302 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000
Date visited: 26th November 2012
Facebook Page
Giraffe Cafe (or rather, Gilaffe Cafe as as the current sign suggests) appears like a tiny hole in the wall cafe or bakery on the outside. Looks can be deceiving.
Once you pass through the narrow doorway, you are greeted with a smile, given menus as you pass the counter and welcomed into their inner sanctum.
 |
| GIRAFFE spelt across a wall |
Decor was gorgeous. I was jealous. I'd want my future house to be decorated like this (if I ever build one).
 |
| Love the white-washed timber walls |
 |
| Lanterns, incense sticks and photo frames - reminds me of a beach house |
 |
| Cosy sofa |
There was even a big Wishing Tree in the centre of the room. I felt like we were dining in a courtyard or having a garden party rather than indoors.
 |
| Love the Indoors |
They had menus for drinks, entree/snacks, mains and dessert. I could only find a list of food on their Facebook page, so here is the actual menu if you were looking for it online like I had been. All following pics are clickable to enlarge.
You go back out to the counter to order and then you're given a cute animal cutout for your order. Certainly endearing.
Our orders didn't take long to arrive. I had a cappuccino. It was pretty standard.
 |
| Cappucino |
MerlinFan was happy with her latte.
 |
| Latte |
MerlinFan had the Pumpkin, Chicken and Spinach Baked Rice.
 |
| Baked rice |
Sweet, creamy pumpkin and stringy melted cheese, chunks of chicken and spinach sitting atop baked rice. Nice. When MerlinFan first tasted her Baked Rice, she thought it was good, but then she tasted my risotto and thought damn, she wanted my risotto! LOL.
 |
| Love the plate |
My Mushroom Risotto came in a little bowl. Even though if looks like a small portion, for me it was the perfect serving size of a creamy pasta dish. The risotto was rich and creamy but with still a hint of al dente bite and perfectly separated grains. It was interspersed with the earthy flavour of mushrooms and the seasoning was faultless, wonderfully cheesy with a grating of extra cheese on top.
 |
| Eat me |
The dish that I really came here to try was the Chocolate Pudding.
 |
| Chocolate pudding |
Admittedly, MerlinFan and I were a little let down by the dessert. The entire pudding was springy and cakey and I had expected a gooey, liquid chocolate centre but never found one. We also felt the pudding itself could have been more chocolaty. The ice cream would have been better served in a separate little dish, for a lot of it had melted into a soup over the pudding when it arrived at the table. The ice cream itself was very unremarkable, lacked any essence of vanilla and was watery without that desirable creaminess. Sad to say, it was mediocre for us.
Even though dessert was a bit of a bust, MerlinFan and I really enjoyed our lunch here. Service was quick and full of smiles, which is always a big plus. I just love the ambiance of this cosy joint - it sure has character and I could sit for hours marvelling at all their quirky wall decor. A great place for a leisurely brunch.
<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1518731/restaurant/CBD/Giraffe-Cafe-Melbourne"><img alt="Giraffe Cafe on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1518731/biglink.gif" style="border:none;padding:0px;width:200px;height:146px" /></a>
0 comments:
Post a Comment