EAT: THE CRUX AND CO // MFWF SWEET ALLEY PREVIEW

This weekend will see the transformation of the Southbank Spillway into "Sweet Valley", one of the many highlights of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival 2018 series of events. Needless to say, you'll know where all the sweet tooths will be heading this weekend.

Experience the best local and regional produce on offer, incorporated into a tantalising array of sweets created by some of the top names in the dessert game. Many will be no stranger to the pastry delights by Melbourne's The Crux and Co (matcha croissant or eclair, anyone?), and many of their signature sweet creations plus many more will be available at Sweet Alley. We recently visited the cafe to sample some of these creations... we'll just let the photos below do the talking. Cue the drool.

Check out the sweeter side of The Crux and Co's for yourself at their pop up at Sweet Alley:

Friday 16th March 4pm - 9pm
Saturday 17th March 12pm - 9pm
Sunday 18th March 12pm - 8pm

For more details, visit the Melbourne Food and Wine festival website.

But before the sweets came the savoury. Much like older sibling cafe Lights in the Attic, the brunch menu at The Crux and Co features several innovative and exciting dishes that are far removed from the usual brunch fare encountered in most Melbourne cafes. Kombucha smoothie bowl, and char-siu pork benny are some of the creations that just leap off the menu. However with the warm weather on the day of our visit, I couldn't not order the Ahi tuna poke bowl. Vibrant, fresh and full of flavour, each mouthful was an utter delight. As for the optional truffle parfait egg? They say optional, I say it's a must, bringing to the dish a gorgeous and fragrant earthy truffle hit infused with some oozy yolky goodness. The cherry on top of the cake. The milky matcha pancakes also turned out to be quite a hit; they were light and fluffy in texture, not overly sweet, and teamed well with the accompanying lemon verbena parfait and citrusy yuzu compote.

Whether you have more of a sweet or savoury tooth (or perhaps both?), The Crux and Co will definitely sort you out, and they'll do it without boring your taste buds.

Milky matcha pancakes - with strawberry & lemon verbena parfait, yuzu compote.

Ahi poke bowl - with fresh dice tuna, wasabi ponzu, yuzu mayo, pickled cabbage & carrot, avocado and edamame, with optional truffle parfait egg.

The Crux & Co

35 Albert Rd,

Melbourne, Victoria, 3004.

(03) 9820 1081

http://www.thecruxandco.com.au/

Disclosure: I dined as a guest of The Crux & Co. All opinions expressed in this post are based entirely on my experience and observations made during the time of my visit.