Bourke Street Bakery is so famous in Sydney. When Ana would mention it to her friends, they would all sigh and say “mmmm, sausage roll” or “mmm creme brulee tart”. So they took me there to get some take out for a small picnic in Kiribilli. Guys manned the bar, I guess they baked everything as well. At lunch time, people were eating all sorts of pies, rolls and sandwiches…and a lot of people would come and go with little bags of food.
I got myself the beef brisket pie. It smelled so fabulous in the car that everyone became curious of what I ordered. So we grabbed some picnic stuff and headed to a small grass patch by the river…our view was the Sydney opera house. The sun was out and the wind was nice and cool..perfect picnic weather!
Ana began pouring our wonderful discovery in Hunter Valley — First Creek Raspberry Wine. It was lovely and light pink. It was so refreshing and light, slightly sweet that you wouldn’t really know that there was alcohol in it. It was the type of drink you can enjoy with or without food. And the best part about it was it tasted of fresh raspberries and honey.
Out came our first savory snack, the infamous Pork Fennel Sausage Roll from Bourke Street Bakery. The dough was so flakey and light, some parts were flakey, some parts were soft.
Every bite was juicy. The sausage was soft and you can really taste the fennel and the pork. Though the texture was a little like having a meatloaf. It was pleasantly sweet that might have been amplified by the tomato sauce we doused it with.
It was time for my small pie to shine: The Beef Brisket Pie from Bourke Street Bakery. Again, the pie dough was flaky. The beef was simmered in wine, onions and some gravy. The filling was a little thick and gelatinous. The pie dough was very tasty…I wasn’t sure if it was probably made with pork fat or lots of lovely butter.
For a sweet snack, we had a Strawberry and Vanilla Creme Brulee Tart, also from Bourke Street Bakery. The creme brulee was delightful and rich and had little bits of strawberry in it. The vanilla bean was also very evident in the taste of the filling and it gave an extra creaminess and aroma to the tart. When you bite into it, there is a wonderful play of crunch and then a smooth rich paste in your mouth and then crumbly crust after.
We also had a Ginger and Pistachio Creme Brûlée Tart from there as well and it had the intense flavor of ginger with hints of the pistachio on the side. It was creamy and yet had a fantastic bite to it, which was mildly spicy and cool in the mouth and throat. The sugar coating on top was crunchy and was the perfect texture as well as the tart on the bottom which made it crumbly.
Having a picnic here was one of the most relaxing times I’ve had in the trip. Enjoying the views and just talking to friends, as well as enjoying the wonderful wind and weather was something we could not really do in the Philippines because of its heat and humidity.
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