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Location:
Little Italy, San Diego
1430 Union Street
San Diego, CA 92101
This is an upscale, gourmet dessert place that also serves gourmet teas, snacks and sandwiches. We went here when visiting a friend in San Diego who told us that we HAD to try this place. It definitely had a very upscale feel to it. At the front of the restaurant is the display of all their cakes, cupcakes and other desserts.
Cakes range in price depending on size, roughly it is about $35 for a 6" round cake to about $50 for "10. Per slice, it is about $8. They have a HUGE selection of desserts that are all verryy appealing and it was difficult to choose considering that coming here would definitely be only on rare occasions. So after we came we waited to be seated by our server. The have a wide variety of teas and finally settled on a passion fruit tea.
Also on the menu were a varity of small snacks and spreads. We chose to order the parmesan pesto spread ($8) that comes with bread & cie bread (bread & cie is a local bakery in San Diego that is known for their bread. Oh and it IS really good!), and rigatoni chips. I can't really describe the taste of the spread because its really different from what I've ever had and what I expected.
My friend Dez ordered a grilled cheese ($8) sandwich which IS NOT like your typical, everyday grilled cheese sandwich because if it was it would be difficult to think why any SANE person would pay $8 for a grilled cheese sandwich. I don't remember what they put in their but it was THEE BEST grilled cheese sandwich I've ever had.
And finally...we get to dessert!!!
We ordered the Pavlova
The Passion Fruit Torte
We also ordered a slice of Ivoire Imperial BUT I don't have a picture for that. When I find it I will put it up. Let's start with the Pavlova. It is a meringue type of dessert. Inside it is filled with a white chocolate creme and topped with a variety of fruit and a pretty orchid flower. Our server told us this was one of the more popular desserts. It's definitely beautiful to look at but we found the filling to be a bit too sweet for our taste. The Passion fruit ricotta torte definitely had a lighter, delicate taste than the other two desserts. It is made of ricotta cake layers soaked in passion fruit juice and layered in passion fruit flavored whipped creme, kiwis and strawberries. This dessert had a more simple presentation, but it was also the only one we finished because the other two desserts were very rich. The Ivoire Imperial was also delicious but also rich in taste. It is made of pound cake soaked in vanilla bean, layered in white chocolate mouse, rasberries and cranberries then topped with white chocolate shavings and...24K gold coated roses and shavings?? Apparently they spare no expense when they decorate their cakes. I was confused if it was real gold or not, if I was allowed to eat, if I had to return it to them. . . obviously it was a first for me to have my food decorated in gold.
Price: $$
For dessert, it is a little on the pricey side but not so much that you can't indulge yourself every once in a while.
Recommended:
Definitely. Personally Jim and I prefer Asian cakes because they are not too sweet. The food here was delicious, if a bit on the pricey side for what it was. The desserts were wonderful in both taste and presentation. The cakes were a little richer than I'd like but the servings were big so you can probably eat a little bit of it and take the rest home. I think this place is a definite MUST try the next time you find yourself in San Diego.
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