Cafe Lavande  

A thoroughly relaxing break amidst stressful and pressing circumstances.

Cafe Lavande reminds me of the classic botique French cafe. An inconspicuous storefront, cakes and pies on display, extensive drinks list; with a line of chairs outside the shop, facing the road. The French take it easy. They have approximately 5 meals a day.


Environment:
Tucked away at Princes Terrace, this place offers some exclusivity, quiet, calm. No exhaust. Sometimes diners would bring their dogs and throw a ball for them to fetch. During our visit there were some people shooting an advertisement. Something to do with kick-boxing perhaps. I also like the decor inside the little shop. It's farm-like, and homey. a string of garlic hanging on the wall, a few rusted mirrors, old cupboards.

People:
The shop owners are extremely friendly and helpful. I think it's a family business. They were really laid back, didn't chase us out of the restaurant when we'd finished our tea, and even offered to take photos for us (we were in need of help).

Cakes:
Chocolate almond cake
Not my personal favorite. It was basically 2 layers of moist yellow cake glued with chocolate. The chocolate was quite sweet. Almond = tasted like the Chinese dessert almond paste. I found that the flavours didn't match well. Didn't really like it. Next time I'd go for the chocolate fruit cake, which looked much more substantial and authentic (at least the whole cake was chocolate colored).

Apple and berry cake
This is a good interpretation of the classic apple cake. It contains a lot of apples, berries. Dried/preserved strawberries we discovered. Worked well - they prolly used preserved strawberry coz the fresh ones would melt into a gooey paste in the cake and there'd be a hole by the time the cake is served. The cake itself wasn't to sweet - good. The best thing about this cake is how it LOOKED: yummy! Suggested improvement: reheat before serving. Perhaps you could ask for it.

Lavender cake
Another delightful piece of cake. Pound-cake texture, with lavender icing and I think lavender flowers inside...? Dried lavender. I could see them buried inside the cake. There was also a mixture of nuts and dried berries - walnut, pistachio?, cranberry, hazelnut? yeah. Substantial. And true to its name. Worth a try

In order of preference:
1. Lavender Cake
2. Apple and berry cake
3. Chocolate almond cake (really not worth trying - you should go for the chocolate berry cake instead!)

Check out the menu...