J told me about a new cafe that opened up called Little Bird located on the ground floor of a new multistorey carpark as part of the Governor Place complex in Barton. As I was still on leave, I headed in for lunch one weekday. I was meant to meet J for lunch but he unexpectedly had to go off to another site for work that day, so table for 1 it was.
Little Bird is located in a busy area with plenty of office workers walking around to find lunch. I loved the fact that there was plenty of natural light flooding the cafe which sits on a tree lined street. The inside has been kept natural and fresh with the help of white tables, plants and other raw materials.
I was greeted and shown to a table, provided with menus and asked for my drink order. It was a hot day and rather than a juice or smoothie, I wanted to try something different and ordered an iced latte ($5) which came in a tall glass filled with ice cubes (no photo). It was strong and watery so I didn’t end up finishing it (but I must admit that I’m just not used to that sort of drink). Maybe I should have stuck with the juice. For my main, the house made ricotta gnocchi with slow cooked lamb and porcini mushroom ragout ($18.50) was hard to resist. I was surprised that it came in a creamy sauce as ragout tends to be a tomato-based meaty stew. It doesn’t look it in the photo, but there was so much lamb in the dish. The long strips of pulled lamb were so tender and juicy. The gnocchi itself didn’t even need chewing – they were mushy and melted in my mouth. It was like eating pure potato mash (which is what it technically is). It was too soft for me as I do prefer my gnocchi slightly chewy at least on the outside. I liked the addition of spinach to the dish to cut through the richness of the cream, potato and meat. There were a few mushrooms in the mix but not enough (though I am probably being greedy). This was a filling dish with plenty of yummy lamb.
Little Bird also does all day breakfast on weekends so I headed back with friends to try out brunch. Again, coffee orders were taken as soon as we sat down, before providing us with tap water and glasses shortly afterwards. I ordered a soy mocha ($4.50 + 50c soy) which I enjoyed – I liked that the chocolate was actually mixed in with the coffee rather than sitting at the bottom. My friend ordered a latte ($4).
There’s also fresh orange juice and two types of smoothies – banana and berry. One of my friends ordered the berry smoothie ($6.50) which came served in a tall glass.
I ordered the field mushrooms with potato rosti, lemon herb ricotta and basil pesto on seeded rye ($16.90). To be honest, I was a little disappointed when there were only two field mushrooms on the plate. Seeing as the dish was called Field Mushrooms (in bold), I was expecting more than two. The mushrooms were cooked simply without any other sauces interfering with its natural juicy flavour.
The three cubes of rosti were crunchy on the outside and very soft on the inside, you could clearly see the grated potato and I was really glad it was cooked well. There wasn’t much seasoning on the rosti leaving a more natural (but fried) potato taste. The lemon herb ricotta was light and delicate with the lemon being very subtle and the addition of chives giving extra pep. I piled this onto the rye – it was simple but fabulous. There was no basil pesto to be seen but perhaps they had run out. Instead, there was fresh rocket on the side lightly drizzled in a lemony vinaigrette which just brought out the freshness and pepperiness of the rocket. Even though I was disappointed about the minimal mushrooms, this is a dish I could eat again.
My friend ordered the ham and potato croquettes with sriracha fried eggs and smashed avocado ($17.50). The two croquettes were fat and stuffed with mushy potato and small chunks of ham. There was plenty of fresh avocado too.
I found service to be friendly, given with a smile, and attentive. We were checked on for additional coffee/drink orders, whether our meals were okay, and our empty plates and cups taken away unobtrusively. The breakfast menu (on the Little Bird website) has house made crumpets which I might need to order next time, eggs benny, a full breakfast and more. The lunch menu provides healthy salads, burgers and toasted sandwiches. I was eyeing a toasted sandwich I saw come out of the kitchen which looked large and stuffed with plenty of filling. These are also wrapped up in the glass display cabinet at the front counter as well as muffins, brownies and other goodies that can be taken away. There is no gluten free bread available at this stage but it’s still early days.
I didn’t realise that it was the first weekend of trading for the cafe and it had only been open for a week, so there weren’t that many people dining in on the weekend. As a result, noise levels were low and the relaxing atmosphere allowed us to chat and linger at the table for as long as we wanted. Peaceful and tranquil. In contrast, it was packed during the weekday lunch and a little noisier.
Little Bird is open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch. Monday to Friday from 7am, and Saturday to Sunday from 8am. I think there is a connection with the Hideout Cafe in Barton (same owners?) but forgot to ask.
There are more new restaurants set to open at Governor Place including Genki (I think it will be a sushi train). Keep a look out!
Foodgasm 7.5/10
Value for money 9/10
Service 9/10
FPJ score 25.5/30
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