Sweet Envy, Hobart

Walk into Sweet Envy and you're guaranteed to feel like a kid in a candy store. This pastry shop and cafe is a throw back to all your childhood favourites, all handmade with textbook finesse. That includes the Tim Tam reinvented as the Mit Mat, and the Ro-Vo, a spin-off of the iced Vo-Vo. Classically trained pastry chef Alistair Wise is the mind behind the madness, a Hobart local who worked at Circa, The Prince in Melbourne, before working for Gordon Ramsay in London and New York.


Sweet tooth heaven

Wise returned to Hobart with his wife Teena Kearney-Wise (also a chef) and opened Sweet Envy in 2010. It's hard not to press your nose up against the glass upon first sight of the cake counter.


Joy's Prickly Box $4


Jatz pie $5.50


Lemon delicious $4


Scallop pie $9

We started with savouries when we stopped by for lunch, our sights firmly set on their famed scallop pie.


Inside the scallop pie

The scallop pie here diverges from the usual Tasmanian version with curry. Here it's more of an Asian influence, thick chunks of scallop with braised daikon in an XO sauce. The pastry is standout, brilliantly flaky and crisp with visible layers. It provides a pleasing contrast against the soft daikon, its sweet and salty XO flavours not overpowering the flavour of the scallop.


Pork and fennel sausage roll $4.50

We also dive into the pork and fennel sausage roll.


Inside the pork and fennel sausage roll

It's another messily delicious pastry fest, its golden brown top scattered with fennel seeds. The homemade tomato chutney on the side is a flavour bonus. The filling is noticeably meaty too, without the usual reliance of cheap fillers like bread crumbs and pork fat.


Pecan sticky bun $5

Their pecan sticky bun is fast becoming a cult classic, recently named in a list of Australia's Best Dishes of 2016 by Australian Gourmet Traveller.


Close-up on the pecan sticky bun

The pecan sticky buns are inspired by Thomas Keller's version at Bouchon. While that one is brioche based, Wise's version here is more of a croissant-like dough. A thick covering of dark caramel is salty and pushed right to the edge of bittersweet. A generous covering of pecans brings it all together. It's super rich and, as promised, very sticky.


Jatz pie

We also couldn't resist the Jatz pie.


Jatz pie

We're not sure what to expect. It ends up tasting less salty than I thought it would, its filling tasting like a cross between a caramel slice and an American chess pie. It's still hard not to chortle at the Jatz crackers on top. Much fun.


Raspberry rose macarons

In addition to cakes, they have sandwiches on housemade breads. When we visited, fillings included butter poached chicken, slow roast beef, vegetarian and chorizo. Pie fillings include milk braised pork plus a chili recipe based on Elizabeth Taylor's favourite recipe.

A freezer cabinet holds a rainbow of ice creams, all churned daily using the leftover yolks from all those macarons. Flavours change all the time but might include raspberry and rhubarb; chilli, lime and coconut; or pumpkin pie.


Mit mat, the full monty and mint royale






Sweet Envy
341 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart, Tasmania
Tel: +61 (03) 6234 8805

Opening hours
Tuesday to Saturday 8.30am-5pm


>> Read the next Tasmania 2017 post - Tricycle Cafe, Hobart
<< Read the first Tasmania 2017 post - Pigeon Hole Bakers, Hobart


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