Cafe Vue at 401 St Kilda Road

Shannon Bennett seems to have wowed Melbourne with his successful Vue De Monde restaurant so we were very glad to hear that his second Cafe Vue was situated just outside the CBD, a much more accessible location. As usual, we were both over-excited at the thought of sampling what the genius Mr. Bennett had to offer on a more affordable scale and this is how our first visit went. 401 St Kilda Rd (near the corner of Toorak Rd). http://www.vuedemonde.com.au/cafe-vue.aspx

"Cafe Vue had a nice ambience - it was spacious and modern with nice french touches here and there and I have to say the service was fantastic, extremely friendly and thoughtful waiters/resses. My typical breakfast out is always a coffee and a pastry whereas Michelle on the other hand has to start her day off with something savoury, traditionally eggs on toast. So to keep her company, I decided to try the duck cassoulet jaffle which I have never seen on a breakfast menu before and for $6.50, it was extremely affordable. I was expecting tiny portions but it was quite big with generous filling. The duck was fatty and teamed with the beans it was very good. However it is best to eat this straight away when hot. The croissant was very average and not something to rave about (the jam was heavenly) and unfortunately neither was the coffee. The coffee was cute but small and a bit too strong for my liking. Of course, we HAD to get some baguettes takeaway for our lunches which were SO good. I tried the cocktail prawn and it was beautiful - the baguette was chewy just like in Paris and the prawns were big and full of flavour. I loved every bite and know I would be returning for their baguettes. And maybe an eclair or a macaroon next time as well. Overall I would say 401 is great for lunches and meals." TAM



"Knowing that this cafe was related to the famous Vue De Monde, it got me very excited. I do like to start off the day with something savoury so I chose the eggs on toast. The eggs were cooked at 62 degrees which meant that it was still runny inside. Never had eggs done this way and it was quite nice. Only problem was that they added abit of pepper on top and I'm not a pepper fan. The croissant was only so so and the hot chocolate was nothing to rave about. It was actually quite milky, and I'm a big chocolate fan so like it to have a stronger chocolate taste. The take away wagyu pastrami baguette was so delicious :) The bread was really nice and the filling was so good and thanks to Tam who took out the cheese for me :) Will surely return to sample their baguettes again and their nice showcase of sweets." MICHELLE

Sugardough Panificio & Patisserie, Brunswick East

Sugardough is indeed on Lygon Street but it is on the WAY far end of Lygon street - not the prettiest of locations but it sure stands out amongst all the other shops around it. It is very Italian with small tables at the front, extremely small (there are only 8 small tables inside) and decored very cosily. It has a nice ambience and is very popular with the locals. 163 Lygon St, Brunswick East, 3057


"This morning was just so funny. Michelle and I tend to get OVER-excited when it comes to trying out new cafes and after reading great reviews about Sugardough, our expectations were HIGH! The cafe was so pretty, intimately small and jam packed with patrons ... it must be good we thought.. of course we got even more excited. Michelle managed to get us a table and we sat down excited waiting for our order (cash only) of hot drinks and two bombolinis (one with custard and one with plum jam $2.60 each). But when we dug into the donut, it was dry, thick, plain, not sweet with very little custard filling. So we decided to give Sugardough another chance, maybe their other pastries are good so we tried a custard croissant - big mistake. One bite was all I could take. Michelle looked at me and said she just gained calories on something that didn't taste good. Whoops. But on the upside - I thought my coffee was REALLY nice. I think it would have been nicer to just have a coffee and their sourdough toast and avoid sweet pastries. I like the ambience and feel of this cafe but I would not venture all the way back to Sugardough. If I was a local I would be really happy to have Sugardough nearby for a good sit down Sunday coffee and the morning paper (just no sweets thanks)." TAM


"I was overly excited about our outing this morning, expecting some good pastries/sweets and a nice hot chocolate. Afterall, I did give up my sleep in time to try it out :P This place did have a nice ambience and the way they displayed their sweets were very appealing. Tam read about their famous bombolinis so we decided to try them out and they had a few selections there. I was eagar to try them all and suggested we get three, chocolate, jam and custard. The person serving me didn't catch the chocolate one and I thought we could just start on the two first. I thank myself for that decision. When the food arrived, it looked good. Tam picked up that I ordered the wrong hot chocolate and got it changed to an Italian one, what a good friend. But that didn't quite make up for the disappointment of the two bombolinis. I was expecting them to be fluffly and soft but they were thick and dry. The one with jam was slightly better, it had more filling than the custard one. Tam was too scared to make another choice so she got me to choose another sweet thing to try. I chose the custard croissant which was also a let down. It wasn't delicate, flaky and buttery as I imagined it to be - The hot chocolate, if you didn't tell me it was an Italian one, I wouldn't have guessed. I would have thought that was just an ordinary one but slightly more chocolatey. It's not a bad drink, just ordinary. Will I go back? If I'm ever in the area, I will, there's so many other choices there, something has to be good. Maybe we just chose the wrong sweets today :)" MICHELLE

Cacao, St Kilda

This has been one of our favourite places for hot drinks and pastries for years, so of course we had to add it to our blog site. This cafe is so french and it's croissants are proof of that. Cacao specialises in chocolate but also has a great range of baguettes and pastries. It is nestled on the non-busy side of Fitzroy St (next to Mirka) with meter parking out front but there is free parking about a block away in the residential area. On the weekend, it can get quite busy in the mornings with families who frequent there for breakfast. 52 Fitzroy St, St Kilda 3182 Http://www.cacao.com.au


"I LOVE this cafe! This is because Cacao serves 'French Breakfast - a pastry of your choice and a BOWL of coffee' - that's right - a BOWL! Nothing can be better than sipping a lovely bowl of coffee with a delicious croissant to accompany it - perfect. Enjoying my breakfast slowly and catching up with loved ones at Cacao is a favourite thing to do over the weekend for me. My sister always likes to order the french baguette with butter and jam and my husband loves their baguettes which is lovely toasted. I used to just have my coffees here but after Michelle told me how good their croissants were - I always have a croissant now. I'm so glad Melbourne has Cacao ....". TAM


"No doubt this is one of my favourite places to go for drinks, pastries and cake. The interior and layout makes this place really warm and relaxing. When you walk in, the glass cabinets are filled with lots of yummy chocolates on one side and cakes on another. The pastries are placed in baskets on wall shelves. Just looking at them is enough to make you drool. Today I had the Cacao breakfast which consist of a bowl of hot chocolate and I chose the croissant to accompany it. The hot chocolate here is pretty nice, it's not milky which I like and the texture is smooth and thin but being a real chocolate lover, the drink is not chocolatey enough for me. I think a bowl is too much, next time, I'll stick with their normal size. The croissant is one of the best around, very buttery, I'm sure Tam agrees with me on this one. I highly recommend their ice chocolate, it's my favourite drink here and do try out their biscuits, it's soooo yummy. Actually, try out all their stuff, everything's so appealing :)" MICHELLE