Pastry: The highlight - Buttery, rich and flaky 10/10
Presentation: slightly rustic, noticeably pastry heavy and lightly dusted 6/10
Value for money: $3.50, just off the bakers table, smallish portion 7/10
Overall score: 7.6/10
The slice has bags of potential and with such nice owners they deserve to enter and win the Triumph next year. The pastry is out of this world; dark brown in colour, as flaky and buttery and rich as you will ever find. The layers are compact and crunchy to the bite, but not baked hard forcing the custard to splurge out the sides. I didn’t realise that the bottom layer of pastry was actually two layers, sandwiching a thin spreading of dulce de leche - something I have seen in other South American bakeries, but still a lovely sweet surprise. The custard was undoubtedly fresh and a beautiful light and smooth texture, and a rich golden colour. However I would have liked to taste a much stronger vanilla flavour and approximately twice the portion size to amend the pastry / custard ratio.
Now, as stated I’m not a baker or any kind of judge at the Triumph, but having eaten so many slices over the years (including previous winners of the competition) I would be happy to be the local(ish) taste tester in the steps leading up to August’s Triumph. Good luck Dolce.