L'Espresso

Cuisine: Australian

417 Sturt St 

Ballarat, VIC 3350
http://www.ballarat.com/lespresso.htm

Four of us decided to go up to Ballarat to visit our friend who's doing her placements there and having left Melbourne without breakfast we were all starving. We decided to go to L'Espresso as it had high Urbanspoon ratings and very close to where our friend lived. 

The place was bustling with locals. The line of CDs distributed along one side of the restaurant gives it a homely touch. What was The simple hanging lights were dim hence relying heavily on the natural lighting from the window, it was hard to view our food when it became cloudy. 

We thoroughly enjoyed our Cappucino ($3.90). It was fruity and smooth, further opening our appetite. One of our companion ordered a Mocha which came looking like a hot chocolate and as it tasted very much like on too. We each ordered a different dish and as I did not actually taste some of these myself, I will go by their enjoyability of their dish.

I ordered the Confit Duck Leg with white bean cassoulet and baby spring vegetables ($20) which looked neatly presented. The duck leg was a bit dry and lacking in flavour overall not leaving me in craving more. 

Prawn Pasta - Rustichella linguine with prawns, chilli, garlic, cherry tomato, rocket ($19.50) was apparently lacking in flavour as well. 

Open Focaccia with grilled eggplant, roasted peppers, Taggiasche olive pate and provolone ($14.50). I was told the eggplant was too salty and I personally felt the appearance was not appetitising.

 Open Steak Sandwich with caramelized onion, cornichons, tomato, watercress, Gruyere cheese and horseradish mayonnaise ($19.50) garnered a positive response from my friend stating the steak was nice and tender.

Braised Lamb neck with globe artichokes, broad beans, peas and toasted ciabatta ($20) was given a few shakes of salt of pepper here and there, just lacked a bit more seasoning.

Overall 
The coffee was great but the food did not leave us wanting an L'Espresso closer to home. It was hard to get the attention of a waiter to grab us some sugar for our coffee so we ended up getting it ourselves. In all, I would come back for the coffee but will probably scour around to see if Ballarat can offer something better. 

Food: 5/10

Service: 4/10

Cost: Reasonable

Overall Dining Experience: 5.5/10