Good Food Month Sugar Hit: InterContinental Sydney

Tasting plate [l-r]: Caramel Walnut Cognac Slice,
Passionfruit and Strawberry Gelee,
Triple Chocolate Hennessey Pyramid.

It's Good Food Month!

We've always loved the concept of Sugar Hits, a dessert platter and dessert wine offered at Sydney city hotels between 9 and 11pm during the month of October.

Last year Sugar Hits were available for $15, a relatively inexpensive way to participate in Good Food Month, and easily scheduled with friends after dinner or a movie.

This year Sugar Hits are now $20 (and one friend reported a charge of $22 at the Sheraton). Admittedly your 33% price hike now includes a new option of Hennessy Cognac (or the usual Brown Brothers dessert wine), but it could make a teetotaler wonder whether they'd be better off ordering from the a la carte dessert menu.

In any case, we did enjoy an excuse to prolong our evening by indulging in a little more sugar, for thy stomach's sake.

The clear winner of the evening was the caramel walnut cognac slice, which was studded with nuts and layered with cream. Our helpful waiter also gave some hints on how best to enjoy the cognac: it really does taste better if you cup the glass in your hands and swirl it around to warm it a little.

Sugar Hit at the InterContinental Sydney
First floor bar
117 Macquarie St, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9240 1369

Available: Every night in October from 9pm-11pm

Cost: $20
Includes a dessert plate
and a glass of Brown Brothers dessert wine or Hennessy Cognac

More Sugar Hits available here

Related GrabYourFork posts:
GFM 2007: Sugar Hit #2 at the Sofitel Wentworth
GFM 2007: Sugar Hit #1 at the InterContinental Sydney

GFM 2006: Good Living Growers' Markets
GFM 2006: Hats Off dinner at Becasse
GFM 2006: Night Noodle Markets Week 3
GFM 2006: Night Noodle Markets Week 2
GFM 2006: Night Noodle Markets Week 1
GFM 2006: Spring Picnic
GFM 2006: Sugar Hit #4 at the Sofitel Wentworth
GFM 2006: Sugar Hit #3 at the Intercontinental Sydney
GFM 2006: Sugar Hit #2 at the Four Seasons Hotel Sydney
GFM 2006: Sugar Hit #1 at the Park Hyatt Sydney
GFM 2006: Sydney Food & Wine Fair

GFM 2005: Good Living Growers' Markets
GFM 2005: Night Noodle Markets
GFM 2005: Spring Picnic
GFM 2005: Sydney Farmers' Market
GFM 2005: Sydney Food & Wine Fair

GFM 2004: Twilight Trail: Cocktails and Sugar Hits

14 Comments:

At 10/05/2007 9:38 am, Lien said…

I had this exact same conversation with my friend while waiting for the trainn this morning. Each year, we normally go to about 2 different places for the Sugar Hit. But this year with the price hike, he reckons you should just order from their regular desert menu. And the fact that the Intercontinental's selection is very similar to last years!!

Nice pics though - hope the night noodle market which is the other GFM event we go to won't be disappointing either.
At 10/05/2007 10:20 am, Anonymous said…

the $15 in previous years included a glass of BB wine! so the price hike has nothing to do with that, sadly. i admit to being frugal but $15 up to $20 seems like a big difference to me!

still keen to try at least a couple of the Sugar Hits though :)
At 10/05/2007 12:02 pm, Anonymous said…

How was the Hennessy chocolate pyramid? That sounded quite interesting.

That's a bit of a bummer about the price hike -I also recall getting the Brown Brothers Moscato with last year's (which got me started on a Moscato addiction :P) for $15. $20 seems a bit much, especially for the places that have only one dessert and not a tasting plate.
At 10/05/2007 12:56 pm, Anna (Morsels and Musings) said…

i thought it was interesting that there are a lot less hotels taking part in sugar hits this year.

perhaps they turn out not to be worth the effort for the hotels and they lost money because the addition of hennessy cognac can't justify $5 more?
At 10/05/2007 10:14 pm, Anonymous said…

I was dissappointed by the price hike also especially given the two desserts I have sampled thus far have been very mediocre. The chocolate tasting plate at the Swisshotel sounded very indulging but it was dissapointing. Service and other snacks were of a high standard though. Wentworth-sofitel offered a choc-almond type cake that was okay but definitely not worth $20 and the service was great up until we were chased to the lift and asked if we'd paid!

Personally, I recommend to try other Sugar Hits than the two above.
At 10/06/2007 12:35 pm, Kat said…

As someone who can't even drink most of the alcohol, the price increase is a bit annoying. I hope it comes with an increase in quality and quantity!

And on a related note, will there be a GFM blogging round-up this year?
At 10/06/2007 2:57 pm, Anonymous said…

hope to try the sugar hits soon. last night i tried 2 of the cocktails of the month at Sydney Oyster Bar and Opera Bar. $20 this year which was $15 last year so same as Sugar Hits. Hope to check out a few of the Let's Do Lunches as well, mainly Quay and Wildfire and possibly Level Forty One again which are walking distance from work.

by the way Intercontinental do have a $15 High Tea sampler which i hope to check out in due course.

enjoy the rest of good food month.

s :-)
At 10/06/2007 5:15 pm, spicyicecream said…

that looks yummy Helen! I would like to check out the Sugar Hit at the Swissotel, the white chocolate creme brulee sounds delicious.
Some of the cocktails sound great too!
At 10/06/2007 5:27 pm, Anonymous said…

I think the Sugar Hit offerings this year are woeful.....

My friend did the Swissotel and said that it looked better than it tasted and we did the Sofitel one on Thursday and this one should be avoided at all costs!!! A stingy, not great piece of Opera cake *yech*.

They also didn't have the choice of dessert wine - only the cognac (not that I can drink either being 9 months pregnant *L*).

cheers :)
At 10/07/2007 1:05 am, Anonymous said…

P.S. I went to the Sheraton on the Park's tonight and it was $20 per plate :)
At 10/07/2007 8:14 am, Anonymous said…

Hi there, I happened to stumble across your blog and I felt compelled to comment. Being a diabetic, I am limited in my daily eats and therefore must live vicariously through food blogs. I must congratulate you on a top notch blog- lots of lovely food porn and great descriptions. Now I can indulge in my favorite treats without the risk of overdoing it- thanks very much ^^

(I linked your blog on my site as one of my top reads- hope you don't mind :D)
At 10/07/2007 10:10 pm, Helen (Grab Your Fork) said…

Hi Lien - It's a shame the Sugar Hits have gone up so much in price. I'm keen to check out the Night Noodle Markets too :)

Hi Lindsey Clare - I wasn't quite clear in my post but I've edited it for great clarity - this year the cognac has been added, last year it was only the dessert wine.

Hi Lorraine E - The chocolate pyramid was ok but not as intense in flavour as I'd hoped it would be. And as I said to Lindsey above, I should've been clearer - it's the addition of the cognac that's new this year.

Hi Anna - I noticed that less hotels are participating too. I would've thought it was a great way to get people into the door and if people are impressed by the service/atmosphere/food they will return, surely the whole point of Good Food Month?

Hi Anon - I've had the Opera cake at the Sofitel high tea - it was marvellous I thought, but being chased at the elevator doesn't sound like a pleasant end to your evening!

Hi kat 0+ - I'm not a big drinker either so the normal dessert menu seems a cheaper option.

And yes, Anna wil be hosting a weekly round-up of GFM events. The first one is here.

Hi Simon - I always mean to do a Let's Do Lunch but rarely get the time to do it (plus they seem to book out quite quickly). Sounds like you're in for a tasty Good Food Month. Enjoy!

Hi Lisa - I've seen some pics of the dessert plate at the Swissotel. It looked quite good!

Hi Belinda - That's a shame about the Sofitel's Opera. And unfortunate too that they only had cognac on offer - a bit alcoholic for a lot of people I expect!

Hi Lorraine - Perhaps it was a 10% surcharge for the public holiday. Not sure why, but it was on the PH Monday.

Hi Bean_Mix - Ooh diabetes is a serious problem and one I am constantly in fear of :) I'm glad that GrabYourFork is providing plenty of virtual enjoyment! And thanks for the blog link too. I'm very flattered :)
At 10/10/2007 11:18 pm, Benjiman said…

We had sugarhits at InterContinental last night.We think that much thought have gone into their menu,cleverly matching this with hennesey cognac.The strawberry & passionfruit gelee was a good choice as it was not too sweet and had a good balance of tartness and even offered choice of dessert & cognac.We did not get chased for the bill, but service was polite, courteous and attentive.We thought it was worth its $20 charge and looking forward to trying $15 high tea next week at the newly renovated Cortile..

Wow this place will rock, great design and ambience...once it opens
At 10/13/2007 2:01 pm, Helen (Grab Your Fork) said…

Hi Benjiman - You sound like quite a fan. Almost like you work there :)