Macadamia Nut Cheese
I have often stopped eating dairy products even before embracing a vegan diet because like most people I find it difficult to digest and it doesnt seem all that good for me despite what the Dairy Board would have me think. I then miss the quality of flavour and texture that cheese brings to a dish so have been experimenting with various recipes for nut cheese. Read more
Le Cru
The newly opened Le Cru raw vegan restaurant 137 Victoria Ave, Albert Park is nestled among cafes and shops at the beaconsfield Pde end of Victoria Ave.
Its morrocan stylings are lush and fresh and include a beautiful courtyard area that seats about 20 people comfortably. Mint and parsley grow beside huge ornate doors that set the scene for a relaxed and enjoyable eating experience.
The menu states that Le Cru offers a raw, organic, plant based restaurant, bar and function experience and it delivers on that promise. The difference with raw food restaurant to a conventional one is that nothing has been heated above 45 degrees to maintain the live enzymes and the retain the optimum nutrient value of the food.
Nothing- that means every little detail from the agave nectar that sits on each table to the nut milk in the coffee to the ‘cheese’ and crackers has been produced with painstaking attention to the values of the raw food diet. This along with the use of organic ingredients means you have an extremely healthy and thoughtful dining experience.
On the day I dined at Le Cru the organic spinich had not been delivered because it hadn’t met the suppliers strict standards so there were a few scratchings on the menu. Starters and mains are reasonably priced at $4 to $15 and include the kind of food that most people would recognise from a non raw restaurant; soup, dips and crackers, salad, pizza, burgers, and lasagna.
I took a non raw foodie along for a perspective from the other side of the fence and we sat in the delightful courtyard on a sunny afternoon for a relaxed lunch. The owner of Le Cru, Caroline was kind enough to serve us herself and answer all our many questions about the menu, ingredients and her cafe in general. There is a clear love of raw organic cuisine and she seems understandably proud of both the cafe premises and the menu.
We started with a juice labeled a blood tonic with kale, beet apple, and ginger which was $8.50 and was delicious. The juice was thick with the ingredients and as Caroline pointed out, much healthier than thin juices where the fibre has been removed.
Our starter was cheese and crackers and I was curious to try the two kinds of cheese on offer. The creamy Alfredo was made from cashew and was like a fresh fromage with a light yellow colour and smooth texture. The Cheddar was a deeper colour and had a sharp tangy flavour that did everything I would want a cheddar to do. It was powerful and tasty with a complex mixture of herbs and spices and a macadamia nut base.
These were served with tomatoflax seed crackers that could have easily stood on their own. They were firm and peppery but not crunchy and were a stand out favorite for us.
Priced at just $12 and serving 2 as a starter we thought these represented great value and if washed down with a glass of red from the great wine list would be just the perfect start to a meal.
Our mains were the pizza $7 and the lasagna $13 and this is where the comments of my non raw food friend were most valuable to me- the Pizza we agreed was amazing. It had a thin crust base similar to the flax seed crackers we loved with just the right amount of tomato sauce and cheese on it along with the fresh vegetable to impart that quintessential ‘pizza flavor’ and the serving size was reasonable for the price.
Then there was the lasagna. Now in all fairness I have never had a raw lasagna before so maybe I cannot compare but I know what I want from a lasagna and it is a comfort food. This was more like layers of a fresh sliced tomato with zucchini and there was some sauce in there and some cheese but overpowering it all was that essentially it was a pile of tomato. It felt like an arranged salad. My friend said this is the kind of thing non raw foodies dread about raw cuisine. A tiny portion of something that doesn’t bear any relation to the thing it was named after.
That aside we had a lovely lunch and were completely impressed by the range of things on the menu.
If we were still hungry we could have followed up with one of the many desserts- ice cream, Chocolate Ganache slice, Mini Tiramisu, Lemon merange pie, cake of the week or raw chocolate block with chili, orange or honey almond. Prices range from $2.50 to $12.
I noticed there was a nice simple kids menu that included guacamole with tomato bread, tzatziki with cut up veges, and soup and for dessert ice cream with sprinkles and cupcakes with frosting.
There are also some takeaway foods including the one cooked item we saw which was a quinoa tabouli.
There is also a lovely range of organic teas, coffee and hot chocolate of course and their wine and beer list which I will be saving for my second visit.
Le Cru was a delightful dining experience and deserves to become not just a raw foodies’ hangout, but one to take their non raw friends to introduce them to the joys of live food.
Hours are
Tuesday through Friday Lunch and Dinner closed from 3pm to 5pm
Saturday Dinner
Contact Le Cru for up to date times and bookings
(03) 9699 1144
137 Victoria Ave
Albert Park VIC 3206