The Adelphi Hotel on Flinders Lane, Melbourne, has been transformed into a Dessert Hotel! Perhaps the world’s only one! That’s something new to be famous for, alongside its iconic swimming pool that overhangs the street.
The new Adelphi’s focus is to offer an ‘indulgent sensory experiences’ to guests and diners, and it’s kicking off that theme with its gorgeous new dessert bar and menu. There are a few savoury snacks for those without a sweet tooth (or with diabetes!) but otherwise it offers lush, luscious and complex desserts, dessert cocktails, dessert wines and pretty much is a sugar high waiting to happen.
Christy Angwidjaja is the head chef for the hotel’s Om Nom restaurant and along with Pierrick Boyer, the expertise chef at that restaurant, is responsible for the inventive, subtle and Oh. My. God. Amazing! menu.
Which included macaron trees at the launch. I kid you not. Macaron. Trees. Also little glasses of the tiniest, classiest trifles you ever did see, and wee chocolate mousses in pastry cases topped by jellied coffee and a gold flake. Well, if I’m going to die of sugar overdose, I might as well go out in style, right?
I was also captivated by the little slider burgers. They are pinned together with these little sauce-syringes. You squeeze the bulbous end and sauce is injected into your burger. It reduces mess and, better still, it’s an invitation for grown adults to play with their food!
The launch also showcased the bar’s fabulous dessert cocktails, including a lemon meringue cocktail and a sort of very alcoholic banana smoothie. Mmmmm. Talk about going out in style. I did rather incautiously invite the bartender who invented these things to come and live at our house. He wisely declined, whether for his sake or my own is not clear.
The Adelphi’s cafe in the foyer has a fun, 60s-ish ambience, and is a lovely place for an indulgent pre-show, after-dinner or for-the-hell-of-it treat. A high tea is on offer too. When I get a chance to try it out, I’ll report on it so you know what to expect when you take your honey (or your bestie) along for a culinary good time.
Visit the Adelphi Hotel’s website
Do you know of a romantic Melbourne experience? Let me know and I will selflessly explore it. SELFLESSLY.