The key with going for a successful food adventure is going with people that truly love food. Our friends Queen Viv and Miss America are always willing to go that extra mile for that extra special meal which is a sentiment I always appreciate as I am the same. So despite the fact that Miss A. has been up for over 25 hours straight and she is still willing to go out for dessert after our carnivorous fest at Carne Station proves what a strong constitution and resolve she has. Just what a beauty queen needs really.

Turkish Oud

So its late in the evening when we drive up to Auburn and revisit a place we’ve been to several times before lured by Grab Your Fork and known for their fabulous Dondurma (salep enriched stretchy Turkish ice cream), Mado cafe. Service is a unsure and wary, as if we’ve fallen outside of a spaceship and our questions are answered with a confused “I don’t know”. Its a pity the service is so neglectful as the desserts are divine.

Dondurma (Turkish stretchy ice cream) churning

We know what we want, what we’ve had before and loved, the ice cream (including a must have black mulberry) so we choose the Cup Maras which is an ice cream sundae with scoops of black mulberry, pistachio, sour cherry and maras (white) with fruit salad and sour cherry sauce ($9.50) and the Kazandibi ($5.50) a “cauldron bottom” charred pudding thickened with salep from the orchid root. To quench our thirst we order a Turkish sour cherry drink ($3), Gazoz a Turkish lemonade ($2.50) and Turkish mineral water ($2.50).

From left to right: Gazoz a Turkish lemonade ($2.50), Turkish sour cherry drink ($3), and Turkish mineral water ($2.50)

Our drinks arrive along with our sundae and pudding. The Turkish mineral water tastes like regular mineral water, refreshing and with hard large bubbles, not softly carbonated. The sour cherry drink, always a favourite (we downed about 20 bottles of this last time) is gorgeously fruity and the Turkish lemonade has a fruity flavour to it, almost like creaming soda.

Cup Maras sundae $9.50 Four flavours of ice cream with fruit salad and sour cherry sauce

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