Devour Dessert Nights Hit Richmond

When Quang Nguyen closed Devour Dessert Bar in Prospect he had had every intention of turning his back on late-night sugar hits. Instead, his new Richmond business, Devour Cafe Patisserie, focuses on breakfast and lunch trade.

But fans of his elaborate creations were having none of it. They wanted the sweet stuff. So, he’s launched Devour Dessert Night, a monthly opportunity to taste “crazy, out-there” dishes.

“I decided to do one-off dessert nights with a really interesting menu of things you wouldn’t really see in Adelaide,” Nguyen says. “It means that if we want to do something a bit different we can. We’ll get more experimental as the months go by.”

The inaugural event, on the first weekend of April, attracted a bigger crowd than expected. The second, on April 29 and 30 looks to be bigger. There’s no booking for the event - just turn up.

“The first menu was a throwback to a lot of the dessert-bar favourites,” Nguyen says. “This one has four of the old ones and four new dishes.”

If you want to fantasise about flavours, try Snickers; chocolate cake; caramel-and-peanut fudge and peanut butter ice-cream; or strawberry-and-cream bombe Alaska with strawberry parfait, macerated strawberries and milk crumbs.

If he had to choose a favourite, Nguyen says it’d have to be his take on the McDonald’s apple pie. “It’s one of those guilty pleasures,” he says. “This is how I’d imagine it if it was in a restaurant, laid out with different textures and elements.”

For sweet fans looking for a more permanent fix, a new suburban pad is on the horizon. “We just got another shop not far from where we are now,” Nguyen says. “It was spur of the moment, one of those ‘too good to pass up’ opportunities. We’re looking at setting that up as a coffee shop and toying with the idea of bringing the dessert bar back there. It’ll probably open in July.”

Devour Dessert Night is held at Devour Cafe Patisserie on Friday April 29 and Saturday April 30, 7pm to 11pm. No reservations.