The French Lettuce – that much loved patisserie and bakery – also creates superb artisanal gelato! But only available at the Bulleen store, not at the original Carlton outlet.
This second outlet of The French Lettuce opened in August 2020. It’s a huge space – heaps of room for tables and chairs, as well as for displaying a mighty impressive range of patisserie.
On the long walk to the gelato cabinet – at the very back of the store – you have to pass by row after row of luscious treats. Dainty tarts and macarons, buttery viennoiseries (that’s all those yeasty pastries like croissants and danishes), rich cheesecakes, donuts and gorgeous cakes. Including The French Lettuce’s famous vanilla slice.
But if you do make it past the cakes to the back of the store, the gelato cabinet holds 16 flavours, all made on-site, with both dairy and non-dairy (vegan) options. Served in cups or cones, and tubs to take away.
We’ve visited The French Lettuce a couple of times now. The gelato is excellent – perfect silky texture, lovely flavours. Maybe our friendly servers lacked gelato paddle finesse, but there was definitely enthusiasm and the serving size was extremely generous.
On our first visit, I went for the classic combination of pistachio with a gorgeous rich dark chocolate gelato. Awesomely good. Benny chose mango and coconut, which he paired with fig and hazelnut gelato – both were excellent individually, but the combination of the two was not ideal. Totally Benny’s fault – he followed his heart, not his head, and should have known better.
He returned to mango and coconut on our second visit – clearly a firm favourite – but this time paired it with hazelnut gelato. A much more successful combination.
I chose a lovely raspberry sorbetto, which I paired with chocolate and hazelnut gelato. The latter was generously studded with humungous chunks of chocolate. Raspberry and chocolate – a perfect match.
Of course, you can’t visit The French Lettuce without taking home some pastries. We love the tarts – those super fine pastry casings contain some beautiful fillings. Always difficult to choose – lemon, passionfruit, chocolate, or maybe a frangipane?
Not just one, but two truly excellent reasons to visit The French Lettuce at Bulleen. Exceptional patisserie and outstanding gelato.
The French Lettuce
182 Bulleen Road
Bulleen VIC 3105
T: 0428 182 182
W: www.thefrenchlettuce.com
