Luxbite Review (Macarons and other desserts) @ Toorak Road, South Yarra

I first heard about LuxBite on Twitter when the two owners Yen and Bernard were talking about macarons. After following them (on Twitter, I'm not a stalker!)... I discovered that they were opening their store in South Yarra... as of this week, this has come to fruition... the outcome?

Deliciously creative macarons!!!!!

As I happened to be in the area on Tuesday, I decided to pop by for a visit and buy some macarons.. I had been lusting after their speciality macaron since they entered the Melbourne Macaron competition in NGV in November... the Kaya Toast!!!

The interior of the store is beautiful and quaint! I love those vintage chairs they have and the colour schemes seem to bring out the brightness of the colours of the macarons on display!

As an opening special, they had the Mango Pavlova... I got mine as a complimentary :)

Isn't it just beautiful!!!

Now to the beautiful macarons... they had a few flavours, I think about 11 or 12.. and I bought only 8 flavours.. regretting that now.. should have bought all!!!

As you can see from my greediness.. I bought one of each of the delectable goodies... They look very christmasy as well...(especially the watermelon yoghurt!)

We tried the chocolate and cherry (the one with the seasalt!)...which was good, but not as rich as they one I've had from Lindt (and given that, it was Lindt, the chocolate had better been good, which it was!)

We also had the raspberry and white chocolate and strawberry and cream which was pretty normal and didn't scream in my mouth like some of the other flavours.

The Boy ate up the black sesame... which I had a nibble off... not a fan of black sesame and I only bought it for him!

What I absolutely loved were the peanut butter and jelly (PB&J), the watermelon yoghurt and of course, the Kaya Toast!!!!!!!

The Kaya Toast even had a tiny piece of smooth butter in the centre of the filling... It was the best.. the flavour was intense and it was much nicer than a real kaya toast... seriously... just think of 2 really rich and crunchy kaya toasts and compressed that down into a bite size morsel.. that was what the macaron was.



Would I come back for more? HELL YES! I still want to try the 3 flavours which I missed out on (passionfruit,pina colada and white peach and ginger)

Was it worth the price? For $2.50 each (I paid $19 for the 8 macarons).. the price was on par with everyone else..


*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: Dessert
Dining Style: Cafe
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 8/10 (DELICIOUS MACARONS!)
Restaurant ambiance: - (I can't rate this as I didn't actually eat there.. but it was very pretty!)
Service/ Attitude: 8/10 (I had a lovely chat with the owners. They are super friendly!)
Value for money: 8/10 (as I mentioned, same as everywhere else)

Address:
38 Toorak Road
South Yarra VIC 3141
Tel:(03) 9867 5888

Website: http://www.luxbite.com.au/

How to get there:

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Cafe Vue 401 @ St Kilda Road, Melbourne

Hello all! I apologise on my M.I.A status for the last week. It's been a crazy year end at work (and still is), and by the time I get home, all I want to do is go to bed (sometimes with no dinner!) Gasp... 

It's also the time of the year of social gatherings and Christmas celebrations... so here is a much belated post on our visit to Cafe Vue 401 on Melbourne Cup Day :)

Day out at Prahran Market

The beautiful Prahran Market building

Are you the sort of person that craves going to the market? Doesn't matter what kind of market, be it the farmers market, the vegie market, the fruit market, the crafts market... just pick a market, any market, cheap cheap ... (sorry that came out of no where!)

Are you the type that walks into a homewhere/kitchen store and just gasp in joy and happiness?

Will the sights of the utensils above make you swoon and wish that you could have each and every item in your home/kitchen?

Then Prahran Market is the market for you... located in the upmarket suburb of Prahran (oh so posh dah-link!)... Prahran Market is situated at a busy intersection and has been around since 1881 (that is a famous brand, no?) and is not, I repeat, NOT a tourist market... (hence it's much more authentic!)

The al fresco dining area that is shared by a few of the cafes located around the Market

We decided to give it a visit on Saturday as the Boy was on a mission to look for his vegetables... (someone said a bad word there.... anything green must be bad for you! Mold, fungus, vegetables!)... However, the Boy has gone out of the way to make me eat the horrid healthy things... he's gone for purple vegetables! Curses!! Now they look quite nice and edible!

Purple Carrots

According to the Carrot Museum (believe me, I was just as amazed as you are... that there exists a museum for carrots... imagine... mummified carrots and carrots learning to make fire! But I digress...), carrots originated from present day Afghanistan 5000 years ago and were either purple or yellow in colour and became the "natural" orange to us when a few Dutchmen took it upon themselves to cultivate them and "orange-nize" them as those were the wonderful Netherland colours... Kapish?

Purple Potatoes, namely Sapphire and Purple Congos

Purple potatoes are amazingly high in anti-oxidents and the increasing popularity in restaurants using them in dishes now even has a dedicated article in the Epicure, The Age! You can google the rest yourself.. any more and I might start to fall asleep... needless to say, purple vegies are very pretty (even if they are roots!)

Best Mango Lassi in Melbourne

We stopped for a drink and to get some sumac from the little Indian Grocery at the market (shamed, I was overly distracted by spices and free lassi tastings to take a picture of the shop!)

A pretty dog!

Whilst taking a walk upstairs (we were in exploring mode) to view the famous sexual health clinics (well, when I google Prahran Market, the sexual health clinics come up, so I'm assuming that they are famous :P ), someone's dog was giving me the evil eye! What a pretty dog it was too!... Hmmpphh...

Mr. Potato waves a hello from his perch (he flies!)... and beautiful fresh produce in the market (the Boy proudly declared, "Melbourne has the freshest produce!")

And to end this visit, I took a picture of the pretty flowers in season... the Boy never buys me any... , "They just wilt and die anyway, I'll buy you a pot plant, but you're too lazy to look after it!"

For some reason or other (I'll stick to other), I was really full by the time I got out of the market... first we had a heavy brunch at Mojito Cafe including tea and coffee, then my mango lassi, then walking through the meat and delicatessen section (barbecues were on and meat and sausages was 'a grilling!)

How do you like to spend your Saturdays? I can't wait to go back to the market this weekend!!!

Oh and if you're on Twitter, Prahran Market has a twitter account and they're very helpful in getting information back to you. I needed to know where to get edible flowers and they found them for me! Hence, the excitement of returning to the market this weekend!!

**Note** I have nothing against the likes of touristy markets such as Vic Market or Paddingtons (in Sydney), but sometimes you just want to visit the other local markets around...

Jacques Reymond @ 78 Williams Road, Prahran

That's right.. that's me and the man himself... Jacques...

I would like to lie to say that he took a picture with me whilst I was dining at his restaurant, but as you can tell from the hair (mine)... this was taken during a Taste of Melbourne 2009...

Recently (the 28th of May to be exact), I had made a booking at the famed Jacques Reymond restaurant to celebrate the Boy and mine's 9th anniversary (a month early!)...

That's right folks... we have been together for a whopping 9 years! We've been inseparable since we were 18! Imagine that! Nearly a third of my life (!) has been spent in this relationship and I still get heart flutters when he calls me on the phone =)


Anyway, back to our dining experience... when we arrived, it was starting to drizzle (it's called raining here in Melbourne, meh)... and we were greeted at the front door by the staff smiling brightly bringing umbrella's out to shelter their guests coming in.

We were brought to our table with efficiency and seated at an area where it was non too bright... *sad face*... I was ready to throw a tantrum because I had had a long and tremendously busy day at the office and anything small would throw me... so here I was pouting like a petulant child and ready to throw a hissy fit at a 3 chef had restaurant!


The Boy said calmly, "It's up to you, but you can ask them if they would let us change tables to the brightly lit one, for your pictures"...

And I did, and with amazing alacrity and efficiency (imagine a bunch of fantastic butlers swooping in and moving you from one table to the other without you even realising it).... Note: We had already been served our complimentary bread and gougere


So as you can imagine, my mood went from 0 to 60 pretty quickly and I was already raving on how fantastic they were service wise!

Back to the meal...

As usual, the Boy had to stop me from stealing utensils/cutlery/salt and pepper grinders etc... however, having had the best butter in the world at Maze.... this didn't quite match up to that.. but it was still soft and creamy...


We were given the usual variety of bread (white and multigrain) and a bread stick called (I may be wrong, but sounds like), Ebby/Ebbie (I asked the waiter twice!)


This was served to us piping hot and it was delicious! This is known as Gougere, which is basically a Gruyere Cheese Puff (not unlike a cream puff)


The first meal of the 8 course was a lemongrass, spinach and rock lobster soup (served in a shot glass), fragrant Tiger prawn, and sweet potato and turmeric ice-cream...

We were recommended to have a sip, have a bite and have a lick (wonderful taste sensation)


The second dish was a Sandwich of spanner crab, mirin and fresh wasabi jelly, lacquered Petuna ocean trout, black bean and sweetcorn dressing


Wild Barramundi, almond and bush pepper caramel, yoghurt and black garlic, kaffir lime and lemongrass espuma (a fancy word for foam)

The Boy and I thought that this was the clear winner for the night... all the famous just went together magnificently and the caramel was just orgasmic!


This next dish, a Pekin duck (that's how it's spelt on the menu), and Harvey bay scallop, peking juices, spiced marshmallow like a crepe, tempura enoki mushrooms, ginger sesame and pandan oil

I quite liked the duck (it's a very different take on the traditional Peking duck and this dish was very similar in taste and texture to the squab dish that we had in Attica)


The dish that came next was another highlight for me... as it was highland venison like a warm carpaccio, horseradish mustard dressing, butternut pumpkin with honey and coriander oil

The venison was so tender and juicy at the same time.. I absolutely loved it!


When you go to a French restaurant, and when you see suckling pig on the menu, you expect BIG things... and having had such a fantastic meal so far, my expectations were pretty high...

So when the Western plains suckling pig and tamarind, celeriac and bitter almond, dashi apple veil, dancing bonito flakes and rosella chutney salad, and cavalo nero ( a type of cabbage, Tuscan cabbage), was served up... I was expecting BIG things

And unfortunately, this was a great disappointing dish... not only did it fail to meet expectations in terms of taste... the pig was overcooked and was dry and coarse...


On that night, we were offered an "extra" dish to be served with our last savoury dish (the suckling pig), fresh mushrooms from Mornington Peninsula, which had just been picked, served with truffle oil and thyme (extra $25)...

Being a great lover of mushrooms and not wanting to miss out on any creations that came out of the kitchen, I gladly said yes to that...

It was a tasty dish, but wasn't anything spectacular.. I enjoyed it more than the suckling pig (which is a travesty!)


However, the night was saved with the delivery of desserts upon our humble table...

Pacific Rim martini of pineapple, passionfruit and banana, liquorice ice cream and honeycomb

I did want to try sticking my finger to the bottom of the glass to try and get that last bit of pineapple, but I refrained... (I was civilised and used the dessert fork instead)


The final "official" dessert of the night was as delicious as it sounded...

Millefeuilles of chocolate: White chocolate mousse, pure Caribbean chilli ice cream, dark chocolate mousse and praline ice cream served with poached figs..

One word... ORGASMIC!


A close up shot of the chocolate with the tempered chocolate off


To finish off we had tea and coffee and petits fours





Which were, from memory, a dark chocolate truffle, macaroon, cream puff, Turkish delight and a hazelnut and chocolate (thing)...



I'd like to think we had a pleasant experience here, attended by good staff and showered with fantastic food (minus that suckling pig =( )... and we had an enjoyable and romantic anniversary!

*Disclaimer: All food ratings are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality

Food/ Cuisine: French (contemporary)
Dining Style: Fine dining
Overall Food Rating (Based on the Dining style): 9/10 (they lost that 1 important point due to the suckling pig)
Restaurant ambiance: 9/10 (I actually loved the idea of dining in a mansion, and we had a view of the front courtyard and watching the pattering of rain drops onto the fountain)
Service/ Attitude: 8.75/10
Value for money: 8/10 ($170 per person for an 8 course degustation and an extra $25 for the mushrooms)

Address:
78 Williams Road
Prahran VIC 3181

Tel: (03) 9525 2178

Fax: (03) 9521 1552

Email:dining@jacquesreymond.com.au

Website:http://www.jacquesreymond.com.au

Jacques Reymond is open
for Lunch from Thursday-Friday 12.00pm-1.30pm and
for Dinner from Tuesday-Saturday 6.30pm-9.30pm

Open Sunday and Monday by arrangement for functions

How to get there:

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