MoMo & Coco

The Ultimate South Melbourne Market Dessert Tour

Introduction 

How are we in September already?? :O We are gobsmacked that we were almost at the end of the year, and we still feel so unsettled back in Australia. 😦 To try to anchor ourselves a little more, we have made it a mission to re-discover our old dessert haunts. If London has Borough Market, Melbourne has South Melbourne Market. In this round-up guide, we take a dessert tour of South Melbourne Market, revisiting old favourite dessert spots, and trying out the new ones.

Creme Brulee Macaron from Flour

  • ☑ Dessert destination: Flour, South Melbourne Market, South Melbourne.
  • ☑ Must-try: Creme Brulee Macaron.
  • ☑ Short and sweet story: Located at one of the entrances of the market, it would be hard to miss Flour’s glass counters stuffed full of cakes and macarons. If you are after a gigantic macaron – ultra sweet and crunchy, rather than airy soft, in texture – get Flour’s creme brulee macaron. Just be forewarned, sometimes, you might get a somewhat rude server…

Pandan croissants and cheap pastries from Agathe

  • ☑ Dessert destination:  Agathe Patisserie, South Melbourne Market, South Melbourne.
  • ☑ Must-try: Pandan croissant and/or pandan custard pastry.
  • ☑ Short and sweet story: Of all the dessert places on this list, Agathe’s desserts are perhaps the most sought after. The weekend queues for this bakery remain as long as they ever were in pre-pandemic times when we last visited. Prices are exceedingly reasonable. Don’t miss Agathe’s vibrant alien-green pandan croissant, and just in case that is not on the menu, do consider any other pandan pastry…or any other pastry for that matter. The best selection can be had before noontime, so if you prefer to sleep in on the weekends, you snooze, you loose :D.  See our previous review here.

Next generation pastries from Cobb Lane

  • ☑ Dessert destination:  Cobb Lane Bakery, South Melbourne Market, South Melbourne.
  • ☑ Must-try: Pain suisse and any specials.
  • ☑ Short and sweet story: By contrast to Agathe, Cobb Lane reminds us a little of Supermoon Bakehouse in NYC. The pastries here are more expensive than Agathe (think $10-15 each), and also a little more inventive. Its Pain Suisse is rather different, with its ultra crunchy shell that splinters into long pastry shards upon biting. We have tried a chocolate version and a matcha yuzu version. We have also tried an ultra dense twice-baked chocolate coconut almond croissant.

 Cannoli from Cannoleria

  • ☑ Dessert destination: Cannoleria, South Melbourne Market, South Melbourne.
  • ☑ Must-try: Limoncello or key lime cannoli.
  • ☑ Short and sweet story: For the years we lived in NYC, our Brooklyn Heights neighbourhood had an amazing line-up of Italian bakeries, and mini cannolis were a highlight dessert from those bakeries. See our past review here. Now in Melbourne, if you are ever craving for giant-sized cannolis check out Cannoleria. They come in an assortment of different-flavoured creams – original ricotta, key lime, tiramisu, pistachio, chocolate, blood orange etc. Note that they do have to be eaten the same day.

Cookie from Cookie Factory

  • ☑ Dessert destination: Cookie Factory, South Melbourne Market, South Melbourne.
  • ☑ Must-try: Chocolate chip.
  • ☑ Short and sweet story: Nine months away from NYC, and boy do we miss Levain. When we saw Cookie Factory while meandering around South Melbourne Market, we thought that maybe this is the answer to our cookie cravings. At $7 a cookie, it’s on par to NYC prices, with Melbourne’s inflationary attitude. :p It’s also similarly chunky in style. It’s somewhat more underbaked than we prefer, but if you don’t mind this type of texture in your cookie, it’s not a bad cookie. We at least could stand by the store and sniff all that cookie nostalgia in the air and pretend that we are in NYC. 

 

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