‘Marvels to behold’: Where to try the $399 pastry that’s too beautiful to eat

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Dragon Pastry is a wonderland of baked goods, blending Chinese tradition with a pop-art palette to create an edible gallery of hand-shaped, semi-sweet pastries – one of which is almost too beautiful (and too expensive) to eat. On a sunny spring afternoon in Chinatown, there are office workers, tourists and teenagers crowding the colourful display cabinet on Dixon Street, pointing towards pastries that resemble peaches, plum blossoms and miniature pumpkins; rows of soft “cheese” buns, still warm from the oven and rolled in milk powder; and a variety of pre-packaged products,.

including lychee shortbread and those glossy pineapple pastries filled with whole egg yolks, affordably priced and flying out the door. I sit among the customers at a window bench, biting into the cheapest snack on the menu – a buttery, chewy Chinese cookie priced at $1.80. I’ve also got some pastries to sample, each filled with a jamboree of flavour, but they don’t necessarily taste as their names might suggest.

The sunflower pastry holds an earthy date paste (nicely dense, subtly sweet) within shortbread petals; while the plum blossom has a citrusy cumquat and mung bean belly; but my favourite is the plump peach. It’s flaky, fruity and nutty (and less sugary than expected), featuring paper-thin layers of green-tinted pastry leaves, a winter melon and peach filling, and a glossy dusting of strawberry powder. Just as lovely, but much more filling, are the cheese buns.

The lofty dough is cut in two and spread thick with cream cheese or sticky purple rice. Although different (and more expensive, at $6.50), there’s a creamy warmth to them that could satisfy pangs for the 70¢ custard-filled cream puffs from still-closed Emperor’s Garden Restaurant, several doors down.

Dine-in customers are also eating from the “dessert soup” menu, a 35-strong list ranging from milky, shaved ice bingsu to milk pudding flavoured with black sesame, sweet almond, red bean, coconut and sticky or glutinous rice. The coconut taro ball sago pudding feels like spring, creamy and filled with fresh fruit; while the hot almond and black sesame pudding is better for an after-dinner dessert, rich with a pleasing bitterness.

What stands out at Dragon Pastry is the absence of teeth-jangling sweetness. The store manager says this is driven by demand, specifically from young customers.

It’s a relief to eat treats that don’t cause a sugar rush, that taste like something beyond simply sweet. But the biggest wow factor here might be the extraordinary lion’s head pastries, inspired by the traditional Chinese dance, said to bring good fortune.

They are created in partnership with Chinese chef Wu Yang from Shenyang, in north-east China’s Liaoning province, and cost $399 each. It’s a whopper of a price tag, but Dragon Pastry founder Xi Lu says they’re more often bought as gifts to display, rather than eat.

“They’re rarely consumed as snacks,” she says. “The pastries are traditionally commissioned to celebrate major life milestones, such as the birth of a newborn or a wedding.” They also require a high degree of technical, time-consuming knife work.

Each lion’s head is made to last with flour, egg, sugar and shortening, filled with the customer’s choice of black-sesame or red-bean flavour, then sculpted and deep-fried in oil. Xi Lu says they must be ordered at least seven days in advance, and during my visit, three are ordered within an hour. “Out of every 10 to 15 intricate trial pieces crafted, only one piece meets our flawless standards to become a finished lion dance pastry,” she says. “This painstaking process requires days of meticulous hand-shaping, layering, and fine detailing to achieve the vibrant, lifelike expression of the lion.”

Up close, they are truly marvels to behold. But I’m sticking to dinky, flaky, fruity, nutty beautiful pastries, low in sugar but high in flavour, that cost less than the loose change in my pocket.

Pantry Story

Tiara Sucipto and Hari Wibowo’s thriving inner-west bakery-cafe tempts throngs seeking Asian-inspired sweet treats, from the oozy magnificence of a chocolate and cheese custard murtabak croissant to the ever-popular pandan mochi cookie with palm-sugar filling.

Self Raised

Sal Senan, Amani Rachid and Huss Rachid’s beloved and ever-expanding bakery-cafes are a cornucopia of banoffee tarts, vanilla slices, Boston cream doughnuts and irresistible savoury scrolls with halloumi, zaatar, oregano and honey.

2 Main Lane, Merrylands; 45 Jubilee Ave, Carlton; Shop 4, 8/20 Sarsfield Cct, Bexley North, selfraised.com.au

Azuki Bakery

A Japanese artisan bakery making exceptional vanilla or matcha-custard cream puffs, chewy matcha and black-sesame cookies and mandarin sponge cake layered with Earl Grey tea-infused cream dotted with fresh fruit pieces. Shop 1, 9-11 Arncliffe St, Wolli Creek; 3/63-71 Enmore Rd, Newtown, azukibakery.com.au.

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