From the outside, the brick walls deceive all the people passing by. Inside, the dining hall has a gorgeous high ceiling, little dining booths and plenty of beer bottles to go round. Originating from the brewery in Perth, this dining hall was transformed into the Aussie backyard to bring in the new year, furnished with beach umbrellas, a Hills Hoist, deck chairs and faux grass.
Pan fried calamari with citrus & fennel salad
To wet our appetites, the waitress brings over a bucket of chips with a serving of aioli, on the house, because it is new year (yipee!) and they’re delicious, crunchy with a good portion of potato. Chips always go well with beer.
We order some dishes to share around the table, and first up are the pan fried calamari with a citrus and fennel salad, not sure if I have only just realised this, but fruit seems to be the new ingredient in modern salads, and it works. Loved the orange and grapefruit segments that added the right acidity to the dish along with the crunch of the fennel. Delicious!
Sticky pork ribs with corn & tomato salsa
Roquette, pear, walnut, parmesan salad
Next on the menu were some very, very sticky, fall off the bone pork ribs with a nice chargrilled and char siu flavour (common Asian bbq marinate) with a fresh sweet corn and tomato salsa to match. On the side, we devoured another fruit bearing salad, this time with crunchy slices of pear mixed with roquette (the greens), walnuts and parmesan.
Chorizo, sweet corn, feta pizza
Last on the table is our bubbly chorizo pizza, with a crispy thin base. And it’s also agreed that pizza also works well with beer.
Little Creatures Dining Hall
222 Brunswick St
Fitzroy, Melbourne
www.littlecreatures.com.au/melbourne
