Eat and dine where you couldn’t get anymore local.
Now as we wallow in our Post-Covid economy, the cafe is, back refreshed, up and running and enjoying its well-earned reputation as “the little cafe that could”.
Set just around the corner from the hustle and bustle of Ponsonby Road, the now licensed cafe at the top of Franklin Road, has morphed from Agnes Curran nearly 20 years ago, later to Freds and now to Little Garden. This name reflects the new renaissance from a previously functional courtyard to one full of flowers, plants and embellishments matching the sunny and welcoming disposition of the café's Iranian manger Leyla.
Ownership of this intimate cafe has always attracted exotic personalities and its current management is no exception. Since taking over the business just “pre-covid” the owner Chris, has made-over the interior, adding a fire and bringing back the large centre table supplementing the other smaller ones spread around the room where the effervescent Persian, Leyla, holds court.
Popular with the morning commuters who call in for their first coffee of the day, then its daytime punters sitting at the large picture window overlooking “the strip” through to the late afternoon locals who call in for a tipple in the garden courtyard or to chillax in front of the fire in the main room, the cafe has all of its bases ticked.
Where Agnes Curran’s famous signature dish was lamingtons, amongst the highlight dishes of Little Garden, is the mountainous lemon meringue pie, its bright yellow tartness peeking out from a snowy mountain of white meringue, enormous fluffy cheese scones and oversized sausage rolls. Accompanying the ever popular and sultry Atlas coffee bean, there is plenty of choice from the select menu to banish even the coldest of winter blues or to accompany that relaxing glass of chardonnay before the walk back home.
LITTLE GARDEN, 179 Ponsonby Road, www.facebook.com/littlegardencn