Tuesday 5 July 2011

Chez Dre

It was planned to spend our weekend morning at Port Melbourne to run some errands. 1st thing in the morning, I popped into our local news agent to grab a copy of The Age Good Cafe Guide 2011 at $5 which was on special for the day only.

It was announced days ago that Chez Dre was awarded Best Bakery Cafe by The Age Good Cafe Guide 2011. Chez Dre also scored the highest - three cups according to the guide. As we had some time to spare before our appointment, Mr suggested to get a coffee from Chez Dre.

We were kinda of expecting a crowd as huge as St. Ali as it was already after 10am. But coffee ended up became full breakky as there wasn't a queue. We were seated in less than 5mins. While waiting for the waitress to organise the table, I went round taking some photos especially on their dessert display fridge.

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5 different flavours of macarons were available before we left which we didn't get any. Tried Chez Dre's macarons before and wasn't impressed therefore decided to skip it.

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4 flavours of Eclair available : Vanilla, Chocolate, Coffee and Salted Caramel.

We had a vanilla eclair and salted caramel take away. Can I suggest to improve the packaging for take away?? The eclairs were placed on a very soft cardboard acting as the base and covered with a clear plastic bag. Surely they can afford to pack them in a more solid box? At least easier for customer to handle them while walking thru the crowded market.

At a price of $7.50 for a eclair, I do find it expensive. Well, if it's good, it's worth it. But to our disappointment, we didn't enjoy neither flavour. Salted Carmel was just buttery, can't taste the saltiness. Vanilla was slightly better but still no wow factor.

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Andrea Reiss (Dre) in action that morning.

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Mr. normal cappuccino looking very pretty!

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My usual soy cappuccino.

The coffee was only above average. It wasn't too milky but it wasn't fragrant nor strong. We definitely enjoyed St. Ali coffee more.

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I had the Stuffed Mushroom with Walnut and Spinach, Housemade beans and Herbed Crouton. I liked the crouton which was very crunchy and stuffed mushroom but sadly not the beans. There wasn't much flavour in the beans and I preferred my beans to more soggy, saucy and soft. But that's just me.

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Mr. had Smoked Ham & Gruyere Cheese Grilled Sandwich Topped with Bechamel Sauce and a Fried Egg on Top. The combination of grilled cheese with the bread used was a match. Bread was crunchy and fragrant but the slice of ham was just too pathetic. Potato on the side was soft and full of herbs although not much can be seen.

Overall, breakky was good but wasn't fantastic. Price was quite reasonable.
Will we return? Doubt so as we still enjoy St. Ali when compared.

Chez Dré on Urbanspoon

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