Vanilla Meringue Cake

So this week is about a really good vanilla meringue cake I had a while ago (yes, I know, this was some time ago, but I found a notes file I made about this dish and so I'm basically just writing about that).

So I had this cake at a place called Harry's Bar. I was told that their vanilla meringue cakes were some of the best you would ever find, and I decided to see for myself. This place was a nice little store on the waterfront and I sat there and ate one slice of this cake. I have to say, it was very good, albeit a little bit overpriced. (Note: I looked on their menu and WOW it is way more expensive now. I remember it being like 8 or 9 bucks, but it's almost 20 now)

My honest review was as follows. First, consistency. Great consistency in the sponge, very fluffy but still quite filling. The meringue was a bit more iffy. Beautiful airiness in the meringue, which is tough to do since you can very easily overbeat the whites. The problem is that they used caster sugar, so there was a bit of graininess when I ate the meringue. As for the vanilla cream, again, it was rich and very well balanced in terms of the overall dish. 

Second, flavour. Now this part was actually surprisingly on the money. Vanilla meringue cakes can tend to get really boring and oversweet once you've eaten a bit of them. However, with this one, I can say that was not the case. The sponge was very lightly sweetened, so you couldn't really taste the sugar. The same holds true for the vanilla cream in between the layers of sponge. Therefore, the only really sweet element of the dish was the meringue, so even though it was sweeter than the rest, it got balanced out by the somewhat unsweetened dish. 

Third, portioning. You got a good amount of cake with this slice. I'd say their old price wasn't too bad for the quantity, although the new price is INSANE. My suggestion, cut down the quantity and reduce the price accordingly. Honestly, it got to be a bit much by the time I'd eaten 75% of it, and I feel like I'd rather pay one or two bucks less for 70% of the slice I got. With their current prices, I'd recommend they cut the slice size down a bit more and cut the price a good amount. 

Here's the only disclaimer I will put on my review. This was a while ago, and all I have to go off are the pictures I took, the notes I made on the flavour and the current menu. Although I can say that this was definitely the case then, this dish may have changed. Especially with the increase in price, I'd expect that this dish has definitely become more polished.

Overall, on presentation and portioning I'd give it a 6/10 and on flavour and consistency, I'd give it a 6/10. Did I like it? yes. Would I ever go back for it? Absolutely not. 

But why did I write about it? Well, I think there's something to learn from this! I think the first thing to learn is about how the dish plays with textures - There's light and bubbly in the meringue, creamy in the cream and chewy and slightly dense in the sponge, which is a great play of flavours. Second, I love the fact that the sponge wasn't sweetened, and nor was the cream. This lets the meringue shine through and stops it from feeling like a spoonful of sugar, which most vanilla meringue cakes taste like. Sure, the chefs have room for improvement, but there's more to it than that - it can still teach us something!

Anyways, if you've been to Harry's, or if you've ever had a really good meringue cake somewhere before, let me know in the comments below, and I'll see if I can try it and review it for you soon.