I love a good food joke. My friend has a company distributes gift boxed cashews and she has a delivery guy that drives her nuts.
My inbuilt appreciation for a dad joke like this, means that any café with a name that makes me smile is already a winner in my book.
Choux Box at Kingscliff is one such place with a pastry pun name that you just knead to chuckle at.
Does the food here rise to the occasion though? Let's check it out.
My inbuilt appreciation for a dad joke like this, means that any café with a name that makes me smile is already a winner in my book.
Choux Box at Kingscliff is one such place with a pastry pun name that you just knead to chuckle at.
Does the food here rise to the occasion though? Let's check it out.
Situated directly across from the beach in northern NSW, Choux Box has been a Kingscliff staple since the early 90s. This longevity amongst the locals is a pretty good sign that they’re doing something right.
We were looking for a place to stop in for lunch, and physically couldn’t walk past this café’s cake cabinet, which is strategically situated on the street front to capture the attention of many an hungry traveller. Good move Choux Box, good move.
After taking a seat and perusing the lunch menu, we opted for a hearty-sounding steak sandwich, with onion jam, pickles, red jack cheese, aioli and onion rings on sour dough.
The steak used in this sandwich was top quality, without a chewy ounce of gristle in sight. The red jack cheese and onion jam took this menu staple to a whole new level of tastiness as well.
We also opted for the handmade pork and prawn spring rolls with Asian salad and house made sweet chilli.
I loved, loved, loved these spring rolls which featured a generous amount of prawn in them. While the accompanying salad was a really nice addition, the only thing that made the lettuce, cucumber and tomato “Asian” was the addition of some bean sprouts on top.
It didn't matter though when you topped it with the house made sweet chilli, which was one of the most beautifully balanced sauces/dressings I’ve had. It featured a small bout of chilli heat that wasn’t smothered by sugary sweetness, as can so often be the case with these things.
We were looking for a place to stop in for lunch, and physically couldn’t walk past this café’s cake cabinet, which is strategically situated on the street front to capture the attention of many an hungry traveller. Good move Choux Box, good move.
After taking a seat and perusing the lunch menu, we opted for a hearty-sounding steak sandwich, with onion jam, pickles, red jack cheese, aioli and onion rings on sour dough.
The steak used in this sandwich was top quality, without a chewy ounce of gristle in sight. The red jack cheese and onion jam took this menu staple to a whole new level of tastiness as well.
We also opted for the handmade pork and prawn spring rolls with Asian salad and house made sweet chilli.
I loved, loved, loved these spring rolls which featured a generous amount of prawn in them. While the accompanying salad was a really nice addition, the only thing that made the lettuce, cucumber and tomato “Asian” was the addition of some bean sprouts on top.
It didn't matter though when you topped it with the house made sweet chilli, which was one of the most beautifully balanced sauces/dressings I’ve had. It featured a small bout of chilli heat that wasn’t smothered by sugary sweetness, as can so often be the case with these things.
We then moved onto dessert, and to what stopped us in our tracks in the first place- the banana cream pie in the cake cabinet. We also accompanied this with a macadamia, caramel slice because gluttony loves company.
Both of these cakes were, in a word, outstanding. Choux Box is known for its banana cream pie for a reason- it’s somehow both light and fluffy while being rich and dense at the same time. Even the most ardent cream-lovers will struggle to get through the Mt Everest-esque peak on top of this cake. Topping the pie with shards of toffee and macadamia adds a nice bit of contrasting texture to this dessert.
The macadamia caramel tart was similarly decadent. The crumbly base was the perfect vehicle for the creamy caramel, gooey chocolate and crunchy macadamias on top. Every mouthful of this cake made me pretty excited for the next.
Both of these cakes were, in a word, outstanding. Choux Box is known for its banana cream pie for a reason- it’s somehow both light and fluffy while being rich and dense at the same time. Even the most ardent cream-lovers will struggle to get through the Mt Everest-esque peak on top of this cake. Topping the pie with shards of toffee and macadamia adds a nice bit of contrasting texture to this dessert.
The macadamia caramel tart was similarly decadent. The crumbly base was the perfect vehicle for the creamy caramel, gooey chocolate and crunchy macadamias on top. Every mouthful of this cake made me pretty excited for the next.
With fantastic quality food and a thoughtfully varied menu, Choux Box is a gem of a café in the beachside town of Kingscliff.
If the choux fits, eat at it.
If the choux fits, eat at it.