Le Rendez-vous

Really friendly service, always nice to go into a cafe and come out smiling! This place offers great deals like coffee and croissant for $5. For lunch, a baguette sandwich and organic juice is $10 which is great value for money, considering that's how much a smoothie goes for in this part of town. Theres a wide range of milks on offer, including almond!

Had a quick late lunch with my hubby here while running errands in town. I had a $3 coffee (well-made and served at a nice drinking temperature). Food-wise, my hubby had steak-frites and I had a (vegetarian) chef salad. Both were classically made and delicious. Service was fast and efficient.

I popped into here lured by the cheap coffee sign $3) Once inside I was impressed by the cabinet food and thought I would give it a go.....and I was well pleased I did....outstandingDelicious bread, great pastries....I have subsequently found out they do all the baking on site which explains why it's so good.Tip: they put the off cuts from the brownies out on the counter for you to help yourself...nom nom nom.

The vastly oversized Empire Tavern has sublet half of the front bar to the French guys who run le Rendez-vous and the place has never been more enjoyable. <br/ <br/ If the star of any boulangerie is the croissant, pain aux raisin and pain au chocolat then le Rendez-vous doesn 't so much have stars as a dazzling array of constellations, suns and galaxies. The baking is that superlatively good; the croissants are light and airy with thousands of dewy, buttery, filigree pastry layers interior encased in a cracklingly, dry crisp shell. The sweeter options use high quality chocolate/almonds/raisins that feature as sweet offsets to the flavoursome, creamy pastry dough that is perfectly balanced and never drifts across to over-sweet. To top it all off, these items are not just reasonably priced but possibly the best priced food in the CBD. <br/ <br/ The rest of the menu is small but well thought out; there 's a cabinet with French-style cafe food, excellent coffee and a drinks fridge. The French guys greet customers with a disarmingly charming 'bonjour ' and continue with service thats so friendly, fast and capable that you wonder if they have been deported from France for not being, well... French enough. They have done a very good job of making the corner of the bar they occupy seem quite separate and disconnected from the rest of the Empire. <br/ <br/ I took half a star off for the TVs that are on showing sport (part of the set-up of the Empire) but they attracted a drunken old man the first time I went there. The fact that the le Rendez-vous is on Sundays and many public holidays also pushed that half point down because, while charmingly and authentically French, being closed on those days has prevented me accessing their croissants on the summery days that I have woken up literally dreaming of them.

One of these café places, where you go day after day to get your fix I like mixing it with a croissant or home made quiche. Really value for money...The French lads serving there are really friendly. They are bringing to this place an authentic French flavour...