Bacco Pasticceria

The girls at work brought some cakes and pastries in to celebrate a colleague's birthday and invited me to sample some of the treats. One taste and I knew I had to find out where these delectables came from.

The answer is a new coffee shop, wine bar and bakery called Bacco located on the ground floor of the office building at 2 Chifley Square. It actually sits in the foyer of the building and has quickly built up a large following, being extremely busy each time I've walked past. The day I bought one of their large rolls for lunch, I spotted one of the pastry chefs ladelling a filling into dozens of tiny chocolate shells, I wish I had my camera with me at that moment!

Today, I decided to sample some of their pastries, I selected a lemon meringue tart and an intriguingly named millefeuille (or whatever the Italian equivalent is called) that had been flavoured with lavender. They were both called much fancier names that I can't remember at the moment and their website is still under construction so I can't check up but regardless of the name, the quality stands out like a beacon.

The lavender in the custard of the millefeuille was very delicately applied, you had to concentrate to detect it but it was there and it made a difference. The pastry was crisp and delicate and not overly sugared so you could eat the treat without ending up with a sugar moustache!

The curd in the tart was rich and lemony without being too sickly sweet and the blowtorched meringue was creamy but roughened with the tiny grit of sugar granules which contrasted nicely with the creaminess of the curd, all sitting on a crisp pastry shell that indicated lots of butter and sugar had been used by an expert hand. All topped with a tiny shard of toffee...sigh.

Definitely a winner this round but haven't tried the Danish pastries, the beautiful delicate pots of tiramisu and zuppe anglaise (Italian for English trifle), the brownies, the chocolates that I haven't seen since that first sighting and we haven't even started on the range of lunchtime sandwiches, rolls and mini pizzas yet. I'll be back!