South Yarra 3141
03 9867 5888
www.luxbite.com.au
www.facebook.com/LuxBite
Everyone’s talking about LuxBite. Including me, it seems. But this little café and sweet shop is not just famous for talk, it follows through with outstanding cakes and service too.
With my friend down from Adelaide this weekend, we decided to try something new and headed to Toorak Road. Relief number one was that we did not have to queue for a table. Relief number two was that they were serving breakfast till mid-afternoon. And relief number three was that they had vegetarian offerings on the menu.
I ordered the aptly named VegoBite. It arrived looking ‘cute’ with mini pumpkin squares done with poppyseeds, spinach, oven roasted tomatoes, mushrooms, melting goats’ curd, a poached egg and toast. The egg was a bit rubbery but luckily the yolk was still runny.
The coffee was decent, although a little bit too milky – I am thinking I may have to start changing my coffee order from flat whites to skinny ones to stop the overdose on milk.
The best of LuxBite’s crafts undisputedly lie in their desserts. We ordered two to share. I chose the Supersized Love, my friend the Oriental Love. The Oriental Love was better than I had anticipated. The yellow macaroon was subtly flavoured with coconut. Inside was tangy passionfruit curd with pandan cream in the centre. This was underpinned with a sweet, crunchy peanut brittle spread across the top and caramelised bananas artistically circling the outside. On paper the flavours seemed a mismatch but one bite of this little number and I could not get enough.
The Supersized Love was intensely rich. House-made nutella was accompanied with hazelnut cream, chocolate macaron, all encrusted with hazelnuts. It was delicious but we had to have a break and many cups tea before we could finish.
As if the food was not enough in itself, the service was impeccable. The waiter was so friendly, down to earth and obliging that I was instantly charmed. Even better, the staff all seemed passionate about the art of their food. Even the packaging for the take-away desserts is innovative.
I had wanted to try LuxBite for some time, but even then it out did my expectations. I am still thinking about the cakes now. Yum…