I have been suffering a bit of a custard square famine over the last few weeks, with a lack of suppliers of custard squares. Perhaps they're no longer respected in the poncy cafe land of Wellington. ;-) I did spot some the other day, in the cake cabinet at Esquires, which happens to be just across the road from us, in the Coutenay Place Reading Cinema complex (it doesn't make it sound like I searched very hard, does it? I overlooked some right under my nose). Today I popped over to get us a little evening decadence.
Well, it isn't the most alluring looking custard square I've ever seen, but the girls manning the counter were very friendly and upbeat given the late hour of my visit. We cut it in half and gobbled it down, and Mr Cake's first comment was "It's very sweet!" It was actually a bit sickly sweet, in not a particularly good way. I really liked the texture of the custard but it was too overloaded with sugar to really enjoy. The pastry was unfortunately chewy, and when I cut it some peeled away from the bottom and left the pastry extremely yellow - I'm pretty sure they have to use some sort of food dye in this to make it yellower. I'm not necessarily opposed to food colouring but in items like custard squares I don't think it makes them look any better, and if there's so much it's leaching into the pastry it's all bad!
Sorry, Esquires, I'm sure your coffee is great but I'm giving your custard square a slightly deficient 4/10.
Esquires Coffee House is located at 100 Courtenay Place, Wellington, ph (04) 382 9381
Sorry, Esquires, I'm sure your coffee is great but I'm giving your custard square a slightly deficient 4/10.
Esquires Coffee House is located at 100 Courtenay Place, Wellington, ph (04) 382 9381
Hi! I'm Rosa, a.k.a. Mrs Cake, and I live in Wellington, New Zealand. I love food in all its forms, my fabulous family, and a bit of good old-fashioned Kiwi DIY. This blog started around food but has evolved to include some other bits and pieces - I hope you'll join me for the journey!
If it's any consolation, their coffee isn't much better... A quantity over quality issue in this case, though.
ReplyDeleteI think you should ship Aleisha's parents up to Welly and get them to make CS for you on a regular basis. Otherwise, what a disappointment to hear the metropolitan chic capital of NZ is so deficient....
Good luck for future CS hunts!!
Hmm, would be nice if I could afford my own personal pastry chefs - sadly I don't think I'm quite in that realm yet, though. I did manage to track down a custard square this afternoon, though (not in Wellington!) so stay posted... ;-)
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