Ahhh what a find! Sitting pride of place on the corner of Logan Rd and Cleveland St, ‘Lady Marmalade’ is an unpretentious, yet quirky ‘vintage-inspired’ café. Yes, cafés like this may be popping up all over the place, with their mix of old, mismatching furniture and crockery, indie-wanker wait-staff and even wankier clientele. But, dear readers I feel this one is a step above the rest….
The first thing that pleased me was that the friendly guy at the counter didn’t make a show of the fact that I was eating alone. There is nothing worse than some ‘me-time’ turning into a circus act of being asked numerous times ‘if someone else is joining me’, until I want to either wring the waitresses neck or less violently, make a sign saying ‘couldn’t be bothered organizing friends (yes I do have them) would love a quiet late-brunch by myself, please and thank-you’.
With that out of the way I had plenty of time to admire the taxidermy peacock hanging from the ceiling and peruse the menu at leisure, finally deciding on the ‘Gringo’ baked eggs w/ wagyu, chorizo and black bean ragu, herbs and feta $13.50 and a side of haloumi $3.50. Yum yum!
I chose a table on the Cleveland St side as there were less traffic noises and wrapped myself in what could be my nana’s handmade crochet rug (there are plenty available for this very purpose) and settled in to have a read through one of the old cookbooks on offer in place of trashy magazines.
My latte was lovely. Strong, not burnt and topped with the perfect amount of crema, which in my books is not a lot.
Then came the main attraction, my late brunch. Late as in 2:30 so I was the definition of ravenous! Perfectly runny eggs, thick not too salty haloumi, herbed and buttered bread, tasty mince and tangy chorizo with herbs and feta! Delish, exactly what the Doctor ordered and I will definitely be back.
