Yellow Eggs: Brunetti

Level 3, Myer Melbourne, Bourke St, Melbourne
Date visited: 29th May 2012

I haven't been to Brunetti for a long while, not since I've moved out of Carlton, where we used to frequent the Carlton branch.

The newest Brunetti branch has opened in Myer Melbourne, and is located on level 3, strategically sharing the same floor as the children's toys and also delightfully overlooking the intimate apparel section. Of course, nothing would make sipping your cup of coffee and enjoying your sweet Brunetti dessert more complete than gazing over while women pick out sexy lingerie, training bras and Bridget Jones knickers.

Brunetti Myer

Fabulous view

Standing in front of the counter (and even more so in the Carlton branch), you feel like a little kid again in a candy (or rather, cake) store. Brunetti seeks to tempt you with their large array of gorgeous cakes and little delicacies.

And then there are their enormous array of Mignon and Dolci, which are bite sizes cakes that can be eaten in just one mouthful.

Cannoli, tarts, macarons

Profiteroles!!!

Tarts, eclairs, panzerotti

They even have a Cioccolateria, which consists of hand made chocolates by Brunetti. I've never tried them myself, but you can get them in pretty gift boxes.

Handmade chocolates

Of course, there's their well-respected Gelateria.

They also have a Panetteria with fresh bread and a savoury section.

We bought five little things home. It came packaged in a sturdy Brunetti box.

Takeaway box
(A busybody in the background)

Our stash

Our mignons ($2.20 each):

Clockwise from left:

Bigne San Guisippe - doughnut pastry filled with strega chantilly cream and covered in cinnamon and sugar

Bigne Caffe - choux pastry filled with coffee custard topped with coffee fondant

French Custard Tart - shortbread base topped with French custard and sour cherries and glazed with apricot jam

Our little cakes:

Pear & cheese crumble $6.50 - baked cream cheesecake with poached pears, blackberry jam on choc chip biscuit base

Hazelnut & coffee torte $6.50 - flourless hazelnut sponge with coffee cream

People may say a picture says a thousand words, but I don't believe in just posting big pictures of pretty desserts without a comment about what they taste like. I am super let down whenever I encounter food that look beautiful but taste mediocre or even, disgusting - yes, we all know too well food can be deceiving that way.

In Brunetti's case, each dessert definitely tasted as good as it looked. So the three of us had to cut each mignon into minuscule portions like Gary, Matt and George on Masterchef, but it was worth it as we got to try each one. The pear crumble was beautiful, rich and dense and full of chunks of blueberry jam. The hazelnut torte was like a Ferrero Rocher magically transformed into a creamy sponge. The French custard was nicely contrasted with the tanginess of the sour cherries. The profiteroles were light and incredibly packed full of flavour in each bite.

A special mention would be for the Cannoli Cioccolato, which is one of my favourites, although we didn't buy it today.

I think their Cannoli tags are the wrong way round

We also love the Braziliana cake, which consists of vanilla sponge, coffee liquer, coffee cream and chocolate chips. I just had one last month from the Carlton branch and it tasted even better than I remembered it from years ago.