Melbourne is really spoilt for choice when it comes to good desserts. There’s the popular places like Chez Dre, La Belle Miette, LuxBite and Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio, but not surprisingly, all of these places close reasonably early with LuxBite opening until the latest at 8pm. So where would one go for a late night dessert fix? The answer is Brunetti.
Opening until 11pm from Sunday – Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday, the place is always crawling with ravenous patrons fighting for seats and dying to try one of their famous cakes or pastries. There’s something here for any dessert palate, whether it be macarons, biscuits, wedding/birthday cakes, chocolates, gelato, pastries, breads and mini cake selections, whatever it is you’re after, they’ve probably got it in store. They even have some savoury choices if you’re popping by for breakfast.
I’m not sure if it was the Friday night crowd or something else, but when we visited, I was a bit disappointed with the coffee and hot chocolate we ordered. My coffee was a bit bland and not as creamy as I had hoped, nor did it have any form of coffee art.
The hot chocolate was very powdery and not as smooth and strong as I’d have liked either which was such a shame. I wanted to have a hot chocolate after hearing about the great ones at Seven Seeds which we had missed out on but this didn’t really satisfy my cravings.
The cakes on the other hand were fantastic. Yuye and I ordered 1 cake to share – the San Remo (I believe it was $6.90) which was a lemon cheesecake with a raspberry centre and a pistachio sponge cake base.
We both loved this dessert as it was the perfect blend of tanginess and sweetness. The cheesecake was more like a mousse and wasn’t overly dense or sweet while the raspberry centre gave it that little bit of zing which is often missing in cakes like these. The pistachio base gave it extra crunch and flavour as well.
As it was Kenneth’s birthday celebration, we bought him a small cake – the Selva Scura ($6.90) which consists of a chocolate sponge, chocolate cream, kirsch liquor and sweet cherries. The cherry was moist and lovely while the sponge was fluffy and creamy. Overall a lovely combination.
Arch ordered the fruit and nut cheesecake which he didn’t like as much. It was a bit too sweet and wasn’t anything special. It sure looked nice though.
Brunetti has 4 stores in inner city suburbs and the CBD, for locations, refer to the links below. Brunetti also opened its first international branch in Dubai in 2010 and in Singapore in 2011 which have all be successful. Brunetti will be moving back to its original location at 380 Lygon St in mid 2012 which I’m sure will be a big and exciting change for the cafe and the restaurant community in Carlton.
Question time: Do you like to have dessert after dinner? Do you generally order them at the restaurant you had dinner at or go somewhere else with a nice dessert selection?
Brunetti – Carlton
Phone: (03) 9347 2801
204 Faraday St, Carlton VIC 3053
http://www.brunetti.com.au
Brunetti – Flinders Lane, CBD
Phone: (03) 9663 8085
214 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000
Brunetti – Myer CBD
Phone: (03) 9661 1380
Level 3, Myer Melbourne, Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Brunetti – Camberwell
Phone: (03) 9882 3100
1/3 Prospect Hill Rd, Camberwell VIC 3124
Brunetti – Dubai
Phone: 0011 971 4 339 8173
The Dubai Mall, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Brunetti – Singapore
Phone: 0011 65 6733 9088
01 – 35 Tanglin Mall, Singapore
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
“The hot chocolate was very powdery and not as smooth and strong as I’d have liked”
Pet peeve of mine – “weak” hot chocolate. Seriously guys… if I wanted a cup of hot milk I’d have asked for that! Those cakes look great – tiny, but great, and damn expensive, although maybe I’m just not used to the exchange rate – need to look up how many AUD in a Euro.
It’s actually been quite a long time since I’ve had a good hot chocolate…ahhh now I’m craving for one! What do I do? Maybe I should go to a chocolate store…
This place is actually not that expensive, the other shops I mentioned at the start of the post are more expensive, at around $7.50-8.50 for one mini cake dessert. It’s around $5-6 Euro maybe? Not sure what the exchange rate is like right now.
Yes! That is the worst thing! Sadly, there are a lot of weak hot chocolates around…most likely also made with SKIM milk. AHHH!
Haha I NEVER order anything with skim milk. I don’t want to lie to myself that I’m being healthy but then don’t fully enjoy what I’m ordering! Full cream all the way for me. And yes, there’s too many bad hot chocolates around..yet to find the perfect one!
A shame about the drinks but good to know that the cake is as good as it looks!
I’m glad the one I had was good, the cheesecake slice wasn’t as good but not bad by any means…:)
Such beautiful pastries!! I would love to visit Melbourne and take a dessert hopping trip.
You should! Pair the desserts with some great coffees or a cup of tea and it’s perfect.
Sad about the drinks, but the cakes look truly amazing.
Yes I was a bit sad about the drinks too…a good coffee with a good desserts always makes my day…but just a good dessert is not bad as well.
I love discovering bakeries with such goodies… I’ll be in Melbourne in a few weeks, so I might have to visit this place:)
Oh you’re coming to Melbourne? Must try one of the few places I mentioned at the start of this post, Che Dre is a must must, and for a late one dessert fix, try this place too!
Too many choices…
Having serious cake envy… Really have to get back to Melbs!
I’m sure there’s good cake places where you are?
Must admit, Melbourne’s pretty good for this type of thing though and a good coffee. 
Too bad to hear about the drinks but those cakes look absolutely delicious!!!
They were delicious! If only the coffee was good, that would have been a perfect experience.
How dangerous having those lovely cakes available so late at night! Midnight snacks any one?
I know!! It’s deadly really…they shouldn’t be allowed!
If I lived a bit closer, I’d be there every night…oh so bad…
Yet another reason I need to head to Australia!
You should come to Australia, especially Melbourne! So many good food choices here.
Amazing desserts!The cheesecake looks delicious!
I recommend the hot chocolate from Cottle on Coventry in South Melbourne. Melted dark chocolate pellets with milk for $3.50
Oh man that first dessert looks like a work of art! I love dessert but sometimes we eat so much during dinner we can’t fit in dessert!
That’s what always happens! I have this tendency to over order at dinner so usually no dessert for me…:(