Now I need cake. And coffee.
I have my parents meet me near 'The Spot' in Randwick. I love this little segment of the Eastern suburbs. A great hub for people to eat and drink well into the night (any night) whether it be savoury or sweet, caffeinated or not. A recent addition to The Spot is 'Kurtosh', a patisserie that specialises in a Hungarian 'chimney-cake' pastry from which the shop derives its name. This place is contstanly wafting about the tantalising smell of baked treats, meaning that buying a bus ticket from the nearby newsagents inevitably finds me at the counter ogling the cakes on display.
The delectable Kurtosh are made by wrapping dough around a large, rolling-pin like structure and are baked to order in a specially designed counter-top oven. 'What is better than freshly baked pastry?' I hear you ask. 'Adding your own topping!' I cry. There is sugar and cinnamon, pistachio, flaky chocolate and coconut. Of course we order one. It is brought to the table warm and cut up. The dough is reminiscent of a compressed croissant pastry. It is buttery, with the right amount of pull. Utterly satisfying.
To complement the kurtosh we order a strawberry-cream sponge and the gluten-free chocolate cake. The cakes here are made in large slabs from which you order by weight. 100 grams is a good 'regular slice' size but if you are hungry go nuts! The sponge is light, the cream delicately sweetened, and the strawberries - well you know, as they normally are, GREAT. The gluten free chocolate cake is a dense, moist thing. It is almost as though they have stuck two separate cakes together with rich chocolate ganache. This ganache is no sugary, whipped, pulled and processed thing. This ganache is one of those chocolate and cream, nothing else affairs. Love. Both are rapidly devoured.
Also on offer is a selection of traditional French pastries, in mini! Palmiers, pain au chocolate and little ricotta parcels. You can order three and still technically have only eaten one! Much like those giant wine glasses that fit the best part of a bottle......oh said too much.
Kurtosh is a venture co-orchestrated by Jean-Marc Masset whose formerly successful venture in Pyrmont, Jean-Marc Patisserie was famous for its crème brulee bombs. A great deal of time was spent perfecting the recipes used in Kurtosh, taking a year to get everything just so. An equal amount of time went into the decor with low, roughly hewn wooden stools, massive 1940's style cake counters running the length of the space, antique tiles and gleaming white/grey marble counters.
Further adding to this prefect gourmand hideaway is coffee by Mecca, expertly made. I am normally a one-coffee a day person, mainly for the sanity of those around me, but I end up having two. So worth it. The Barista is always happy to have a chat, particularly about his main passion, coffee! He can recommend quite a few hot spots for coffee in Europe, taking the pain out of hunting for decent coffee when abroad.
And work near this place! My life just got a little better than yours.
http://www.eatability.com.au/au/sydney/kurtosh-cafe/
