Little Creatures Dining Hall

222 Brunswick St
Fitzroy, VIC 3065
03 9417 5500
littlecreatures.com.au
GoogleMap

I’ll fast track this post just to give a glimpse of what I did on the first day of 2013.

And no, there wasn’t anything special or exciting about it.

I just woke up late (as you do after NYE)… then attempted to brunch at both St Ali North and De Clieu… an expedition that failed miserably (being about the only two cafés open that day, the waiting queue was waaay too big). Dr Toothfairy and I then drove around Fitzroy looking for places that could feed us, and we settled on Little Creatures.

I remember friends saying the pizzas are good here… I also remember, being a dining hall and all, this being quite a noisy place. But that afternoon, it was still alright noise-wise, since everybody was still recovering from post NYE hangovers and weren’t thinking of drinking quite so soon yet.

piccolo 3.5 | flat white 3.5
ginger beer 4.5 | pipsqueak apple cider 5.7

Here’s our compulsory 12pm wake-up coffees (by Syndicate beans)… complete with me, stirring in sugar.

We then jumped right into phase two, with beers and ciders, which is what this brewery dining hall is good at anyway. Yes… coffee followed by cider on 1st January… that’s how I started this year, ha ha! I’ll have to say I got pretty jolly with just a few sips.

today’s homemade pie 22

As much as it’s been recommended, we weren’t in a pizza kind of mood. We wanted brunch fare, really, but couldn’t get a spot in the few cafés that were open on New Years Day. Being afternoon and all, the brunch menu at Little Creatures wasn’t on offer either, so Dr Toothfairy settled with the day’s homemade pie.

It was minced chicken and vegetable pie, with tomato relish and a pea and rocket salad. The pie was okay, the filling on the salty side and not quite worth its $22 price tag.

200g scotch fillet, oak leaf lettuce, chips, béarnaise sauce 29

I was pretty ravenous that afternoon, so went with something hearty. But before you read my thoughts, I’d just like you to know I’ve become quite familiar with steaks lately, and know what’s good and what’s mediocre. I blame my visits to Steer Bar & Grill, Station Hotel, Rockpool and my repeated Wagyu steak cooking experiments at home.

This scotch fillet was a less exciting piece of meat than what I’m used to. There wasn’t much flavour in its fat and the flesh tasted ‘thin’, I almost wanted ketchup to help things along. All that said, they chargrilled it nicely and it was served exactly as requested – medium rare.

So I’m not really complaining, I’m just pointing out that produce and provenance counts for a lot, and you basically get what you pay for.

Little Creatures Dining Hall probably isn’t a foodie destination. But I can imagine it being a place for casual catch-ups, young gatherings and students to hang out, drink tap beers and have some grub. I’m unlikely to come back to try their brunch menu and pizzas, but am glad they were open on a day when practically everywhere else was shut!