If the queues for frozen yoghurt and ice cream have taught us anything, it is that Auckland is currently in no mood for restraint when it comes to dessert. We will happily line up across a weekend for something cold, creamy and photogenic, which makes the arrival of Chimneys & More in Wynyard Quarter feel particularly well timed.

Because while fro-yo is enjoying its very deserved renaissance, this newcomer brings something different to the current sweet-tooth frenzy: theatre.

Chimneys & More has brought the European chimney cake to Auckland, a street-food classic that arrives hot, crisp, caramelised and spectacularly overqualified for the role of casual dessert. The dough is wrapped around a cylindrical spit, baked until golden, then rolled through sugar and toppings while still warm before being filled with soft serve, sauces, chocolate, pistachio and whatever else the occasion appears to demand.

Watching one come together is half the appeal. There is spinning dough, caramelising sugar, melting soft serve and toppings piled with a degree of enthusiasm that makes a paper cup of anything suddenly look rather conservative.

The combinations run from classic cinnamon through to pistachio, chocolate and the inevitable Dubai chocolate treatment, where chocolate and pistachio meet inside a warm chimney shell to very convincing effect. We tried the cinnamon chimney with soft serve and Dubai chocolate, where the contrast between warm spice, cold creaminess and rich chocolate does most of the heavy lifting, followed by the pistachio tower with chocolate soft serve, which takes the whole exercise several delicious steps further.

There is no elegant way to eat one, nor should there be. Soft serve melts, chocolate wanders, toppings fall, and at some point the structural integrity of the entire creation becomes your problem. That is precisely what makes it fun.

Auckland’s current love affair with frozen desserts is showing no signs of cooling, but Chimneys & More adds another layer to the obsession, combining the cold, creamy appeal we cannot seem to get enough of with something warm, freshly baked and far more theatrical.

Consider this the European street food you did not know you needed.

Opening hours:
Sunday – Thursday – 9.00am -10.00pm
Friday – Saturday – 9.00am -11.00pm

chimneyandmore.co.nz