Zest Patisserie @ Connaught Avenue, Cheras

Since we were already in the vicinity for lunch at Summer at 17°C Cafe, we might as well kill two birds with one stone...and proceed to our next venue that was just round the corner without the need to brave the traffic again.

We know of a dessert place here that's almost a year old, Zest Patisserie @ Connaught Avenue, Cheras, within a short walking distance from our lunch venue.

Walking into the cafe located on the ground floor, it again reminded me of a similar decor in our previous lunch place with mostly white and beige furniture from...guess where?  Of course it had to be Ikea!  Ikea furniture seems to be a very popular choice among cafe owners (especially dessert cafes) as I've been to so many now with the very popular white and beige theme topping the list).

We were here for some desserts and drinks and I see that they have waffles, cakes and sorbets on their menu (there could be more which I can't remember) and they serve good quality coffee (RGB, I heard) and tea (Harney & Sons).

Waffles is a popular choice here for some sweet pleasures and I've seen a few of them (in blogs).  A highly recommended one is Caprice (a charcoal waffle with salted egg yolk sauce & ice cream).  We've already had salted egg yolk pasta earlier for lunch, so we weren't in the mood for more salted egg yolk.  Other waffles include Durian King (charcoal waffle with cendol & durian ice cream) and Joli (matcha coconut waffle with lemongrass & ginger ice cream).

But we were more interested in their cakes.  Reputed to be made with high quality French ingredients and modern French techniques, these fine and whimsy cakes looked absolutely dainty and pretty in their cake display counter which made it very hard for us to choose...we wanted them all! ;)

#Side Story:
One thing I quickly realised is that only the name of the cake is displayed...no information on the ingredients and some didn't even have specific names, they're just listed as petit gateau of the day! >.<  I ended up asking the lady at the counter what some of these cakes were and she rattled off the names of some of the ingredients which I forgot in the next second already.  You see, people (like us) who knows how to eat only(!), but knows next to nothing about baking, would find the terms alien in our vocabulary and thus find the words won't easily stick to memory.  I gave up (more like embarrassed) after asking her about a few of them. I would much rather they list the ingredients (like what Crosserie Artisan Bakery does) in their place cards (or, maybe, display it in a list at the cake counter) and let us read the ingredients (and commit it to memory at our own pace...kekeke!) thereby making it much easier for us to decide which ones we fancy.

We finally made our choices and selected three slices of cakes....Fantaisie, Le Royale and Earl.  We went with their tea set promotion of one slice of cake with a pot of tea at RM19.90.  Otherwise, the cakes cost between RM13.80 to RM15.80 a slice.  I know their cakes are a bit more on the expensive side but they're made with quality imported ingredients such as Elle & Vire whipping cream (French, no less) and the finest Belgian chocolates (Callebaut) for their pastry creations.

The first one, Fantaisie @ RM13.80 a slice, is made with coconut mousse, passion fruit cremeux and matcha dacquoise.  Now you must be wondering how I know these since the ingredients were not listed in their place cards...well, I referred to their Facebook for the details, of course! ;P

It's a soft and luscious cake with a predominant coconut flavour coming through which I found to be a bit on the sweet side.  That was why the matcha dacquoise was there to lend a hint of bitterness to balance out the sweetness, I guess.  I would have loved for more of the tangy fruity flavour in the passion fruit cremeux to come through in the cake though.

Pomegranate Oolong Tea (Ti Quan Yin Oolong infused with pomegranate)

My friend wanted to try the Le Royale @ RM14.30 featuring layers of chocolate mousse, chocolate cremeux, chocolate sponge and hazelnut feuilletine.  Chocolate lovers would certainly find this ravishing as did my friend's little girl.

Lemon Verbena Tea (caffeine free, lemony with herbal infusion)

Our final cake was the Earl @ RM14.30 made with Earl Grey milk chocolate mousse and mango custard in a fluffy Japanese vanilla sponge....and topped off with a small edible silver leaf to add a perception of luxury.

This tiny piece of cake was one-of-a-kind, so airy and light....it was just sublime...and very pretty too.  I just love the soft, delicate texture of the cake in my mouth, with a hint of chocolate, and an absolutely smooth mango custard...undoubtedly my favourite of the three! ^o^

Dragon Pearl Jasmine Tea (Jasmine scented floral tea)...all served with a little cookie (nice touch!)

There were a couple of other cakes that looked just as stunning (that we didn't choose as we could only eat so much after lunch) >.<  I've listed some of them here for you (I wished I had this list earlier)...it would have made our decision-making so much easier! ;)

1)  Petit Gateau of the day (second from left) - Vanilla/Mascarpone/Summer Berries

2)  Kaffir (third from left) - cream cheese/sour cream/kaffir lime zest/kaffir juice/digestive biscuit

3)  Ruby (no idea what the ingredients are)

4)  La Fraise (extreme left) - some kind of strawberry cube cake

(this one is quite common and I've eaten quite a few of them recently)

5)  Petit Gateau of the day - red wine berry ganache/chocolate tart/crisp raspberry/raspberry mousse

6)  Lavender - lavender cream/blueberry compote/almond tart/lavender chocolate cremeux/honey sponge

7) Eclate - Chocolate chilli cremeux/raspberry jam/dark chocolate sponge/chocolate glaze
(I'd probably would have picked this one, instead of Le Royale, if not for the little girl in our midst as chocolate with chilli sounds intriguing)

8)  Tarte au Citron - I've already had some very outstanding lemon tarts lately, so I thought I'd skip this one

9)  Baked cheese tarts are also available on weekends

They also have sorbets on their menu and I wanted something tart to follow after the sweetness of the cakes. The moment the Berries Sorbet @ RM6 caught my eye, my mind was made up already.  The sorbet had some kind of sugar coated crushed biscuits at the bottom to offer some crunch and some fresh berries on top.  It was tangy and refreshing.

My Personal Opinion

The creations at Zest Patisserie are certainly dainty and irresistible with some unique and uncommon flavours. Prices may be on the higher end but rest assured that they're made with some of the finest ingredients.

For this part of the town, this is surely a have-to-try patisserie!  I hope to return to sample some of their other delectable cakes (and maybe a waffle) in future ^_^

Zest Patisserie
K-G-3 Connaught Avenue 
Jalan 9 Taman Bukit Cheras
56000 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: 016-617 6644