Chez Dre and Bibelot, South Melbourne

A couple of weeks ago, Tim and I went on a South Melbourne adventure.  We started with lunch at Chez Dre,  a fabulous café and bakery tucked into a laneway in South Melbourne.  The menu is described as "French-inspired", and offers all day breakfast dishes as well as a lunch menu.

Chez Dre is very popular - we had to put our name on the wait list and sit on a bench outside, but we waited less than 10 minutes for a table.

Once inside at a cosy corner table, I ordered one of the all day breakfast dishes, Stracciatella di Bufala ($17.50).  This dish comprised two poached eggs sitting atop a bed of roast pumpkin and pepitas on sour dough toast, with beetroot chips and pea shoots.  It was absolutely delish and very filling. 

After lunch, we went for a walk around the streets of South Melbourne and Albert Park Lake:

We spied a very lush wedding party at a lakeside venue with gorgeous white roses on display.  The guests were all seated in the sunny enclosed area outside the venue, and the groom's party was standing at the front, no doubt waiting for the bride's big entrance.

Once we had walked off some of our lunch, we went for coffee and dessert at Chez Dre's sister dessert boutique, Bibelot (meaning a small object of desire).

We came late in the day (around 3pm), so many of the desserts were already gone.  However, we were very happy with our choice of the Peanut Caramel Tart ($9.50), which we shared:

This gorgeous little dome has a chocolate sable base filled with chocolate ganache, then topped with peanut caramel and caramel crème:

It tasted as amazing as it looks.  It was like a fancy Snickers bar. 

Bibelot also serves chocolates and icecream, with a range of jams and other products on sale.

We enjoyed our afternoon in South Melbourne and hope to return soon.

Chez Dre and Bibelot

285-287 Coventry St

South Melbourne VIC 3205

Phone: (03) 9690 2688