The Little Cafe, Melbourne CBD by Big Fil

It's been a busy week at work. We wanted something quick, nearby, simple and not too pricey. After much gnashing of teeth trying to think of somewhere that met these criteria and we hadn’t visited before it was off to The Little Café, a place located on the oft forgotten Healeys Lane.


Healeys Lane is somewhere that always has a few places that look interesting to try but we never seem to head that way. It’s almost like there is a wall of fog at Hardware Lane and beyond that there be monsters. Even on this visit we identified a few places that I’d like to head back to but it’s anyone’s guess when that will actually happen.

Anyway, The Little Café is unsurprisingly both little and a café. It’s cute in a very Melbourne style with a wooden communal table and lots of brown, sort of done in a halfway style between the adventurously funky of the north side of town and your typical Melbourne city café. Comfortable and familiar, moderately busy but still quite quiet, when you enter it’s not the sort of place that you’ll go ‘wow’ but you know you’re going to have an enjoyable experience.



The coffee is apparently Atomica and they are obviously very proud of it. While neither Snooze nor myself are coffee drinkers they brought us a complementary cup which demonstrated some nifty coffee art skills.


Sandwich style food options are listed on the wall as well as there being a few hot dishes behind the glass counter. After a few hilarious (at least to me anyway) attempts to pronounce it I had to have the Snitch-slaw.


For a style of sandwich I’ve had far more times than I should I enjoyed this more than I expected. Two of the three most important things were spot on. The bread had been properly toasted so there was crunch to the outside but without causing the bread to go all hard. And the chicken schnitzel was perfectly cooked, juicy and tender. The salad though I think could have used some more dressing, as truth be told I barely noticed it and some nice homemade mayonnaise would have been perfect.


Snooze went for the spanakopita, a Greek style pastry filled with chopped spinach and cheese (usually feta). It’s not a dish I always like, as they often sit in the warmer too long and are dry and hard, or the spinach tastes old and not fresh. This was pretty good though, with good body to the pastry and tasty filling. Better though was the surprisingly good side salad, with rocket, roasted beetroot, feta and almonds. Great refreshing flavours with nice texture added by the almonds, the addition of almonds was an interesting angle and the whole dish worked well together.


Overall
Not just a little café but a really nice little café. It’s one of those places that's hard not to like. Friendly people, nice surroundings, food made with a bit of care, it has all the key elements right without feeling like it’s something you haven't seen before.

Verdict
Food – 7.5
Ambience – 7
Service – 7.5
Price – 7.5

Address
Shop 6, 551 Little Lonsdale Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
Tel: (03) 9670 0580