Picotin

When making my reservation, the lady on the phone was very friendly, calling me "dearie" (in a warm way, not the pretentious way some people use it).

Upon arriving, we deicded to sit outside. It was slightly warm because of the spotlight and not much ventilation under the roof. There was a slight bit of annoyance with a waiter who could not recommend a red wine and instead asked me to look at the menu myself. Although to be fair, the night improved greatly after that minor incident.

We shared a Bashkir (tandoori chicken) pizza, Brumby (smoked bacon) pizza, Joue de boeuf bourguignon (beef stew) and Lyonnaise Potato. Also had a bottle of Aust Cabernet Merlot (approximately $80 before taxes). The food arrived promptly. Pizzas were rather dissapointing as it had very little topping although hubby loved the crust. The potato and beef stew (so tender and tasty) was excellent and I'd definitely have it again the next time I'm there.

We moved indoors to the bar area to have our desserts. It was still warm inside but a bit better than outdoors. We went a bit overboard and ordered 5 desserts amongst 4 of us: Tarte au citron et tamarin (lemon and tamarin tart), Gateau aux dattes (sticky date pudding), Financier a la pistache et crème brûlée vanille (pistachio financier), Sesame ice-cream & a Souffle (forgot the name).

Souffle was a bit boring as it was rather large and the richness was overwhelming after a while. The remaining desserts were fantastic. What I loved most about their desserts is that they have real cake desserts (some places only do mousse desserts which is a rip-off cause it's full of air, sugar and gelatine) and each dessert is carefully put together with various textures and tastes. E.g. the pistachio financier had a cake base with a creamy light vanilla cream layer and crunchy crystallised burnt sugar layer on top. The warm sticky date pudding (my fave) came with burnt toffee sauce and caramel ice-cream. The dessert portions are large enough to share for 2.

The owner was very friendly and chatted with us a few times, even hand feeding me the dessert. The bill came up to (sesame ice-cream was complimentary) $55 per person, which I thought was very reasonable since we had a bottle of wine and 5 desserts!