"Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid’s archery, Sink in apple of his eye."
- A Midsummer night's dream
Like many other interesting little haunts in the Capital, word of mouth is definitely more potent than any other advertisement.
J was eager to show me this little patisserie/cafe nestled in a rather unassuming corner of Jamison Plaza.
Upon entering the rather busy cafe on a Thursday afternoon, I was immediately entranced by the beautiful display of cakes and pastries glistening on display by the front counter.
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| Cakes and pastries on display |
"Is that really a cheesecake?" I asked J in awe.
The cakes and pastries looked amazing. Almost too surreal and perfect to be edible. I was torn between the irresistibly hipster cronuts and the incredible cakes on display.
"You could always get both," J offered.
Ah, maybe for another day then.
We decided to get some real lunch under our belt first. I ordered the open lamb sandwich, which sounded fantastic on the menu, but unfortunately was a bit of a let down in terms of taste. It was definitely generous in its proportions, but it just wasn't quite as tasty as it sounded. In my opinion, it was a bit lacking in contrast of taste and texture. Maybe it needed a proper salad on the side to cut through the rather homogenous tasting dish. A few sprouts sprinkled on top really did not do much for its flavour. Its presentation also left something to be desired.
J's gourmet burger looked more appealing and was quite substantial in size. (Although arguably, it is quite pricey for a burger) The burger was served in focaccia bread and had a side of undercooked fries.
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| Top: Gourmet Burger $14.90 (with chips $17.90). Bottom: Open lamb sandwich $9.90. |
Well, I guess Ricardo's Cafe is really better known for its pastries and dessert.
We ordered an Apple cheesecake to share, although we had to fork out a bit extra for the ice-cream on the side.
Not sure if it was due to hyped up expectations, but the taste of the cheesecake seemed rather ordinary next to the sheer spherical perfection and technical complexity of the cake. It was quite nice, don't get me wrong. And it's definitely something worth trying at least once. It's certainly impressive looking enough to show off on Facebook or Instagram, but I'm not sure if the taste was good enough to make me crave it enough to make it a regular event.
The inside of the cake had a small layer of rather soft biscuit 'crumble', a substantial amount of cheesecake-y filling to make the bulk of the 'apple' and a gooey cinnamon and apple layer that tasted a bit like cold McDonald's apple-pie filling (mind you, I do like a good Maccas apple pie.)
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| Above: Apple Cheesecake $8.90. |
Perhaps I was unlucky with my order choices this time. Who knows, surely the crowd knows something I don't?
I'm still keen to try a cronut one day though :).
