Noîsette

Posted by Almost Always Ravenous on February 21, 2011 · 7 Comments 

84 Bay street
Port Melbourne, 3207
03 9646 9555

A long drive across town on my morning off to the seaside suburb of Port Melbourne. This Bay street bakery-café looks incredibly like Laurent with dark wooden walls and a splash of contemporary, but luckily the food is not on the same level. The glass displays are filled with shimmering mini-cakes, golden pastries and not to mention the beautiful bread.

Coffee is passably good, lacking in a bit of vigour and silkiness.

Prosciutto baguette – delicious chewy crusty baguette filled with thin slices of prosciutto, perfectly ripe avocado, cheese and a little kick from sundried tomatoes. A tasty sandwich.

Pistachio torsades – a beautifully twirled croissant filled with the subtle fragrance of pistachio. Almond slices and the flaky pastry give a nice crumbly crunch. Must say though, it was a tad burnt at the tips.

That brings me to the end of brunch. Well, sort of…

End of brunch maybe, but no way on earth I was going to return home empty handed. Yeh, THAT’S RIGHT, all those bags / boxes on the counter are mine! I would’ve bought home some of their lovely bread too, if we weren’t so rice-biased at home.

The pastries are delightful – beautifully buttery and flaky. The pear danish has a sweet, slightly tart and juicy middle with a sprinkles of dark chocolate chips.

The almond croissants are also a gorgeous treat for buttery-pastry lovers. Some will prefer this flakier, less custard filled version, but I am rather biased to Neil’s (Parisian Patisserie) unconventional croissants with more custard, stronger on the almond aroma and fluffier pastry.

The macarons are a lovely masterpiece to look at, perfectly symmetrical and perfect meringue feet. The flavours are kept simple, nothing particularly inspiring. I find they are a little too crunchy throughout and somewhat heavy handed with the vanilla undertone.

Sable Breton is essentially a French buttery cookie, indulgently buttery and crumbly. It’s like eating just the crunchy base of cakes … pure indulgence! YUmmO

The lemon tart is distinctly acidic and citrusy, with a quick crescendo of ‘tart’ on the palate, but no lingering citrusy tingle that I found at Parisian patisserie, though still miles ahead of Laurent. The custard has a wobbly texture with a buttery almond base that crumbles readily.

The traviatta has got to be one of my favourite items I tried. The soft spongy layers of cake, interspersed with layers of pleasantly fragrant pistachio butter cream, dark chocolate bitter-sweetness, and lightly roasted-and-not-too-crunchy pistachio nuts on top. It is by no means a show-stealer, but has the right balance of mellow, subtle flavours and textures that makes it a truly endearing slice of cake. Mum ate more than half the slice… sigh!

Rating: Yummy +1, minus points for the macarons and coffee. The staff are incredibly friendly. The pastries and cakes are far superior to Laurent or Brunetti, and comparable to the much loved Parisian Patisserie. Being just as far from my house, I will be frequenting this as much as Neil’s patisserie, though not for their almond croissants, but for their traviatta and breads.

This is officially the first bakery-café extreme indulgence for the year!~ Hopefully for your viewing pleasure there will be more of that to come.

You may also like: Parisian Patisserie, Cacao, Earl Canteen.

Filed under Bakery, Dessert, French, Port Melbourne, Sandwiches / Subs, Yummy +1 · Tagged with bakery, croissant, lemon tart, torsade