I feel the need to visit new places for dessert sometimes. Often, it turns out well, but when I’m short on time and my first option falls through, the backup ends up being a surprise. That’s exactly how we ended up at My Sweet Memory after finding out that the ZenQ Desserts on George Street closed.
N and I love lychee and lime, so it didn’t take long for us to choose the Lychee, lemon and lime cake ($8.00). The tag didn’t describe the cake any further, but it seemed a failsafe combination of flavours. That said, with the exception of certain flavours (durian being an absolute deal breaker), I love all cake from the cheap to expensive. Cake is one of those things that instantly cheers me up.
So, with this lychee, lemon and lime cake, it pains me that I cannot recall a time I have ever been so utterly disappointed by cake. A ‘sweet vanilla’ cake would be a more apt name for it. Sometimes, foods are flavoured oddly (like sweet avocado) but it’s all right because it’s just not to my taste.
But no part of this cake even pretends to be lychee, lemon or lime flavoured. It’s essentially a slither of dry (not fluffy!) sponge slathered in an unremarkable vanilla cream sitting on top of a dense (not crumbly!) biscuit base, that’s been coaxed into a heart shape before coated in red sugar. The macaron is chewy, but again, is just sweet. I can appreciate that lychee may be a difficult flavour to present, but lemon and lime? They’re basics.
N ordered a green tea frappe ($6.50, left), which is their “No 1 drink”. She was sorely disappointed – it was overly sweet, milky and the green tea was weak (despite the greenness of the drink being promising). It tasted much like the green tea frappe I had at Hello Happy in Strathfield, which leads me to think Korean shops need to learn how to make them properly from the Japanese.
I had the lime frappe ($6.50, right) and I’m glad to say that I actually enjoyed this drink. It’s less zesty and more sweet than the one at Oliver Brown, and without the pulp in the one at Kanzi Fashion Cafe. But! The added sweetness is very obviously from syrup, which makes this my less preferred.
I think it goes without saying that I’d be very unlikely to return here.
My Sweet Memory is located at 708 George St, Sydney NSW 2000.