In one word: Fatty
The Brunswick Flour Mill had been mentioned in passing to me and I thought it would be interesting to see if it was as good as their close neighbours The Green Refectory...and now I know.
Although pleasant enough, the cafe didn't have the same hustle and bustle as their rivals and the limited range of sandwiches and cakes made me slightly anxious about the freshness compared with the Refectory.
The vanilla slice at $4.80 is reasonable but not ground-breaking. It's nowhere near a 9/10, but an average 5.5 at best. The pastry had no crisp to it, no flakiness, no crunch. It's texture and colour under-baked and fatty tasting. The custard/cream combo was nicely flavoured with a rich vanilla creaminess and not a bad whipped texture, just thick enough to avoid accidental squeezing out the sides. Then of course, just a dusting of icing sugar that a trained monkey could apply, rather than a fondant or glaze. I will be going back to the Green Refectory for one of their 9/10 passionfruit vanilla slices again next time I'm on Sydney Road.