We drive past Cafe Lyon almost every day. I don't know why we waited so long to make a reservation. But after last night's meal, you can bet your cotton socks that we'll be back.
This cute little French Bistro really surprised us. You can choose two courses for $55, or $65 for three. Both of us scanned the dessert selection first and after seeing the Pear Tart Tartin (with Butterscotch Sauce and Vanilla Bean Ice-cream), we made an executive decision that no matter what, we had to make it to dessert.
The menu was simple yet had a good variety. Four entrees, four mains and four desserts. They also had the Specials (one of each course). MP ended up selecting all three of the Specials.
For entrees MP had the Scotch Egg which came on a bed of crunchy celeriac with a rich Balsamic dressing. I had the famed citrus cured salmon, spiced avocado and crunchy prawn tempura. This was the dish Terry Durack rated as the "Must Try" in his Good Living review.
They had us hooked at entree...
We were both really impressed! The flavours were fantastic and you can tell that every ingredient on the plate was well considered.
For mains, MP had the Lamb Shanks with polenta and Eggplant Jus. I had the Quail Ballotine, which had chestnuts inside. It came on a bed of braised red cabbage. MP won out with the mains - his lamb was cooked to perfection.
But the biggest surprise came at dessert time. MP selected the Special which was Profiterroles with vanilla bean ice-cream and a decadent chocolate and Grand Manier sauce. It was yummy...
... But my Pear Tart Tartin was ethereal. A full pear poached to absolute perfection, wrapped in a crunchy pastry and drizzled in Butterscotch Sauce. The Vanilla Bean Ice-Cream accompanied the warm pear perfectedly. One word - Amazing.
It was a wonderful meal. The perfect end to a stressful work week. And the perfect start to the weekend.
It was an overwhelming week at work. I have so much to do before we go on holidays. I hate working on weekends, but I don't think there's much of a choice this weekend. Just have to keep reminding myself that holidays are only 14 days away...
I also stumbled across a beautiful blog challenge from Ez at Creative Comforts - Things I'm afraid to tell you In a nutshell, the challenge is based on the idea that within blogland, people's lives appear shiny, pretty, happy and perfect, when in reality, life is very different and we are often afraid to reveal how things really are. I've been reading blog posts from all the inspirational bloggers who have taken on this challenge. This post by Lynn has especially struck a chord. I've been a follower of Lynn's blog for about a year, as I am a big admirer of her letter-press business Satsuma Press. After reading her post, now I'm an big admirer of Lynn.
I've always thought that I was pretty honest and transparent in my writing. But if I was, then I wouldn't have been so scared to make public this blog which I started in 2008, a good three years before this one.
Royal Escapades was my "dear diary". A private outlet for me to post my honest thoughts and opinions about life, which ranged in light and dark shades. When I decided to create a public blog to document my journey to start a crafting business (yes, that was my original brief for this blog. Yes, I know I have digressed...), the thought of making Royal Escapades public was not an option. So until two minutes ago, this private blog was only visible to me.
I have just noticed though, that over the last 6-12 months, I have stopped posting exclusively on Royal Escapades. There are even posts over this period, which appear on both blogs.
Maybe it's because I've had less bad days... or maybe I became braver in posting about the bad days here... I don't know. But it's time I reveal the things I'm afraid to tell you.
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