Cookie in Melbourne

Cookie Bar and Restaurant
www.cookie.net.au



After our wonderful Japanese meal at Shoya, we did the food blogger thing of variety over loyalty and traversed to a different location for dessert. Kat didn't like the prospect of walking for miles in heels so I Urbanspooned somewhere close by.



As it happens, Cookie was on our list of destinations in our previous Melbourne trip so it made sense to give it a go.


When we finally made our way onto Swanston Street, we saw the little sign that marked where Cookie would be - Level 1 i.e. up a flight of stairs. Reaching the top of the stairs enabled us to see just how packed the place was.

Getting a table was out of the question. We were told that if we sat in the bar area, we could actually order desserts at the bar. I was thinking of heading elsewhere (I'm not at one with large crowds) when a tiny space opened up before our eyes and we were able to land 2 stools.


Kat bravely fought her way through the masses to ask for a menu at the bar. She was handed the food menu. After clarifying it was desserts and drinks she wanted, she got the dessert menu and the wine menu. She then had to trade the latter for the cocktail menu. So word of experience: Cookie has about 7 million menus so be sure to specify what you want.

We decided to keep things simple. One cocktail and one dessert each. The cocktails sounded irresistible. In fact, it was a whole mini novel of delicious cocktail descriptions organized into sections. I didn't even bother scanning through the whole book and just chose the first nice one I laid eyes on.


As we waited for our orders, I felt that the atmosphere had something missing. After a while, I figured out it was music but then noticed they did have music on... it was just impossible to hear over the talking. This is definitely not a place for quiet drinks.


Our desserts didn't take a long time to arrive. I know these photos are terrible but frankly, I think I did alright considering it was a bar environment where dim lighting is considered a must. At least you can just about make out what we're eating.

Sago and sweet corn pudding with mango ice-cream

I ordered the sago and sweet corn pudding with mango ice-cream. The pudding was good for a few bites but after a while, I started craving texture. Something with a bit of crunch. I think it would have benefited from a wafer or toffee exterior. The ice-cream was good but put together, it was all too sweet for me. I gave up after a few mouthfuls.

Sticky rice pudding with black bean sauce

Kat was feeling daring and ordered the sticky rice pudding with black bean sauce and coconut ice-cream. I was apprehensive when I read black bean sauce but luckily, it just has the colour of black bean and none of the metallic pungency. The sticky rice pudding was quite nice, not as sweet as mine which I found refreshing. The coconut ice-cream was good too.

Our drinks

Our cocktails took an extremely long time to arrive. We were told upon ordering that it would be a roughly 20min wait. It ended up being over 40min before the cocktails were placed down in front of us. They looked gorgeous but on first tasting, both Kat and I screwed up our faces and simultaneously said 'bad?'

About all that was edible in mine was the frozen blueberries and for Kat, it was the Maltesers. I managed to skull mine but she didn't even attempt hers.

I think it's a case of bartenders being too busy to even taste what they're producing.

The drinks were just awfully unbalanced and overwhelmingly alcoholic.


I'm not sure what I think about Cookie. I wasn't overly impressed with the dessert, the wait or the cocktails but it must be some kind of good because of how busy it is. Well, maybe you have to be a local to 'get it'.