Never Too Sweet

I cannot believe it has taken me this LONG to blog about Mr Hive Kitchen & Bar, I have already visited twice, and booked my third time, yet I still haven’t blogged about it! I’m sorry for being such a slacker, it’s because posts like these were so enjoyable to eat, but not so enjoyable to blog about because the photo editing usually takes me ages and there are so many components that it really takes time to explain it all. I like explaining everything in detail to all my wonderful Readers

Because I have visited twice and have tried so many dishes, I have decided to separate the blog posts into two one about the desserts and the other about savory And even though I enjoyed the savories I really wanted to share with you all the desserts I’ve had there ~

Before, I get too excited about the desserts, I always like to give my amazing Readers a little overview of the restaurant, Mr Hive Kitchen & Bar is a relatively new restaurant situated at the Crown Metropolis which is part of Crown Casino in Melbourne. It has actually taken over the place where Gordan Ramsay’s Maze use to be which was liquidated last year.  A shame because I never got the chance to visit Maze and they had to close down >_< Anyhow, fast forward a year later, Mr Hive Kitchen & Bar have taken over and are doing a fine job if you ask me ~

Executive Chef John Lawson is the master behind Mr Hive Kitchen & Bar creations, where he applies his skills in French cooking and applying it to new modern dishes ~ I would describe their menu as modern and simplistic with a twist. When I go through the savory dishes in my next post, you’ll know what I mean

In the mean time, lets just forget about entree and mains and just focus on DESSERTS I think Mr Hive Kitchen & Bar are the first and only ones in Melbourne right now to offer a dessert bar, where there is a bar that is dedicated to serving desserts ~

At the dessert bar, customers will have the chance to interact with the pastry chef that is plating their desserts, ask a few questions and also get a few extras thrown in hehe unfortunately, there are only 6 seats available at the dessert bar, so I suggest you getting there early and tell the waiter as soon as you sit down that you’d like to be transferred to the dessert bar after your mains

First visit I went with Mr Bao, Yue and Kirk ~ We were so excited about the desserts and the dessert bar, while Mr Bao and Yue were too busy talking about basketball and other non-dessert related topics lol they don’t really have a large number of desserts to choose from, they have six on the menu which hasn’t changed the last two times I’ve visited and also a special that was on the written on the board.

I couldn’t wait for the boys to finish their mains so we could move to the dessert bar, I immediately fell in love with it ~ you don’t usually get the chance to see the desserts be plated in front of you and being able to talk to the pastry chef It’s a shame that I forgot to ask the pastry chef for his name because he recognised me the second time I went hehe anyhow, he was very friendly and very good at what he does! It was obvious that he was English and when I asked he said he’s been in Melbourne for 2 and half years since Maze was around, I joked that he should become ‘Aussie’ and simply replied ‘Never’

Mrs Hive’s chocolate bar peanuts and caramel $18 AUD

Getting side tracked again, we started with their famous Mrs Hive’s chocolate bar peanut and caramel, to put it simply it is a chocolate bar with layers of caramel and peanut butter inside lol reminded me a little bit of the ‘Snickers’ chocolate bar. I’m usually a fan of all desserts that have caramel but I’m not a fan of peanut butter, so this wasn’t my favorite dessert but I am sure if you like peanut butter you will LOVE this I immediately thought of Ros (The More Than Occasional Baker) cuz I know she loves PB hehe

Rhubarb compote, yoghurt mousse Szechwan ice cream $14AUD

This is the dessert Yue chose, kinda Asian because of the Szechwan ice-cream and kinda weird with the peppercorns hehe but it went surprisingly well especially with the biscuit/crumble base

Lemon Tart, lemon sorbet, “Marco Pierre white” $18 AUD

I am a HUGE fan of lemon tart ~ so I’m always on the search for the best one I really liked the brulee topping of this lemon tart ~ where the pastry chef blow torched it in front of us. Even though this lemon tart was baked very well with a lovely pastry case, overall I found it too sour especially when paired with a lemon sorbet. I’m not sure what the “Macro Pierre white” was referring too but lol I liked the crumble beneath the sorbet

Praline souffle, jasmine and coco nib ice-cream $18 AUD

I’m not usually a souffle person, but I really liked how fluffy this was ~ it was like scooping spoonfuls of ‘clouds’ into your mouth lol metaphorically speaking of course, as I’ve never eaten ‘clouds’ I also loved how the Pastry Chef slowly placed the ice-cream into the souffle and let it melt inside

Special – Banana butterscotch pudding with vanilla bean ice-cream $18AUD

Special of the day was a banana butterscotch pudding and it was my favourite out of them all! I’m a sucker for puddings especially on a chilly night, it was that perfect soft texture and the sweetness of the butterscotch then paired with vanilla bean ice-cream couldn’t ask for a better dessert Wish they had this on the menu permanently!

That concludes my first time at Mr Hive, we had 4 people and 5 desserts But still I wanted to try the other two that I didn’t get to try! So so so glad Lianne (Food Made With Love) and Julie (I Dream In Chocolate) organised a meet up when agreed to go to Mr Hive with me again! It was the first time I’ve met these two girls ~ We’ve been chatting heaps on Twitter then progressed to Whatsapp and I knew from the get go that we were going to become great friends!

I met the girls at Mr Hive on a Friday night  to have an another fabulous meal ~ once again I’ll save the savouries for another post but lets just say I’m still dreaming about the crispy little pork Anyhow, let’s go right back to talking about desserts hehe

Ricotta Cheesecake, Yuzu, Ginger, Nuts and Seeds $16 AUD

The Pastry Chef recognised me this time ~ and was even friendlier and chatted to us comfortably, I didn’t get to try this the last time I went, so I really wanted to try this ~ Julie wanted to try something else but she is simply too sweet and went with what I suggested the Ricotta Cheesecake hehe Once it was plated and placed in front of us, I immediately thought the ricotta cheesecake pieces looked like square pieces of tofu  It’s another dessert with unusual flavours with yuzu and ginger it gave it a rather refreshing taste and definitely wasn’t one of those really rich cheesecakes.

White chocolate, mango, basil and coconut $16 AUD

Not unusual flavours for desserts but a little strange to put them all together hehe but it was quite nice and I never thought I’d like the basil sorbet or was it gelato sorry can’t remember…but the herby and slightly savoury taste was perfect for cutting some of the sweetness of the white chocolate

Compimentry chocolate milk with salted caramel truffle

I was so surprised when the pastry chef placed the chocolate milk in front of us and placed a little salted caramel truffle on top it ~ I’ m in love with how they’ve placed the milk in mini milk bottles ~ the chocolate milk was so decadent, even though, I know they all thought it was a little too sweet. The salted caramel truffle was one of the best I’ve had in such a long time! You have to eat it in one bite because the salted caramel will explode in your mouth. I wish we could just buy it from them ~ I could eat so many of them!

Mrs Hive’s Old Fashioned Lollies

It just got even better when we were about to leave, we were each given a little lolly bag – apple sours, watermelon drops, freckles and peppermint crisp. They were definitely homemade, because they weren’t uniform and shape but all tasted lovely ~ I particularly liked the soft texture of the watermelon drops.

Phew! That was a long post hehe and that’s only the desserts! I still have to write about the savoury because they were just as good and definitely worth sharing with you ~ but for the time being, hope you liked my dessert post about Mr Hive Kitchen and Bar. Couldn’t recommend it more to you, especially for those who have a sweet tooth like me ~ you’ve gotta go try out the dessert bar experience!