Tel: (02) 9281 8322
Website: http://www.passionflower.com.au/ (right now there's nothing on the website except an email address if you want to become a franchisee)
Note: There are other franchise locations around, but I do not and cannot find an exhaustive list)
This has been a popular hangout for young & old since the early 2000's and has recently seemed to have been expanded and refurbished.
Passionflower is mostly known for his exotic ice cream flavours such as jackfruit, sticky rice, wasabi, green tea, red bean, black sesame as well as other fruit gelato and conventional ice cream flavours.
It is not cheap (expect desserts to be priced between $10-$20), but is certainly an ideal location for if dinner did not satisfy or you wish to prolong a dinner date.
On this particular occasion (I had not been back here in abou 5 years) I decided to try this new flavour called rosewater and lychee. This particular dessert was 3 scoops of rosewater & lychee icecream, strawberry coulis and something coconutty at the bottom. It is usually also served with lychee jelly, coconut jelly and cream, but I am not a fan of either so to save myself from picking it all off in a less-than-classy fashion, I just ordered this without. Verdict - lovin' the rosewater & lychee flavour! Authentic with lychee bits of fruit, the refreshing light hint of rosewater and refreshing flavour of lychee. It is an ice cream rather than gelato, but this flavour doesn't emphasise the heaviness that more typical icecream flavours do. Thumbs up! (Picture below).
Below: Some chocolate brownie dessert - comprising of chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. 3 scoops of chocolate icecream, chocolate sauce, a flake chocolate and dollop of cream. Very rich. Will not disappoint those with a massive sweet tooth.
Above: Lovestoned (yeh that's the name of this dessert!) 3 scoops of strawberry icecream, strawberry syrup and fresh strawberries. Not that out-of-this-world but not as bad as it could be (I have seen some pretty nasty icecreams in my time!)
You will find this is not a bad hangout place, the staff were quite friendly & efficient on this evening and there were not many people on Christmas Eve at 8pm eating icecream so that may have something to do with it. They do also serve cakes and other desserts so if you are in the city/Chinatown and are seeking an exotic asian-themed icecream parlour then check this out!
