As hard as it is to fathom, this now nationally-acclaimed dessert once had a life, pre reality-TV-founded-fame, and it was just as sweet.
I first encountered the Guava Snow Egg after some friends sent us to Peter Gilmore’s acclaimed Quay Restaurant (and now, Australia’s best restaurant) via a gift voucher. Keep in mind, 'The Egg' followed a sumptuous three course dinner which included butter poached coturnix quail breast, chestnuts, truffle, bitter chocolate black pudding, milk skin & walnuts (and that’s only one dish). Needless to say, expectations were high, and rightfully so considering dessert is often the last taste lingering on your palette when you walk out the door. I don’t care how amazing the 13 course degustation dinner you might have just consumed was, if the dessert doesn’t cut it, you’ll never go back. Lucky for Pete, his Guava Snow Egg was possibly the best dessert I have ever devoured- and I did so in a shameful four minutes.
Because I may have been involved in a heightened discussion with my partner when the dish was brought out, I failed to hear that what being presented was actually a replica of an egg. So upon consuming the first few mouthfuls of meringue (which let’s face it, tastes a lot like egg whites) and suspicious creamy custard apple centre for yolk, I was certain that this was some sort of fancy sweetened egg. So I consumed dubiously (who wants to eat an egg for dessert?) The crunchy golden praline maltose shell should have given it away, but clearly, the sangiovese had done its job.
The guava comes from the granita that the faux egg sits on, as well as the sweet slick beneath it, and provides a refreshing accompaniment to the other fuller flavours. It’s no wonder this egg is now more famous than Guy Sebastian. My advice is: don’t let reality television taint this ridiculously clever dessert. It’s blow-your-mind good.
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