Okay, so I’ve heard really good things about this place…and the photos I’ve seen so far from other bloggers as well as their comments convinced me to travel from home (all the way in the east) at a blasphemous hour, through morning peak hour traffic, to Essendon, for some butter, egg, flour and lots of sugar…was it worth it?
I know it doesn’t start with F but it is French and that’s and F-word…
First impression of the place reminds me of cafes in Paris, clean, neat and sterile? The place is small and when we got there, was full, so we were directed down the hall to a small inner dining room that had a lone, larg-ish table.
Service was decent, professional and attentive, though I wouldn’t exactly call it friendly. Perhaps they were quite busy at the time…? Food and drinks came quickly enough and away we went.
The star of the morning I would definitely say is the famed almond croissant. True to its reputation, it came with a nice crunch on the outside, soft and fluffy with a slight cakey texture on the inside. I thoroughly expected it to be too sweet but found it quite nice. Also expected it to taste buttery but was pleasantly surprised by the lightness of it and the slight vanilla taste it carried. Definitely a big plus for the almond croissant!!
The egg brioche which I had high hopes for was alas, overcooked. The egg was hard and the yolk fully fried. The brioche as with all the pastries was nice and light and would have been excellent were it not for the much overcooked EGG! To me, that’s how eggs are killed, by overcooking the yolk…honestly, I don’t care about the white. I’m happy to have it fully cooked or par cooked but the yolk…the life of the egg…it needs, I repeat, needs to be given the right respect!
The mixed berry brioche saved the failed egg brioche by having a nice, light, not too sweet, custard filling that complemented the berries and the brioche very well.
The escargot was nothing too special, perhaps a bit on the sweet side for me especially with all the of sultanas in it.
The Mille Feuille, which I ended up having to takeaway, was excellently done. I was trying to compare it to the excellent one I had at French Lettuce and the pretty decent one from French Quarters and would probably rate it between the two with French Lettuce still ticking all the right boxes for me. The pastry was nice and crunchy and went extremely well with the not too sweet custard filling.
So, was it worth the 1 hour 15 min drive? Definitely for the almond croissants but perhaps, I should consider walking next time…calories in vs calories out….
No comments:
Post a Comment