Review: Om Nom Kitchen & Dessert Bar

Was lucky enough to get free registration to The Future of General Practice Conference in Melbourne this year. Met some lovely people, and after one late cocktail night we sought some late night dessert. Sadly Melbourne doesn't perform well in this field with most places closing at normal business times, but we managed to find this gem. Usually you would have to book ahead to get into this popular dessert bar, headed by Christy Tania, but they had some cancellations that night so were able to to get table. If you are looking for cheap late-night snack, this place is not for you, with dessert costing the price of a main dish, but if you want to try something more intricate and unique I definitely recommend Om Nom.

ChocolaTerrarium - $28
"Cinnamon sugared churros, chocolate "gravel", pistachio & chocolate sponge,
chocolate ice-cream, valhrona manjari mousse + milk foam."
Firstly I love the experimental food element. The chef really pulled off the
garden look, with the sponge cake looking moss/grass, the chocolate gravel
and the central chocolate "flower". In terms of flavour, I loved the sponge cake,
so late and really tasted of pistachio. There was also a cream/custard of sort that
again tasted amazing. Be warned the mousse it quite strong and packs a bitter punch,
but eating it with the ice-cream made it better. The churros were also the best we ever
tasted, very light pastry and barely oily. 

Mango Alphonso - $25
"Choux pastry, mango mousse, shiso cemeaux, poached mango, coconut pearls,
white chocolate crumble, kalamansi sorbet, and lemongrass & ginger foam."
Serving size is definitely a lot smaller than the above dish.
In terms of flavour, my likes were the mango mousse, tasted very natural and
the sorbet which was superb,  but melted too fast. I wasn't a fan of the foam
surrounding it because again it tasted quite bitter. The choux pastry was light
and subtly sweet. I really liked the texture of the pearls as they pop in your mouth.
A disappointment of mine was the lack of poached mangoes and crumble,
and the minimalist design that leaves you with more pastry and less to compliment it.

Bombe Alaska - $20
"Almond jaonde cake, mandarine & bitter grapefruit jelly, passionfruit sorbet,
raspberry ice-cream, white chocolate crumble, and popping candy."
The waitress warned us about the burnt liquer flavour if we left the flame
for too long and she was right, so I tried to avoid the burnt parts.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed the central sorbet and ice-cream, again really
fresh flavours. The popping candy added another fun element to the dish, but
again not being a fan of bitter so I didn't enjoy the marmalade. I managed to
work my way around it and otherwise enjoyed the other elements of the dessert.