Best cherries of the season?
Thanks to Joy Leaper and Melinda Griffith from Liquid Ideas for sending me an early Christmas Hamper of goodies from Top Juice and Le Pain Quotidien of Westfield Sydney. I couldn't believe the size of this fruit hamper which seemed to have everything in it including mango, apple, orange, grapes, peaches, nectarines, dates, banana, papaya, passionfruit, Asian pear, massive strawberries, white cherries and huge red cherries and even a couple of exotic dragonfruit — it's weight was formidable. The large plump red cherries took me by surprise since I've been hearing so much about the bad season of cherries this year from readers in response to my Coles spot check although this doesn't seem to have affected the Top Juice offering. Seriously these cherries were ridiculous in size and thankfully were very tasty and juicy as hoped — I shared a few around the office to astonished faces. For such premium produce you have to expect a premium price and they're currently selling at $40/kg at Top Juice or $55/kg in David Jones Food Hall. Equally impressive were the strawberries with firm green stems and leaves still attached. They were nearly the size of the mutant one I found back in September but tasted a lot better — a Strapple as Kristy calls them.
Le Pain Quotidien — a name I have trouble working out how to pronounce — provided a large crunchy baguette and four Organic spreads. I don't really eat chocolate in the morning and prefer jam with my toast but the Belgian Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread is my favourite of them all — probably because it has a similar taste to Nutella which I've had before. I'm trying to think of a dessert I could make with them perhaps? I also received a $25 Breakfast Voucher which I'm looking forward to trying a croissant, coffee and maybe an organic omelet.
SNAPSHOT REVIEW:
PROS: Quality fruit that tastes good, Spreads are organic, Breads are organic, Open from 8 am for breakfast
CONS: Need to eat the fruit quickly in this hot weather before it spoils, Premium cherries are expensive, Strawberries bruise the easiest in hampers
MUST TRY: Fruit salad at Top Juice, Find people to share the spreads with or I'll become a human blimp
—
Fruit hamper of many different fruits
Size comparison of normal cherry (Hunter Street fruit stand) and Top Juice cherry
Good colour and flavour
Top Juice on level 5 Westfield Sydney: Premium cherries ($40/kg)
Size comparison of Top Juice strawberry aka The Strapple
Le Pain Quotidien bread roll and organic spreads
Blondie, Noir, Noisella and Brunette spreads
Noisella: Belgian Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread
$25 Breakfast Voucher to use
Le Pain Quotidien located on level 4 of Westfield Sydney
Comparison pricing from David Jones Food Hall for premium cherries ($55/kg)
Sunny Ridge Long Stems Strawberries from David Jones Food Hall ($14.90/400g)
View Larger Map
