Hungary For More
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday February 24, 2004
Sweet Kiss
343 CLOVELLY ROAD, CLOVELLY.
TEL: 9664 2654.
Open Daily 8am-5pm .
Best buys
Chestnut hearts $2.20 each, whole strudel (about 40cm long, above) $14, Dobostorte (12cm) $7.50.
A tiny cake shop in Clovelly is home to Budapest's best kept secrets.
Sneeze and you'd miss this tiny cake shop on the way to Clovelly Beach but, once you find it, you'll never go past again.
Pastry chefs Ilona and Istvan Varga used to work at one of Budapest's most famous coffee and cake shops, Gerbeaud. On moving to Sydney, they opened Sweet Kiss and began baking Hungarian cakes and pastries.
When we say tiny, we mean three's a crowd. There's a little wooden table jammed in the corner behind the door, while the kitchen runs around the back of the shop.
Shelf stands gazing hungrily at the luscious and colourful contents in the glass-fronted counter. Even simple danishes and scrolls look somehow more sumptuous: cherries spill out of the pastries, the glossy scrolls bulge with raisins.
We're guided through the collection by the shop's salesman, Paul Varga (no relation). ``You must try this," he says as he places a dark brown bun on the counter, ``pogacsa [pog-archa], a spicy Hungarian scone made with pork crackling."
We've never tasted anything like this spicy, porky scone. Varga tells of the chef who mistakenly served 120 of these savoury sensations to American tourists with jam and cream.
We learn about pozsonyi , sweet bread dough stuffed with either walnut or poppy seed and rolled into horse collar shapes or miniature loaves.
``Try this chestnut heart," says Varga, handing over a shiny chocolate heart-shaped confection with a coffee-coloured base, ``chestnut puree beaten with rum and sugar, dipped in chocolate with a fondant base". Shelf takes a nibble and goes weak at the knees. Rich doesn't begin to describe it.
There are seven strudels (``Our specialty, " says Varga) from walnut through poppy to cherry and cream cheese. Then there are the cakes that come in three sizes 13cm, 20cm and 25cm. Two are worth noting. The mousse cake, which is made of fruit and cream mousse on a biscuit base covered with a cherry glaze, and Hungary's famous dobostorte , a multi-layered sponge filled with light chocolate cream and topped with caramel wedges.
From their tiny headquarters, the Vargas' wholesale their cakes all over Sydney. You'll see their beiglis (sweet bread rolled around poppy seed or walnut filling) in delis and cafes across Sydney. Squeeze into Sweet Kiss and you've found the source.
© 2004 Sydney Morning Herald
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