Cavallini, 354 Queens Parade, Clifton Hill
I haven’t dropped in for a coffee at Cavallini’s for a long while.
Queens Parade is just across the creek from me, a colourful strip on my way to the Queen Victoria Market but I rarely shop here, everything is overpriced beyond a joke.
By chance I found myself in Cavallini’s again. Bonne chance indeed!
This European-style patisserie not only serves excellent coffee, gorgeous cakes and artisan bread but must have the best service in town. The staff are truly a delight.
I love the wooden boxes in the window filled with fresh sourdough and olive bread, the counter lined with crispy pastries and especially the gold-rimmed cabinets filled with rolls of paninis, pizza slices and arancini.
I dragged my eyes away (with difficulty) from the biscotti and baci di dama and chose a butterscotch macaron instead. And what a macaron! So light and lovely that I had to order another.
Christina chose a chocolate canoli, a favourite Sicilian pastry dessert of sweet, smooth ricotta filling encased in a crisp, firm shell.
Two coffees and two cakes under $12, perfect staff and half an hour of gossip with a friend adds up to a wonderful reason to stop in Clifton Hill.