A lot’s changed in Chatswood in recent years, with the redevelopment of the area around the train station into Chatswood Interchange livening a once dreary area. Along with some 70 other stores, Passion Tree is a cafe with desserts to satisfy any sweet tooth.
I’d seen that Passion Tree had a Matcha Mochi Pancake Stack on their menu and gotten excited over the promise of super fuwa fuwa mochi pancakes. So a pit stop on the way home from Tōkyō Mart in North Bridge was required. We’ll drive across Sydney for Japanese groceries, but not for just a cafe. We have priorities.
And lo and behold, this is the Matcha Mochi Pancake Stack ($14.50).
The Matcha Mochi Pancake Stack has azuki paste between the bottom and middle pancakes, condensed milk between the middle and top pancakes, pooled in a matcha sauce and topped with mochi pieces, a scoop of matcha ice cream, crispy white chocolate crisps, and a waffle cone.
To my severe disappointment, these were not mochi pancakes. They’re standard buttermilk pancakes. The ‘mochi’ in its name refers to the pieces of mochi arranged atop the pancake stack. Disappointment aside, these pancakes were soft and buttery without being too dense. Eaten with the azuki bean paste, it recalled delicious flavour contrast of ogura toast (toast with savoury butter and sweet anko) in Nagoya.
The wafer cone and white chocolate crisps gave good crunch to the softness of the stack. The green tea ice cream, though, was milky and sweet, without the brighter and bitter notes of matcha ice cream. The pancakes would’ve benefited from either a brighter green tea flavour in the ice cream or more matcha sauce as it sorely needed something bitter to cut through the sweetness of everything else on the plate. Overall, it’s a decent dessert, although I never quite got over my initial disappointment to truly enjoy it.
And of course, for D, we try the Campfire S‘mores ($8.90).
Like my expectations for the pancakes, D had expectations for a cold drink, only to discover the Campfire S’mores was a hot chocolate. Unmet expectations aside, this is a good hot chocolate and definitely one for huge fans of chocolate, like D. Describing the flavour of chocolate as ‘intensely rich’ is an understatement. It’s not too sweet or dark, just so rich that intermittent sips of water provide welcome relief. A touch less richness would’ve made the hot chocolate more enjoyable. The toasted marshmallows and slightly salty Oreos added tasty textural contrast.
Passion Tree serves up some decent desserts, making it a popular hangout for young people.
Passion Tree is at Chatswood Interchange, T67/436 Victoria Ave, Chatswood NSW 2067.