Gelato Messina

This post is long overdue, and dedicated to the friend who drove all the way to Darlinghurst at 9pm on a Wednesday just so i could get some Messina.

Gelato Messina has often been cited as “Australia’s best Gelato”, and while i love Gelato Messina’s crazy and mostly ingenious combinations, i wouldn’t want to dissuade potential new gelato stores from usurping such a title.

The best thing about Messina is the variety of the Gelato that’s available. It doesn’t matter if you’re feeling fruity and light, or creamy and rich, Messina is guaranteed to have a flavour that will tickle your fancy. They also have a bunch of specials up regularly, and although i couldn’t say whether they were weekly or monthly, the combinations that were available when i visited seemed to have been engineered to be consumed by me.

Umeboshi, Black Forest and Hummingbird Cake; Triple Serve

I got a takeaway pack of 3 flavours; Black Forest, Hummingbird Cake and Ultraviolet – which were the specials on that particular night, and a single serve of the Green Tea & Yuzu flavour. I’ve been a huge fan of Yuzu since tasting Yuzu sorbet at Azuma last year and Messina did not disappoint. The gelato was creamy and proper Green Tea powdery with just the subtlest citrus hit of Yuzu.

Takeaway Pack with a Single serve of Green Tea and Yuzu

What i’ve found with Messina is that some of their flavour combinations are quite hit and miss. I still remember, but not with fondness, the horseradish, rhubarb and something else combo flavour that i decided to try some time back. It was not pleasant. But the number of pleasant combinations do undoubtedly outnumber those flavours less fortunate.

With the takeaway pack, it was surprisingly the Ultraviolet flavour that was kinda disappointing. It was extremely yoghurty, with just the smallest trace of blueberry, and i can’t say i tasted any violet in there. Nonetheless, it wasn’t inedible, but just wouldn’t be a flavour i would reorder. The Black Forest and Hummingbird Cake combinations were rather safe, and tasted like you’d expect, with chunks of glazed red cherries in the former, and coconuts and walnuts in generous amounts in the latter.

The queues may be long, and the store may be narrow, but the endorphins are well worth the wait.

Cafe Topiary

Brunch is probably my favourite meal. I’m never that hungry when i wake up, and breakfast/lunch at 11:30am sounds like the perfect compromise for someone who usually wakes up at 10am. But yesterday, after an 8am bushwalk with friends, we were half-starved and decided to head into Epping to have brunch at Cafe Topiary, a small “garden-themed” cafe that i had been to once before, because i was craving breakfast food, such as EGGS.

Since Cafe Topiary is rather small, and i had underestimated the number of people willing to wake up at 11am on a Sunday to brunchfast, we had to move ourselves around a couple of times until they could find a table for 4. However we did have to go up to the counter to ask them to clear our tables, we waited about a half hour for a flat white and a hot chocolate, and we had to ask them about our food since the table next to us who had arrived after we did had already gotten theirs. Granted the staff did seem rather flustered and busy, but it did detract from the beauty of the brunch at least a little.

I ordered the Vege Benedict, since the allure of the Zucchini and Potato Rosti was too strong, and i have to say, i was not disappointed in the slightest. The poached eggs were well cooked, but had to be salted and peppered to taste. The hollandaise sauce was also rather delish, but i left the tomatoes alone because they were rather mushy from being…roasted.

Vege Benedict: Zucchini and potato rosti topped with rocquette, roast tomato and poached eggs drizzled with hollandaise sauce served on sourdough toast – $16

My friends ordered the Topiary French Toast and the Eggs Benedict (with Salmon) and although i didn’t sample the latter, my friend assures me that it was good. I did however have some of the French Toast, and although i didn’t have it with the bacon, the bread with caramelised banana and maple syrup was rather good. I can’t really say i was a huge fan of the strawberry compote however, just cause i don’t like compote in general. It’s always far too tart for my liking.

The french toast was sadly not as good as MY french toast, which is bread steeped in egg batter, milk and then in sugar before being pan fried, but Cafe Topiary’s FT was passable.

Although service was on the slow side, the staff were amiable and overall, the Vege Benedict definitely hit that sweet spot. I’d however recommend that you make a reservation before deciding to brunch there, just to save some much valued time.

Cafe Topiary serves breakfast ALL DAY, and have a lunch menu that is accessible from 12pm onwards.