The Little Larder

The Little Larder
76 Moray St, New Farm



For a long time, I haven't been able to cross anything off my 'to-go' list of restaurants, cafes and eateries. The Little Larder made it onto my list a long time ago, when I first read a review on The Courier Mail online food guide. All the same, I haven't had a chance to go until this past weekend.



Together with a few friends, I organized a sort of spontaneous mish-mash gathering that had no real purpose. The intention was to check out the cafe but in actual fact, we were happy just to be doing 'something' as opposed to sitting home and wasting away. In fact, we were pretty close to not finding Little Larder at all and walking into the next cafe we came across (it so happened that this 'next cafe' WAS The Little Larder).



I spotted the cafe from across the street and entered eagerly, scouting for a table before we were told about the queue. I'm not sure what happened after that but we milled around aimlessly outside until we spotted a table outside and dived for it. It was crampy but tolerable. I was happy to have the window to lean against.


Menus were brought out along with a couple bottles of tap water (non-chilled). A few items caught my eye instantly but typical to my taste preferences, I chose something from the All Day Breakfast menu. The others settled on their choices and so we ordered.

Two of the girls got beverages too. I was pretty close to getting a fresh juice but couldn't justify the price because I kept thinking about the perfectly functional juicer I have sitting at home.

Banana smoothie

The banana smoothie was a real win with my best friend. I had a taste and wholeheartedly agree with her. Being a banana smoothie lover myself (remember my week of non-stop smoothie consumption?), I think I know a thing or 2 about this particular drink. The Little Larder banana smoothie is thick without being slimy, sweet without being cloying and just very natural. We noted that it was 'pale' in appearance but this is what bananas actually look like - in fact, bright yellow would have screamed artificial.

Iced chocolate

The iced chocolate was the usual choc syrup + milk with ice-cream concoction. We had a discussion about why the chocolate syrup in these drinks is never stirred in properly. My immediate thought was about aesthetics. It's cute seeing the chocolate dripping down the inside of the glass, yes? Worth the effort of stirring?

I'll go through the food sequentially since I had a taste of everything minus the scrambled eggs (since I also ordered scrambled eggs).

Veggie delight Turkish bread burger - with vegetable patty, grilled haloumi and chili jam

The veggie delight had a chickpea patty and grilled haloumi. The patty may have been slightly over-cooked but it was delicious. They looked like pieces of steak and had a gorgeous sweetness. I won't even comment on haloumi since it's impossible to stuff up (have I used that exact line before? Well, I haven't changed my mind). We were excited about the chili jam but couldn't identify any (found something red which was a false alarm as it turned out to be tomato).

Grilled chicken Turkish bread burger - with tomato, lettuce and aioli

The chicken burger was huge but I thought the chicken was dry. Nice flavors though. It was served with a simple side salad with a balsamic dressing.

Pesto scrambled eggs - served on sour dough with and spinach

My pesto scrambled eggs was also a giant serving. There was a huge slice of toast and a small crispy piece of what looked like baguette. I had liberal amounts of smoked salmon. The egg itself was soft and buttery but I couldn't really detect any pesto in it. It was more like scrambled egg with shallot, which is also good.

Scrambled eggs on toast

The plain scrambled eggs were basically the same minus salmon and green bits, but with the addition of butter (which is never a bad thing).

I liked the ambiance at The Little Larder and best of all, the price was significantly cheaper than most cafes. I sort of expected that for a highly-rated boutique cafe, it would be reflected in the cost but that's not the case. Service was friendly but rushed. The down side is that this place was busy the whole time we were there so it might be hard getting a table.