Little Mule Co, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

One part bicycle shop and one part café, Little Mule Co is one of a group of very Melbourne style cafes located just off Little Bourke Street.


By being located across the lane from Captains of Industry - one of my very favourite places to just hang out - neither Snooze nor I had got around to having more than a drink here before. The entrance is very unobtrusive and hard to spot from Little Bourke Street. Add to this the laneway also looking a little dodgy and you'd be unlikely to come across The Little Mule by accident. It's an interesting and comfortable little place though, with its mixture of tables, couches and communal table. The wall decorations are a little unusual as well, not too many cafes use bikes as wall hangings!


Menu wise offerings are a little limited, mainly sandwiches and baguettes with a couple of hot dishes. Our chicken baguette came with avocado and rocket. According to the menu it should also have come with chilli mayonnaise but if it was in there we couldn't taste it. The baguette was fresh baked, the chicken still moist, but still nothing really to distinguish it from what you'd expect to find at a randomly selected sandwich shop.


Our baked eggs came with chorizo and Spanish blood sausages and I thought were better than the baguette. Serving wise it was pretty small although accompanied by a generous amount of buttered bread, and the tomato had a slight spicy kick to it to keep it interesting. The egg was a bit overdone unfortunately, largely because the claypot was so hot we had to wait for it to cool down (causing the egg to continue cooking).


While the food was reasonable but not great, and I liked the setup, our major issue was with the service. I'm still not clear whether our waitress was supposed to take our order at the table or we were supposed to order at the counter (which we eventually did after waiting for a while). Also, Snooze's tea arrived without milk and the waitress was in such a hurry to get back to the counter staff she missed Snooze asking for it and we had to go back to the counter to get it. Before ignored twice left a bit of a sour note when otherwise the staff were polite and friendly.

Overall
A cute little café with its own individual theme going, it's obviously popular and while empty when we arrived quickly filled up. I wouldn't have it amongst my personal favourites though, partly because of the service and partly because it's in such a competitive location.

Verdict
Food - 7
Ambience - 7.5
Service - 5.5
Price - 6.5

Address
19 Somerset Place
Melbourne VIC 3000