Cafes

Zimt Patisserie Bakery Cafe, Mont Albert

2/18/2010 07:18:00 AM

Delicious Lemon Tart from Zimt Bakery

Have you noticed zeitgeisty the Melbourne blogosphere can be? Bloggers get excited about the latest cool place, a zillion posts and tweets come up, and eventually we move on and the excitement dies down. (Of course, the actual cafes and restaurants still keep keeping on, long after the cameras and iPhones have been put away). Recent examples that come to mind are Seven Seeds, Proud Mary and Cutler & Co.

I love how blogs are so current, and when trying to find a new place to eat, always check the internet before consulting a guide book or magazine. Which reminds me of a Simpsons quote...

Kent Brockman: Excuse me, did you see the six o'clock news?
Comic Book Guy: No, I get my news from the internet, like a normal person under seventy. Farewell, dinosaur.

But, it's not as if every single restaurant and cafe out there gets blogged. Personally, I usually don't blog my absolute favourite, most visited places. Not just because I don't want my legions of readers and fans cramping my style (haha!), but also because I visit my regular haunts too regularly to bother blogging them. I'm not sure if other bloggers are the same as me, but if so, this means there must be heaps of unblogged gems all over Melbourne. And how hard is it to keep up with all the Melbourne food blogs, anyway?

So, blogs, twitter and other media of the young-and-trendy may be the place to hear about the newest trends and latest coffee temples, but let's not discount the good old tree media.

My dad recently bought The Foodies' Guide to Melbourne 2010, and it had some great recommendations in there. This was in spite of some already outdated observations: "Melbourne is going through a renaissance in its approach to roasting and making coffee" (Duh!), and not-so-secret "food secrets", like Laurent. (Seriously guys?!)

However, one of the good finds was Zimt Patisserie Bakery Cafe. I haven't seen anyone blog about it yet (although please send me a link if there are any other posts about it!). It's an Austrian bakery, in the Eastern suburbs. YAY!

Zimt Patisserie
38 Hamilton Street
Mont Albert, Victoria 3127
Ph: (03) 9890 2382
Website

We visited on a quiet sunny weekend, a few weeks after the Christmas break. It is quite a small cafe, with some outdoor seating, and judging by our visit, is primarily frequented by middle-aged ladies. They have quite a wide range of baked goods on offer, from bread, to streusel slice, chocolate cakes, biscuits and more. They seem to do a lot of Christmas baking too, including stollen.

Ooh... cakes and pastries.

Chocolates, biscuits...

I started off with a latte. It was decent, not great, but pretty much what you would expect from a suburban cafe.

I had a walnut crescent, which was quite nice, but I suspect that these are best enjoyed straight out of the oven.
Hehe, I thought the pudgy shape was cute. Maybe they could do with a Kipferl flexi-form!

Sandra had a mixed-berry muffin, which by all accounts was very good, and full of juicy fruit.

On our way out, we bought a loaf of bread, and I impulsively bought a lemon tart and mini cheesecake to take home. Looking at the array, I was curious and asked the sales assistant about the tarts. She said they were lemon tarts, filled with raspberry preserve, and the filling was the same as what they use in the cheesecake. OMG.

Sarah: I'll take one of each please.

Back at home...
How cute is the mini-cheesecake? I tried cutting it in half to share, but the base was rock hard. I couldn't cut it with a fork; I needed a sharp knife to cut all the way through. So when I ate my half, I basically ate all the cream first, then picked up the base and ate it separately. The cream itself was fantastic - light and creamy, not too dense - and the biscuit base had a strong nutmeg taste, much like spekulatius.

Much more impressive was the lemon tart. The pastry (phew!) was crisp and light (not ri-donk-ulously hard like the cheesecake base), the soft cheesecake cream was a fabulous filling, and the raspberries and lemon curd gave a sharp contrast. Wow. My favourite lemon tart, ever!

So, a big thank-you to the Foodies' Guide for recommending this great cafe!

Zimt Patisserie Bakery Cafe on Urbanspoon

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15 comments

  1. There are so many restaurants/cafes/bakeries in Melbourne, it would be hard for every single one of them to have a foodblogger review it, but it is nice to hear and see photos from a place that isn't "the hottest place in town"!

    The lemon tart sounds to die for!

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  2. Some local perspective: when we moved nearby a decade ago, one of my friends told me, quite seriously, that the best coffee around was at Dunkin' Donuts in Shoppingtown. A shock after Carlton. Best @ Zimt are the tiny tastes, the little intense lemon or passionfruit or chocolate tarts and cakes. For coffee though go to Romeo's in Greythorn!

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  3. Rilsta - I also like hearing about unusual, out-of-the way places.

    Elizabeth - LOL! I'm a local too! Yay. I have to say, the coffee at Jones The Grocer in shoppo isn't too bad! You're right, Romeo's is very delicious but I haven't been in ages. Full time work means less time hanging out in cafes, booo. :( I recently recommended Romeo's to a fellow blogger who just posted about Moka Pot Cafe.

    xox Sarah

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  4. There are many places that I don't blog about. You are right, I should blogging more about the unknown. The little bakeries and cafes. I told myself that I will try and blog more about my local.

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  5. It's been a few years since I have been to Zimt, but their apple strudel used to be absolutely rockin'! IMO, one of the best in town. Wonder if its still as good?

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  6. long time reader sarah- have lived around the corner form Zimt for last few years. i was thrilled when it opened and has strated a wave of Mont Albert gourmet eating.
    Only thing is the service I have found there is far from what you would want, and the food,e xpect on rare ocassios, stale. I ahve had the embarresment of buying lemon tarts and sacher torts to take as gifts to dinner parties onyl to be embarressed by the quality. I made a decision not to waste my money ethere and take a risk, as it is also very expensive for what it offers.
    Glad you had a good expeirnece though

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  7. oh wow.. I was drooling as I scrolled down the post but that lemon tart! I can SEE the delicious oooooze in that tart, I want to lick my screen. xx

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  8. oh wow.. I was drooling as I scrolled down the post but that lemon tart! I can SEE the delicious oooooze in that tart, I want to lick my screen. xx

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  9. Mm! Nice.
    I'm down w/Sandra's selection.

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  10. I'm exactly the same as you Sarah, I neglect to blog all my usual places that I visit. I'm so used to them and just don't feel the rush of finding a new place and hence don't think to blog them.

    I must start blogging all the regular places I eat at now.

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  11. great to hear about this place! i'm making a trip to melbourne next month and will most certainly be going through your blog posts to look for new/different places to eat :)

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  12. oh my that all looks so good!

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  13. oh my, the mini cheesecake looks scrumptious!

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  14. o.m.g! That freakin lemon tart is sending me off the edge. Damn it..it looks so good. I have 1 more day of leave left...and I'm gonna try and cancel our plans to go here!

    Oh yeah, I have a way too big of a backlog of posts to write up. More time!! LOL

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  15. Mini cheesecake, please. YUM.

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