'Casamia Paris': your local dessert house in the suburbs

Dessert, like for many others, I'm sure, is my favourite course. In fact, the dessert menu is the first thing I look at, before even deciding on the entrée and main. Now, there are times when we might fancy a nice plated dessert with restaurant flair, without having to dine out at a restaurant for the evening meal as well (at least I would feel a bit funny about walking into a proper restaurant and taking up a table, just to order from their dessert menu). There are some shops around that just serve up dessert; however, nice ones are few and far in between. Naturally, then, I would not pass up the opportunity to try out dessert houses that are brought to my attention. The other week, I decided I would try out Casamia Paris, a shop which some people I know seem to like going to.



Shop 4, 581 Beenleigh Rd
Sunnybank Hills, QLD 4109
Open every day (except for Wednesdays) from 1pm to 10pm (Sat: 10.30pm)

Unlike a lot of dessert and ice-cream bars that seem to congregate in parts of town with popular restaurant strips, such as Southbank and Milton, Casamia Paris is found in one of those small open-plan shopping centres (imagine a large outdoor carpark with random shops encircling it) that are pretty quiet at night time. It's odd location might account for why it's not as popular and well-known by locals as places like Freestyle and Milany.

The unusual location of the dessert shop

Although it was my first time eating at this place in Sunnybank Hills, I had actually been to it maybe twice before, a few years ago, for takeaway slices of cakes, when it was located at Sunnybank Plaza, under the different trade name of Le Casamia Patisserie. The cakes were/are obviously French-inspired, but, perhaps because the pastry chef is from Hong Kong, they also have the airy lightness in the cake layers, the frosting and the fillings, that are characteristic of Chinese-made cakes. I remember every morsel being delicious and light, but also very expensive for the size of each serve. The full-sized cakes, accordingly, were, and remain to be to this day, also very expensive. To give you an idea, the price of a tiramisu cakes ranges from $76 (22cm) to $152 (30cm), as at January 2013. Definitely not very economical if you are feeding a large party of grown men with big appetites, that's for sure. As a comparison, my favourite cake at Le Bon Choix, the Lucie, retails at $37 and $78 for the 22cm and 30cm sizes, respectively.

But back to the present shop.

As mentioned, it is a small shop in a suburban shopping complex, but they make good use of the space: There is a glass cabinet facing the entrance, displaying all their lovely little slices of cakes, and there are a few tables inside to accommodate dine-in customers (though space would probably be an issue if they get a busy service). The interior is clean, fixtures quite contemporary, and the seating along the wall is comfortably cushioned. I only wish the singular chairs on the other side of the table were the same height as this, so that my companions wouldn't seem so awkwardly taller than me, when seated.

The service is fantastic. Besides the two women at the counter - one is presumably the owner - they also had a waiter, who was actually dressed in wait staff attire, and conducted himself like one who was working at a proper, respectable restaurant, posture and all. He addressed customers as 'Sir' and 'Madam' when placing the cutlery on table, and explained the elements of the dishes he presented, like one would at a fine-dining restaurant. Most importantly, the service was accompanied by a friendly smile. That might be commonplace in fine-dining restaurants (or not, if you're unlucky and happen to be served by someone who thinks you don't look wealthy enough to deserve their due service and attention), but, like I said, this is in a quiet complex in the middle of the suburbs; I didn't expect any wait service, let alone good service. Even as we left, we received a smile and a 'good night'. If I had to say anything negative about the service, it would be that we weren't offered any water; but I'm sure they would've complied if we had requested some.

The dessert menu

Besides the ready-made cakes that I mentioned, they also have your average beverage menu with a selection of coffee, organic teas and iced drinks, and, of course, a dessert menu, as shown above. I'm sure you'd agree that they all sound spectacular. I shared a Baked Alaska with my sister and my dad had the Tiramisu. There was a bit of a wait for the dishes to come out, but if one was going with a friend and had plenty to catch up on, the order-to-table time probably wouldn't seem too bad. The tiramisu came out beautifully presented in a glass, adorned with an impressive shard of multi-coloured toffee. However, while dad seemed to enjoy the peripheral elements of the dish, he did not like the tiramisu itself. Having said that, he's not big on 'heavy' desserts, or coffee for that matter, and I didn't taste it, so it's probably not fair for me to draw any conclusions about the dessert here.

 

Tiramisu in a glass, with vanilla ice-cream in tuille and strawberries

My dessert took longer to come out, and just before it did, the lights were unexpectedly switched off, which made me concerned that there was a power outage or something. I was to find out very soon after, however, that they had done this purposely to illuminate the blue flames which engulfed my Alaska, as they brought it out to the table. It was magnificent, but some parts of the meringue coat were too scorched to be consumed. That was my fault though, because I paused to take photos of it, as the staff looked anxiously on, before blowing out the flames (it took the combined effort of my sister and I to extinguish it!). I would have probably been able to enjoy the sight of it alight for longer, had they lit it at the table, but I guess there is the safety issue to consider.



 

Baked Alaska in all its glory

 

The meringue was nice and fluffy on the inside, and the sponge cake was not bad. The ice-cream - neapolitan - tasted and looked like it was probably store-bought (I'm sorry if I'm mistaken), which was a bit disappointing, and it was quite hard, like it was just taken out of the freezer. I would have let it sit for a little bit at room temperature before coating in meringue to serve up, so that the spoon could cut through all the layers with less resistance, and without the danger of producing loud clanging noises on the plate. I really hope I'm wrong about the ice-cream being store bought. While it doesn't say on its menu description that homemade ice-cream is used, I would generally expect this to be the case in a place that exclusively sells desserts. Of course, if I was to make this at home myself, I would most likely use a store-bought ice-cream, if I didn't have time or was making it for many - but it would be of the good quality, creamy variety. I also would 'bake' it the less-dramatic, domestic way; that is, on the top shelf of a very hot oven. That will also eliminate the need to add alcohol around the base of the cake.

 

Having said all that, it wasn't a bad dessert, and I loved its spectacular presentation, which made my night feel just that little bit more special.

 

 

Prices for all the desserts at Casamia Paris average about $17, which isn't too bad. As I have mentioned many times before, dining out, for me at least, is really about the whole experience. So, even though my opinion of the dessert was not A+, I quite enjoyed my time there, because of the professional service. I would not hesistate to visit this place again to try out the other menu offerings, or even just to have cake and coffee.