EARL!

I always find it kind of hard to decide where to eat sometimes.

I'm torn between going to old favourites, or try new places....

But today was one of those days where I was going to try somewhere new. And by new, it's pretty darn new.

EARL Canteen is so new it only opened a week ago!





Brad blocking the view of the cafe....

But the space in here is just gorgeous, you walk in and it's light airy, bright and spacious. With the afternoon sun constantly peeking in, it was a very relaxing space to be in.





What EARL Canteen does is freshly made sandiwches and salads (which are in a display case in the front). But it's not just your typical ham and cheese sammiches, the combination's are quite interesting.



But before diving into our food, I hadn't had a chai latte in ages, and Brad being the curious type, decided to try one too and see why I was always getting them. The milk is frothed beautifully and the chai was on the sweeter side, without so much bite of the spices. But no complaints here!



Brad got the Wagyu Meatball sandwich, with Moondarra wagyu meatballs in sugo, zucchini pickles, shaved parmesan and baguette. (Always nice when the menu is online!) How colourful and delightful does it look? I just thought it was the prettiest thing!





Unfortunately my options are a little more limited, due to needing to avoid the gluten, but I was thrilled to find gluten free wraps and got this little beauty with autumnal mushrooms, wilted spinach, truffle paste and a soft cooked egg.

Oh gosh, the truffle paste was so delicious and rich! The inclusion of the soft cooked egg added a really lovely texture.

And may I mention, the plates were served warm, which especially in the cooler weather is a nice touch.





And of course, I can't go past some macarons (is there a difference between macarons and macaroons...?). We got one of each, the Zara, a white chocolate and passionfruit macaron, which was just the most amazing flavour explosion in my mouth and deemed a favourite by me. The second was key lime and chocolate, the chocolate ganache just deathly delicious and made a favourite by Brad. Which is nice, at least we don't have to share our macarons in the future!

My only complaint...? The macarons are tiny!



Can I have some more sir?

Definetly looking forward to coming back though and hopefully trying out the salted caramel macaron that they have a label for but none in the display case....and of course to sample the salads and other gluten free wrap I spied on the menu....I think this might become a new regular...if I can find the time to fit it in!

Oh! And make sure you follow them on twitter to find out what they're making daily in their lunchboxes....they're different everyday and limited in number....

500 Bourke
Lt Bourke St courtyard
Melbourne 3000