of custard. It was very sweet, nice, but nothing special.
The Almond tart which I expected to be my favourite was disappointing the parstry was lovely and flaky with yummy almonds and a sweet glaze on top, the filling was a lovely texture, very moist, but it was flavoured with amaretto essence which I absolutely hate.

The sweet potato biscuit was probably my favourite, chewy and moist and delicious. But very sweet, and with an almost gritty taste sometimes.It was only small but I couldn’t eat it all at once as it was so sweet.

Last stop was Pie Face.
I have been wanting pecan pie for a long time, and when I saw these mini ones I got very excited!

I always forget how little I can eat now that I have been dieting.. so as a result of my eyes being much bigger than my stomach there is a lovely little box of cake halves sitting at home waiting for my boyfriend hehehehe.....