On a stinking hot Sydney day, I decided it was time to re-visit Bundeena after many years. I planned to have a look at the Aboriginal rock carvings, sit on a beach and do some writing, and find the best doughnut in the small town. I accomplished all three goals.
Bundeena is a quaint small town deep in the heart of Sydney’s Royal National Park. You can get there by ferry from Cronulla or do what I did and drive through the Audley entrance. Even though it’s isolated, it’s easy to see why people love living there. The only problem is that it is too small for the number of visitors it must get on a warm weekend.
On to the doughnut search…
I checked every café in town and found nothing resembling a doughnut.
Then, for the sake of being thorough, I had a look in the window of The Gelato Factory by Charlie, a place I didn’t expect to find a doughnut. But sure enough, a few Italian pastries sat in a display case, including some doughnuts. Jackpot!
Now, despite my Italian background, I have not heard of Sfogliatelle before. So I pointed to it and asked the woman behind the counter what it was. She said, “It’s like a (slight pause to think)… doughnut.” Double jackpot! “I’ll have one, thanks.” She told me to heat it up for a few seconds in the microwave.
I took it home. As I said it was a hot day, so it didn’t travel too well. You can see in the photos that the icing changed. But it was still delicious. The ricotta ever so slightly sweet.
My curiosity made me look up Sfogliatelle. According to Wikipedia, it is a shell-shaped pastry from Campania, and the pastry is layered, which is what the word ‘Sfogliatelle’ means. The one from The Gelato Factory by Charlie wasn’t layered. Being experts in gelato rather than pastry, I assume that they source their pastries from another company.
The Gelato Factory by Charlie has another outlet at Revesby. I’ll have to make the journey there one day as well. I think their website needs updating because it doesn’t mention the Bundeena store.
My trip to Bundeena was most enjoyable. Sadly, 24 hours later a huge bushfire tore through the bush area nearby. Thankfully the town was unscathed, but there are other costs of a bushfire. I hope the person responsible is brought to justice.
DomNuts 