Tella Balls Dessert Bar

Overview

Tella all your friends, the Tella Balls Dessert Bar is finally here. Sydney's newest dessert bar is based on the popular theory that if you take anything at all and coat it in Nutella it instantly becomes, like, heaps better. Expect to find cronuts, doughnuts, gelato, crepes and waffles dipped, drizzled and injected with everyone's favourite choc hazelnut spread (sorry Nutino). Prepare to go nuts.

Who would have thought that when Foodcraft Espresso & Bakery owners Aki Daikos and Simon Kappatos placed a Nutella doughnut atop a Nutella milkshake (with the hole through the straw, mind you) that their lives would change forever? Certainly not them. But after much chewing, slurping and Instagramming, the Tella Ball became an overnight sensation — the Kim Kardashian of the food world, if you will — and Aki and Simon planned a whole Nutella-themed wonderland to house their newly "world famous" Tella Balls. And now it's here.

If you thought Nutella on toast was good, just wait until you try the Nutella lasagna ($14.90). Made with layers of chocolate mousse cake on a chocolate biscuit base, it manages to capture that light, fluffy mouthfeel of creamy béchamel; think Sara Lee chocolate cake combined with Danone chocolate custard, swirled together with the carefree culinary brilliance of a small child. Sweet baby Jesus.

One of the most anticipated new creations at the Tella Balls Dessert Bar are the gelat-dough sticks ($7): frozen rings of doughnut flavoured gelato dipped in chocolate. Could they be as good as their punny name? Sure they can. They may look a little impractical, but the chocolate shell keeps the gelat-dough from melting brilliantly and the flavour is so rich and cookie-dough like, that they can hardly disappoint.

However, like all good sugar spikes, after an exhilarating high, there's always a crash. A bowl of tiramisu ($13) has the same watered down taste as a cheap dessert from Aldi. The waffle burger ($20), which had huge potential for Instafame, came out looking like a hot mess. The overcooked/undercooked waffle (which is really hard to do, mind you) was drenched in melted gelato. It's a sad state of affairs when you find yourself picking out the fruit and leaving the rest.

Eyeing off the display cabinet of cronuts, each one saturated in Nutella and caramel and topped with Kit Kats, M&M'S, Oreos, Maltesers and pretzels, it looks more like a 7-Eleven aisle than an artisanal dessert bar. Sure, a ten year would quickly deem this the best one in the whole world, but if you fancy fresh and daring flavour combinations, you're probably best to save the calorie count for later.

There are dizzying highs and lows at the Tella Balls Dessert Bar — but choose wisely and you'll be covered in a sticky chocolate grin from ear to ear.

Images: Bodhi Liggett.