PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAWhether alone or with a friend, this place attracts a motley crew; from the pre and post movie goer with a couple of extra hours on their hands, to the dutiful out with their nannas and the click-click scribble-scribble of lone students. Window seats provide prime Lygon Street coffee-sipping real estate. Decor is made up of farm house paraphernalia, giving the place a playfully rustic feel that is nicely at odds with the otherwise tightly chic European appeal of Carlton’s “Little Italy” district.
Trotters offers very filling restaurant style food at cafe prices – mains range from $10 to $15 – and an ample breakfast menu that’s on offer until 3pm everyday. Enjoy a full blown meal (in winter their daily soups are wonderful warmers) or just a quick milkshake and bruschetta of the day for snacks. The home-made gnocchi – pan fried with spinach, pumpkin, pine nuts and finished with sage butter – is a favourite, or else the Trotter’s burger of prime beef with tomato, lettuce and grilled cheese with relish and thick cut chips is sure to satisfy. Also worth trying is the linguine tossed with prawns, fresh tomato, chilli, garlic and olive oil.
Jenni Kauppi