Puccinos Review – Food Friday

So following on from my chef’s hat yesterday it’s Food Friday today 😀 Fridays will now be full of baking, favorite midnight snacks, yummy cafes/restaurants I visit and other food related things. I preface by saying I don’t know much about food or cooking, but I know that I like eating it! James does most (all) of our cooking at home because I’m usually working but I do enjoy making things (mostly sweets) when I have free time. So this is going to make me get away from the computer a bit more and start enjoying it again 😀

This post is about a cute cafe I found so it might not be too useful for overseas readers. If you are still in the mood for food then check out some of my old baking posts, here’s one for macarons, mochi/daifuku and chocolate fudge!

So let’s start with a discovery. I am terrible at directions and I don’t have a lot of time to explore, we’ve lived in the Melbourne CBD for over a year and haven’t eaten out much because of the expense. James and I don’t go out much ourselves we usually go out with a purpose eg. to get to an event or meet someone for a work. So even though I’m right in the middle of it, if you asked me where a good place to eat in Melbourne is I would probably look at you blankly and suggest McDonalds and then frantically text my food blogger friends for suggestions 😛

That’s why my first non-friend-referred discovery was so exciting! My Dad was visiting for the day and after we went to dinner at a Greek restaurant he and my step mother wanted to go for coffee. James and I had only been in that area of town twice and no where else seemed to be open. We wandered back down to the Bourke St mall and headed up past Target hoping something would be there on the way to the hotel. Everything was closed until I spotted a cute little cafe from across the road, eagle eyes for the win!!

So that long and convoluted story is how we discovered Puccino’s. As it turned out they had just opened 3 days before so I didn’t feel quite as bad for not knowing it existed XDThe cafe is adorably decorated with a quirky feel, spindly chairs, flowers everywhere, lots of lights and water in jars with lemon and mint. A little like the kind of faux French cafes you find in Japan, very cute and lots of little details.

James had a hot chocolate and a lemon tart. I went for a green tea chai latte. Dad and Beth had coffee, some little tart and a donut which I forgot to get photos of.

I can’t comment on the prices or taste of the coffee because I don’t drink it and have no clue about it but both Beth and my Dad are avid drinkers and they said it was as good as their favorite place back home.

James’ lemon tart was quite sweet and balanced out the hot chocolate which had that slight bitterness dark chocolate lovers adore. He loves anything lemon flavored and really enjoyed the combination of the tart and chocolate together. I was more interested in how cute the display looked 😉

Green tea latte is one of my all time favorite hot drinks but I’ve never had it with chai before. I’m always on the fence with chai things because they are either really good or really bad, there’s not really any middle ground. Luckily this one was really good! $4 for a large is pretty good too so I’ll definitely be going back for more. I think I even liked the really milky chai version better than most of the plain green tea lattes I’ve had around Melbourne XD

While we were chatting the owner came over to see how everything was and if we had any problems or suggestions as they are such a new business. He came back with complimentary macarons for us to try! Such a sweet gesture!

The four flavors were pistachio, black sesame, rose and salted caramel.

There were around 10-15 different flavors in the displays, they were average sized and prices for Melbourne macarons. They had a deal for 4 for $10.

The texture was really nice, they were not the cakey rubbish some stores pass off as macarons but the soft melt in your mouth kind with a crispy shell. Of the 4 flavours the salted caramel was my favorite! The rose was sweet and buttery and the pistachio was very tasty but could have been a little stronger. The black sesame wasn’t something I was used to so I didn’t like it at first but as I kept eating it was grew on me a bit. I think I just don’t like the flavor in general not the macaron in particular!

On they way out I went to say thank you and goodbye to the lovely owner and he presented me with a take home box of 4 more macarons too :O So nice of him!

They were really lovely and accommodating and the beautiful girl at the counter even took a photo with me! So sweet 😀

The macarons were rose, salted caramel, raspberry/chocolate and passionfuit. The rose and salted caramel were again very nice, James’s favorites are always the super fruity flavors so he got the other two. His report: mmm yummy. After taking a bite too I will translate that to mean: these ones both had a very strong flavor, yummy and definitely for fruit lovers! I liked the raspberry/chocolate one the best… probably something to do with my love of chocolate… where as James loved the passion fruit one.

So in conclusion, friendly staff, lovely desserts and a *very* nice chai green tea latte means that I will definitely be going back again.

If you want to visit, I can’t give you the exact address because they don’t seem to have a website or any reviews up yet but if you’re in the Bourke Street mall, walk up past Target towards Russell St and it’s on the left side of the tram tracks. The Puccinos shop front is quite small and there is a sign on the overhang but keep an eye out because you might miss it. If you’ve reached Hungry Jacks you’ve got just a bit too far!

Definitely worth a visit!

Hope you guys enjoyed the first Food Friday, next week I’m going to bust out my apron and chef’s hat and get to some fun things to do with chocolate 😀 See you next time!