Passionflower

Location:2/168 Bourke St Melbourne
Phone:(03) 9663 0033
Time: Mid Afternoon
Cuisine Type:Desserts galore
Price: $6 bucks onwards
What got dished out:

My sister thought she'd be daring and order the dessert called "Golddigger" which comprised of ice shavings,lychee, mango,jelly syrup, oranges and mango sorbet.
The best thing about this was the mango sorbet, the most disappointing thing about this was the ice shavings..
Well calling it ice shavings would be misleading because what should have been ice shavings or finely crushed ice, wasn't exactly like that. The ice were small little ball size, not huge but not exactly small, and this dessert definately needed something that was finely crushed to compliment on what it had to offer, and thus it became a disappointment. I guess almost like in real life, golddiggers, only ever lead to disappointments,whether looking for real gold or dating someone who's after all of your money.

I wished the cookies and cream was as delightful as it looked but it wasn't to be, there wasn't anything interesting about it, it tasted just like any other ordinary cookies and cream ice-cream that could be purchased basically anywhere and everywhere. Actually my complaint was that it should have been a lot more creamier or milkier or something. But not as bland and basic as this. Oh how basic it was...

And then there was this, and for the life of me, I can't remember what this damn dish was called, but it had plethora of good things to offer or what looked liked good things to offer.
I was impressed that the strawberries were ripe and sweet, when they come out on any dish sour,i age as i make the face of a 90 year old enjoying their dinner eating sour strawberries.
But no fear, I wasn't disappointed, the lemon  icecream(the white icecream pictured) did that for me. Oh, Lordy was it sour or what! It was an odd mix of mango sorbet and green tea and this lemon ice-cream. You went from bland-ness (green tea) to sweet (mango) to absolutely sour (lemon). I guess they covered everything but frankly it's a weird combination of ice-creams to jam together, kinda like the person making this thinking to themselves "now, how do i really screw up customers tastebuds!!?!?! ooo I know, let's shove mango, green tea and lemon icecream together, that will sure get them!"
I liked the crepes, nice and think but the pancakes were a bit on the thick side. No amount of cream and jam could mask how terrible the pancakes were. I think they should leave the terrible pancakes to the pancake specialist (the guys that make them 24/7) and just stick to the crepes.

My thoughts:
There was a LOT of hype when this store first opened in Melbourne, considering there's not exactly a place anywhere in Melbourne that offers so many different types of desserts. I mean there are a few but they usually charge an arm and a leg (i.e pancake parlour.. btw can someone ask them to give back my leg.. im still missing it from my last visit), it's no wonder it's basically packed to the brim with people.

The biggest complaint that I would have about Passionflower is that it's slow and the service is beyond a joke. The staff aren't just slow, they're VERY slow to serve you, it's kinda like they're too dumbstruck and they don't know what exactly they're supposed  to do with themselves. It's quite simple really, you see people, you get them a table, and you take their order and when the order is ready, you quickly serve it as ice-cream melts. I know, I should make a career out of it or something, but alas waitering pays peanuts, so really i shouldn't complain about service or lack thereof.

But it's not just the waitering staff that are slow, the orders also come out slow. I'm not sure if it's because it's new and they don;t have the hang of it yet, or that the person who's making the order doesn't know his menu back to front that they're struggling but hey, as a customer, i really don't care, I'm ordering ice-cream, it's not something from Ezard where there's like 20 or so ingredients to use. having to wait 15minutes for 3 scoops of ice-cream is tad slopey. I hope this improves because if it doesn't, eventually customers get sick of waiting and end up leaving, no matter how great the ice-cream is.

All I can say is," I "hope" it improves" but judging with what goes on in Sydney, there's not much hope really because "slow" is really part of the business model at Passionflower. And considering Sydney people stereotypically are "on the go go" type people and are meant to be all on time constraints, it's a wonder how they have the time to sit down and enjoy their desserts. They're lucky that the ice-cream is nice, they've got someone who's controlling the menu who's creative and they happen to be in "asian-centric" locations. Asians for whatever reason have a crazy sweet tooth and love their sweets like you wouldn't believe. (i really wonder what the diabetes rate is amongst asians...) And for those who weren't aware, Passionflower really started up in Sydney and if they didn't get it right up there, they sure ain't ever going to get it right down in Melbourne... like i said.. "HOPE"

Is Passionflower really worth it? Not if you order anything particularly fancy like what I mentioned above, however if I stuck to the usual simple thing I always get- mango sorbet in a waffle basket, then i'd be utterly satisfied. These guys have the BEST mango sorbet going around in terms of whats available out there in the ice-cream scene, and believe me, I'd know, I love ice-cream, i'd eat it even if it's -3degrees outside.  I've taken friends and made them order that exact dessert and everybody's impressed, walking away with the belief that Passionflower is indeed the best dessert house going around town, unfortunately for those who have ordered anything else off the menu have walked away feeling disappointed.(tough luck, because they just don't listen).

I hope for it's sake that it's able to exist in Melbourne, I know it works in Sydney but Melbourne is a totally different kettle of fish altogether. It would be such a disappointment if it died, because really paying for flights to sydney to get decent mango sorbet would really bite..