Eat. @ Lindt Cafe (Chadstone)

Shop B193 Chadstone Shopping Centre ph : (03) 9563 3355

Lindt opened its second cafe at Chadstone in 2009, when the new section of the shopping centre was unveiled.  I have always been tempted but never actually visited since I'm a fan of the Koko Black iced chocolate and always end up there instead.  On this occasion I thought I'd give it a go.

The staff were very accomodating and we were seated very quickly.  I scanned the menu and kind of gasped.  The prices were not very kid "friendly" - The chocochino was $2, a petit chocolate shake was $5.50, and a kid sundae $7!  Fortunately the kids had already had lunch and I was really just trying to grab a quick bite, so they chose some macarons.

I ordered the lunch special (available to 2pm daily) which is $14, and includes a beverage of your choice.  There are a selection of panini's, quiches, rolls and sandwiches.  I went with the Salmon Tramezzini, which is "Club sandwich with smoke salmon, dill, baby watercress, pickled cucumber and goat's curd".  It was lucky I had chosen this as when I went to order I was informed they had run out of 3 of the 7 choices on the menu.

The Tramezzini, as fancy as that sounded (to me), was more ordinary than the font I'm currently typing in.  It looked and tasted like something I could make at home, only I'd probably be able to make it better looking and more delicious. (and I'm not that great a cook!)

I chose the Iced Chocolate for a drink because a) it costs $7.50 when ordered alone, and b) this is a "chocolat cafe" for goodness sake!  Again I was disappointed.  Iced Chocolates should have a lovely balance of chocolate flavour without being too sweet, and also a good milk to ice-cream ratio so it does not come out like a half melted bucket of ice confection.  Unfortunately there was not enough chocolate taste in our Iced chocolate.  It was more like an ICED-milk, with some brown coloring squirted as an after thought.






Then came the 2 macarons (for $5!).  Oh sorry, quoting their webpage - "at Lindt, we call them Delice" (why?) You get to pick a flavour and because pink is the favourite color of the month for the kids, strawberry what-ever-you-want-to-call-them it was!  Those who know me will know that I've been on a crazy macaron baking spree lately and I'm quite picky with my macarons.  I think the picture will say it all.

Cracked shell!  Awful Feet! Messy Filling! And $2.50 EACH!



Luckily my Macaron Monster is not a connosieur yet and gulped down the 2 macarons in a jiffy.

Maybe they were having a bad day, but for that sort of pricing, I expected a lot more in quality (if not quantity), than I got.

Eat. Play. Shop. Recommends : Trying somewhere else.  A massive chocolate hit can be had with the Koko Black Iced Chocolate.  It's 25c more but if you're splurging .....

Give it a miss : if you really like Lindt.  Instead, go by Coles and buy a box of lindor balls and make your own cup of tea. 



Toilets : the best parents room at Chaddy are located right next to this cafe.  The best bit!