Bacco Wine Bar Pasticceria – Chifley Square, Sydney CBD
The solid chocolate filling inside the Chocolate Torte
Simon (the heart of food) and I just had our lunch at bangbang cafe, but find ourselves wandering around Sydney CBD looking for something sweet not long after. Since we already have eaten, so we are just looking for a spot where we can sit down and relax over a cup of coffee with some good desserts. I am not particularly fond of Lindt cafe, and The Rocks is bit far to walk to from Surry Hills, not to mention most of the cafes in the city will be already shut by 4.30pm.
My brain probably works better in desperate situations, I suddenly remember there is this place that I’ve always wanted to check out after hearing many good things about it from (another) Simon who works just around the corner. We quickly doubling the pace and walk twice as fast to Chifley Square, hoping that the cafe is still open.
Clockwise L to R: latte with my desserts; two tourists looking for directions on a map outside Chifley Square; the beautiful takeaway box at Bacco; white collars having meetings at Bacco over coffees
I am so glad to see that the cafe is still open as there are still many white collars sitting at the tables having meetings over coffees. The Bacco Wine Bar Pasticceria is located on the ground floor inside Chifley Square with a sophisticated wine bar room tucked away in the far left corner, and a more casual counter service coffee station with delicious cakes displayed in glass cabinets in the foyer. We go for the latter and choose a few cakes to share.
We spend quite some time to figure out what the cakes are as there is no names nor descriptions inside the glass displays. When I decide to ask the lady behind the counter about the cakes, she seems very busy serving coffees to customers but kindly ushers us to take a seat and tells us that another waitress will come over to take our order. We are hopeful that the waitress will be able to describe and let us know what cakes are on offer. Unfortunately, she also doesn’t seem to know what they are and it only leaves us to order the cakes by describing what they look like, with one particular dessert she describes it as “the jelly thingy”.
Simon and I both share three desserts. The one that definitely grabs our attention is the chocolate torte (or at least that’s what I think it is?) Pillars of chocolate filled cigars wrapped around which I know is in some form of chocolate but not sure whether is mousse, sponge cake or something else until I cut it open revealing a 2 inches tall of solid chocolate torte. I like the crunchy chocolate cigars matching with the soft chocolate torte inside, but oh boy I can feel my heart clogging on every spoonful, it is a bit too rich for my taste buds.
The next dessert is possibly my favourite is the lemon meringue tart. Tear drops of meringue are perfectly piped on top of a crusty tart shell filled with lemon curd. The jam-like lemon curd filling is incredibly good, not overly sweet with a nice tongue-tingling soury tang to it. Two pieces of toffee are so pretty on the tart however I found them unnecessary as the lemon curd tart itself is already taste heavenly as it is.
Last but not least, the dessert that had been described as “the jelly thingy” is actually apricot jelly at the bottom, vanilla custard in the middle layer with raspberries, and topped with whipped cream, halved varnished strawberry, and a vanilla macaron. I think there are way too many components in this dessert and all the different flavours simply don’t work together unfortunately. As the macaron is sitting on top of whipped cream, the bottom shell has already stuck to the cream and gone soggy. The glossy pink-varnished strawberry is rather unusual if not over the top.
We couldn’t finish the cakes after such a big lunch at BangBang, so I took the leftovers home as I am sure the sweet-tooth Pom will appreciate it. When he opens the box and not really concerns about all the desserts are already half eaten, but instead he asks,
“Has the strawberry been painted in pink?”
Yes, and I didn’t do it.
Bacco Wine Bar Pasticceria 3/2 Chifley SquareSydney NSW 2000 P: (02) 9223 9552 Opening Hours: 7am - 5pm weekdays
A Table For Two (ATFT) is Billy Law's food blog that features best eats in Sydney and around the world with drool-worthy food photography to salivate your appetite. I also throw in a smidgen of my food and travel photography for good measure. Billy Law also happened to be a contestant on MasterChef Australia 2011. 
Ooh – you should have tried the canoli – very very good canoli at Bacco. Hope you’re enjoying your holiday!
I’ve heard some great things about this place too – the chocolate torte thing looks a bit like the chocolate concorde my friend had, and sounds and looks absolutely amazing =)
Oh my looks very delicious. The chocolate torte has a very funky look. Nice
Looks amazing. I love little cakes!
Lol, “that jelly thingy” sure does have a good ring to it though.
The chocolate torte looks like it would send anyone into diabetic shock!
wow! I’ll keep this one in mind. Agree, not a big fan of the lindt cafe although their velour cake is delicious. The Bacco take away box is so pretty!
Some cute and yummy cakes there. Not sure about the painted strawberry and macaron on a cake with jelly though. Will keep this in mind for future sugar hit
p/s: Hope you’re eating lots in Malaysia. Please have some ipoh hor fun tossed in a thick curry sauce for me. Thanks.
Aww pity bout the jelly thing cos it looks amazing but the other desserts I shall have to try!
Man, too much dessert! I don’t think I could’ve had one on my own let alone three of them between the two of us considering the lunch we had.
glad you tried two of my favourites from Bacco which is the concorde http://simonfoodfavourites.blogspot.com/2009/07/bacco-pasticceria-better-than-adriano.html and the lemon meringue. i don’t think i’ve tried the jelly thingie but would recommend their cannoli and any fruit tarts they have in season. i’ve shared the concorde between 3 people and that was just enough for a nice afternoon tea sugar hit so 3 cakes would have definitely been too much to finish. remember Sweet Infinity is now open in The Strand Arcade too for sugar hits
The chocolate marangue sticks on the outside of the Chocolate torte make it look extra cool.
3 cakes between 2? My oh my haha =D They all look very cute and delectable.
Love the look of that lemon meringue tart!
Well the desserts certainly looked delicious, even if the staff didn’t know what they were called! (So weird!)
that first photo is just amazing, i think you make these cakes look even better then what they taste
if they knew what cakes were being served i think that would’ve been nicer.. what a jip!
hehe… Nice to meet u at the susan’s party. I am the one who are from Thailand (with another girl who is going to open a pastry shop in Singapore). I am working at Bacco and yeah, the strawberries are painted.. lol
really glad talking to u
.-= Ja´s last blog ..Four Ate Five =-.
the jelly thingy……i first thought it was some sort of chocolate and chesse cake hybrid.
thanx for share