Le Petit Gateau, Melbourne CBD by Bureaucrat

To celebrate the end of an era (this bureaucrat has moved from pushing papers at one bureaucracy to another bureaucracy), we all felt it was fitting to go get some cake.  Having stuffed ourselves silly from lunch, we went and stuffed ourselves silly with cake at Le Petit Gateau.  LPG is another one of those places where people would remark to me “I can’t believe you’ve never been there… and you call yourself a foodie”.  But there is a time and a place for everything, and my celebratory cake time was the time for me to head to LPG.

It’s a fairly small shop full of people crowding around to perve at the cakes, ordering some cakes and waiting for their cakes.  We chose four cakes to share with some coffee and fancy hot chocolates (milk hot chocs w orange and cardamon) to go with them.

To be honest, I can't quite remember the names of each of the cakes - part of the problem is that most of the cakes don't have names except for 'cake of the day'.  Even more so, I can't remember how the different layers tasted.  What I do remember is that they tasted pretty damn fine.  Sweet but not tooth achingly sweet and a nice contrast of flavours and textures.  The inevitable sugar high and our raucous chatter was enough proof that the cakes were hitting the spot for us all.


This here was the Cosmpolitan.  A berry layer, with a mousse-y cheese-y layer and a nutty cake on the bottom.  What surprised us all was the fact that it tasted quite orange-y.


This here was one of them nameless cakes.  I loved the glossy cover which hid layers of yumminess inside.  It was predominantly a chocolate-chestnut mousse cake.


Another nameless cake.


All of us thought this was the favourite - the hazelnut mille feuille.  My knowledge of French pastry/cake terms is rather limited, but I always thought mille feuille referred to cakes that had layers of puff pastry - hence the definition of the term 'million layers'. There were no puff pastry layers here but it was delicious.  It was very much like a Ferrero Rocher but much more sophisticated - crunchy, nubbly toasted rice bits, aromatic toasted hazelnuts and smooth-as choccy, nutty mousse.

Verdict – we liked it a lot.

Overall
It’s pricey but it’s really good.  Each slice of cake will set you back about $8-$10— and they are sweet but not tooth-achingly sweet. Despite the priceyness, there’s no stopping the many people who were coming in to get a slice for themselves, a whole box of treats to share and picking up large orders (whole cakes).  Definitely, if you want to treat someone to something special, this is the place to get it.  However, it’s loud and crowded inside.  So if you’re in the mood for cake, I say get it to go and savour it elsewhere.