The Sweetest Thing Patisserie, Simonstown.

Fruit, chocolate and passion fruit tarts.

Doreen Alcock, pastry chef at The Sweetest Thing Patisserie in Simonstown was awarded the Diners Club Award in 2008 for The Most Promising Pastry Chef Newcomer in the Whole of South Africa. I’ll repeat that, The Whole of South Africa. 

This chef has got to be good, I thought,and worth a trip all the way to Simonstown. 

So on a sunny morning, with the sea in False Bay an impossible shade of blue, I pulled up outside her shop, on the right as you drive into Simonstown. 

What struck me was that the bakery, out the back, was as large as the entire cafe and patisserie up front, where husband Keith laboured behind the counter wrestling with a coffee machine. 

Fresh bread, scones, tarts baking, pastries in preparation and all the gadgetry of a pastry chef abounded in the bakery. Doreen was there too, and she is a very unassuming woman. Her cakes and pastries looked scrumptious, delicious and made you want to dive in. 

The menu lists 40 different pastries and tarts. Here’s a selection to get your taste buds tingling; 

Brownie Mousse Cake, Chocolate Indulgence, Choux a la Creme, Crunchy Lemon Millefeuille, Eccles Cake, Fruit Diamond, 

Oh my gosh.....

Japonaise, Plum Frangiapane, Vanilla Bavarois, Chocolate and Hazelnut Croissant, Almond Truffle, Florentines and Palmiers. Salivating yet? 

Her husband Keith explained that Doreen was a person with a special talent and her abilities are a gift that run in her family. 

So I decided to taste, with some friends of course, Mixed Fruit, Passion Fruit and Chocolate Tarts. 

And it’s true. Intense flavours without cloying sweetness characterised the pastries. Often, with pastries and sweets things like this they look great and don’t deliver. But with Doreen’s this is not the case. Her creations are truly world class.

Definitely decadent....

They look great and taste wonderful. I am glad I don’t live too near Simonstown, or else I’d develop a serious addiction for all these incredible sweet treats. 

The Sweetest Thing Patisserie, Main Road, Simonstown. Opposite the entrance to the Naval Base. 021 786 4200.