The burger craze has well and truly taken Melbourne by storm. All over the internet there are lists being published with the best burgers in town, and almost always Tuckshop Takeaway features on these lists.  It was one Saturday, when we were super hungry after a parkrun, that we decided it was about time that we went to find out what all the hype was about.

Located on the corner of Hawthorn and Glen Eira Rds in Caulfield, Tuck Shop Takeaway is a tiny little corner shop, reminiscent of an old school canteen. It is decked out with all the typical features of a primary school, including a drinking fountain and a door apparently leading to the Principal’s office which I didn’t venture through, because that’s for the naughty kids.

The premises is tiny, and as the name suggests is much more suited for takeaways, but we decided to buck the trend and eat in. We were there at about 3pm, and yet it was still packed and there was a line for the take away orders. This place was clearly popular. Our orders took about 15 minutes to arrive, and we had to push our way onto a table. Like the stereotypical school canteen, the apparent cool kids had hogged about seven seats between four of them, which was clearly rude given how busy the place was. I don’t think they were too impressed at having two of their unused seats taken away from them, but tough.

The menu at the Tuckshop is... concise. It consists of two burgers, a handful of jaffles, chips and a few milkshakes. This didn’t phase me too much though, I’m all about quality over quantity. We ordered one of the burgers each and some chips to share. The other half also jumped on the Nutella craze and got a Nutella milkshake.

Obviously I got the veggie burger, very maturely named the Veggie Wedgie. This was a very unique veggie patty with beetroot, lentils and brown rice. I was quite impressed with this component of the burger. These were flavours I hadn’t experienced together before and they worked together well. The rice and lentils provided the right texture, and the beetroot added an element of sweetness without being too overpowering.  Unfortunately none of the other ingredients offered anything spectacular. There was lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, American cheese and special Tuckshop sauce (which as far as I could tell was just mayo and tomato sauce mixed together). The inclusion of the pickles was nice as these are rarely on veggie burgers, but nothing else really shone. The bun was pretty good, but again, nothing outstanding.

The other half got the other burger on the menu, the Minor burger. The patty here was a beef patty that was cooked pink in the middle. As a vegetarian this freaks me out a bit, but I’ve been told that this is how it tastes best.  All the other ingredients of the Minor was the same as the Veggie Wedgie. Unfortunately the other half wasn’t very impressed with his burger either. He went as far as to say it was just above a McDonalds burger in taste. Disappointing really.

The chips on the other hand were quite good. Boasting of being hand cut and triple cooked, they really were a step up on regular chips. They were cooked to a crisp but still soft inside.

Overall, our experience at Tuckshop Takeaway was a little underwhelming. Having read so many good things on the interwebs, perhaps I had set my expectations too high, but given the great burgers that are available these days, I don’t think I was out of my rights to do this. Would I go back? Probably not. After all, Grill’d does amazing burgers and chips, and you don’t usually have to fight for a spot at a table.

For about two years now, there have been some crazy people who have woken up at 4am on a weekend, so they could head down to Elwood and line up for croissants. Yes, croissants. Seriously. How good could these croissants be, and were they really worth more than my sleep? I finally decided that this was a question I needed answered and so, a couple of weeks ago, I too joined the crazies that woke up before dawn on a Friday and headed down to Lune Croissanterie. I arrived there at about 6am and joined a queue that had already formed.

The demand for Lune croissants is so high that they have developed a ticketing system which runs as follows: people can start lining up as early as they wish. At 6:30am, they open a little window and hand out tickets in order of the people lined up. The store doesn’t open until 7:30am on Fridays and 8am on Saturdays and Sundays, so everyone is free to disperse, but they need to be back before they name is called out. If they call out your name, and you aren’t there, then you forfeit your croissants. This is not something you want happening. The first thirty people are guaranteed a choice of everything on the menu, but after that, you get whatever is left.

I received my ticket at about 6:45, was handed a menu, given instructions to be back by 7:45, and with this I quickly retreated to the warmth of my car. I was ticket number 17. This wasn't bad, given that the next day on Saturday, there were people lined up at 5am only to receive ticket number 67. Demand is obviously ridiculously high at Lune. 

The menu at Lune is constantly rotating. There are a few staples like the plain croissants, pain au chocolat, kouign amann (pronounced Queen Aman), and the ham and gruyere croissant. There are also cruffins and twice baked croissants. Each person is allowed to buy a maximum of 6 items, so I wisely used my waiting time studying the menu and deciding which items I would be taking home.

I finally settled on my 6 pastries. They were:

2 Pain au Chocolats (one was for some friends at work)
1 Kouign Amann (the name sounded so interesting that I had to try it)
1 Ham and Gruyere (I broke all my rules and got one as a treat for the other half)
1 Tiramisu Cruffin (Tiramisu, enough said.)
1 Reece Croissant (This was the special of the day, peanut butter, dark pana chocolate, salted caramel, and all kinds of other deliciousness)

It was about 8:10am that my name was finally called and I was ready to get my hands on my delicious pastries. All my choices were still available (lots of things sell out very quickly), so the team at the counter packed my box quickly. While I stood there, I watched the very tight operation running and it was a sight to behold. There were pastries galore, ovens being emptied, racks being filled and then emptied just as quickly, and most importantly everyone had a smile on their faces. It was evident that the team behind Lune genuinely love what they do.

Unfortunately I had to head straight to work (I was already late!) so I didn’t get to eat any of my pastries till that night. This was a rookie error, but unfortunately I had no choice.  It did however mean that on my drive to work, my car filled with the delicious aroma of my freshly baked goodies.

Later that night, I unboxed all the deliciousness and I can proudly say that dinner that night was filled with butter and sugar. The verdicts are as follows:

Pain au Chocolat: This was delicious. My friends at work said it was amazing, and I have to agree. The layers were beautifully defined, and it was so light and airy. The chocolate was also amazing, so rich and decadent.

Kouign Amann: I didn’t know what to expect when trying this one and I was surprised at how good it was! There was a strong cinnamon aroma that engulfed me when I tasted it, and the pastry was so flaky. 

Ham and Gruyere: Obviously I didn’t try this one, but given the rave reviews this Lune staple gets on social media, coupled with the fact that the other half declared it his favourite croissant, I’m guessing this was a winner.

Tiramisu Cruffin: OMG. Where do I start? I had never had a cruffin  before, and I don’t think I can have another one because it is highly unlikely that it will be as good as this. A croissant in a muffin shape, this pastry was filled with an amazing coffee flavoured cream and then topped with a dollop of mascarpone. Soooo good, and definitely my favourite.

Reece Croissant: I’m not a big peanut butter fan, but this was good. Maybe it was the salted caramel that made it so good, but whatever it was, it worked.

Overall, all the pastries were of top quality. It was very evident that all the ingredients were of high standards, and this translated through to how good the end product was. Each pastry was light, fluffy, airy, and definitely worth every calorie being consumed!

Unfortunately Lune is no longer open in Elwood. But fret not, in a few weeks they will be open in Fitzroy, in a bigger premises, more capacity, and hopefully longer opening hours which will mean that we won’t need to queue at crazy hours any more. Whatever the case may be, I can’t wait for them to come back, because I want my croissant fix!