The Best and/or Only Tres Leches in Melbourne

When I was two turning three years old, I was enamoured with Rosita from Sesame Street. If you’re unfamiliar, she was a turquoise-coloured, bilingual Muppet who hailed from Mexico. As mimicry is the greatest form of flattery, I began telling people I was from Mexico too.

A few years later, I realised that I was not, in fact, from Mexico, but from Puerto Rico. I was not born there, my maternal grandfather was. But this was enough to satisfy me and confirm my Latin heritage. It swiftly became an integral part of my identity.

I literally and physically began devouring everything I could grasp of my culture at the time. Heaping plates of rice + beans + platanos + a fried egg, caramel-doused flan, cafe con leche. (It’s no wonder I grew to develop such a raging coffee habit.)

I loved and understood all of these dishes, but tres leches cake was one I was more mystified by. How could one cake contain three different types of milk? Heavy cream + evaporated + condensed — it seemed too good to be true, yet it was real and as incredible as it sounded.

As far as I’m aware, no one knows the origins of tres leches. It doesn’t seem to be a very old recipe, having been popularised by Nestle Evaporated Milk can labels in the mid-1900’s. It takes different forms depending on its country of origin or adoption. I’m biased, but my favourite adaptation is the Puerto Rican recipe, most often soaked in coffee or dark liquor or both if you’re lucky.

In Melbourne, or at least in the inner city, there’s nowhere to source a Puerto Rican-style tres leches. There are very few places to source tres leches of any variety – but the dish can be found if you know where to look.

These are the best (and only) places to get it. If you’ve yet to try this Latin American classic, get on it.

Dine-in Tres Leches:

• Club Colombia — with “creamy sweet sauce”, passionfruit and strawberries $8
• Pastuso — with yuzu custard, passionfruit sorbet and hazelnut crumble $13
• Vamos — with coconut salted caramel, buttermilk curd, malted milk crisp, hibiscus gel $12
• Mamasita — with candied citrus, Añejo ice cream, meringue
• Black Toro — with dulce de leche and strawberries $15
• South American Bakery — details unknown

Takeaway / Deliverable (Only) Tres Leches:

• Empanadas Queens — details unknown
• Bululú Cakes — details unknown
• Marce Cakes — details unknown