One of the recent invites received was from the Food Critics & Bloggers Australia (a.k.a. FCBA) for a tasting event at Flour Drum, Newtown. Having rarely been to Newtown (mainly to visit Black Star Pastry and Brewtown Newtown), I had to research on how to get here.
Located 10 min walk, or 4 min by bus, from Newtown station, Flour Drum sits inconspicuously among boutique shops along the main road but is rather like a hidden gem in the rough - for inside the cafe are some of the friendliest staff I've encountered and serve mouth-watering cakes. The co-owners - Christopher, Victor and Johnny - were easy to chat with and happily engaged in conversations with various customers scattered across the cafe (except maybe Johnny, who as the executive chef of Flour Drum spends a lot of his time in the kitchen - he stayed up till 3-4am making cakes for the weekend!!).
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| Outside of Cafe |
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| Window from Inside of Cafe (Reversed) | Inside of Cafe |
When I first arrived, I was greeted by Christopher and seated at a large wooden table facing the street window. Being a newbie to this, excitement level hit the roof as he gradually brought out various cakes that they sell, including their crème brûlée lamington cake, brownie, Turkish delight rocky road and baked pear&apple cake!
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| Cakes on Display | Top View of Cakes (from bottom left): Crème Brûlée Lamington; Brownie; Turkish Delight Rocky Road; Pear&Apple Cake |
Luckily, SmallButHungry (my partner at the food tasting) and I got the try out their lamington and pear&apple cakes. The servings were rather big so we were only able to finish half of the servings:
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| Cake Samples - Crème Brûlée Lamington (left); Apple & Pear Cake (right) |
Their lamington cakes actually come in three flavours (crème brûlée, tiramisu, or jaffa) and have a tendency to sell out. Apparently by 2:30pm, their jaffa lamington had already sold out for the day and they were already onto their second crème brûlée lamington!!
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| Creme Brulee Lamington Cake |
The crème brûlée lamington was very good but does run on the sweet side - apparently they've reduced the sugar levels recently so, according to Victor, the crème brûlée is now more pronounced (I approve!).
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| Apple & Pear Cake | Closeup of Apple & Pear Cake |
Their other popular cake is the pear&apple cake, which looked amazing with the thinly sliced apples spread across the top (SmallButHungry and I debated over whether it was apple or pear on top and eventually agreed on apple when we encountered chunks of pear within the cake). The tartness from the pear&apple cake helped counterbalance the sweetness of the lamington.
In addition to the cakes, we were served drinks - chai latte for me and earl grey for SmallButHungry. I was so happy when I was given a real chai latte (absolutely divine - spiced tea brewed in milk):
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| Chai Latte |
Before leaving, Johnny gave us a slice of rocky road to take home since it was too heavy to try in the middle of the afternoon:
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| Rocky Road Loaded with Turkish Delight, Marshmallows and Pistachios | Slice of Rocky Road in Takeaway Box |
If you're in Newtown, be sure to check out their lamington cakes. Victor mentioned that they're currently experimenting with a green tea version (potentially to hit the store by end of July) so be on the lookout!
Update on 21st Jul 2016: as part of National Lamington Day, Flour Drum have announced that they have released a new hazelnut lamington!
Disclaimer: MSG Cafeteria was invited as a guest of Food Critics & Bloggers Australia to Flour Drum, Newtown, and all food and drinks consumed were paid for by the cafe. Thanks to the team at Flour Drum, Newtown, for hosting and serving up some yummy treats!
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