May Street Larder, East Fremantle
After graduating from high school I left Adelaide and moved across to Perth to study for my dream career in Vet Science. Being only seventeen at the time, my worldly possessions consisted of a suitcase of clothes, some hand-me-down pots and pans, a hand written note book with all of Mum’s family recipes and my stereo tape deck. I couldn’t imagine why I would need or want anything more; music and food were enough to keep me happy.
It was fortunate that I was so easily satisfied because for the next six years I got to experience what it is like to live below the poverty line on Austudy, Australia’s government funded student income. It is easy to learn to go without when you barely have enough income to eat and pay your rent, and it forces you to become much more resourceful.
Many years have passed since then and reflecting back I struggle to comprehend how on Earth I made ends meet on such a small amount of money. I am so grateful that through all my years of perseverance, sacrifice and hard work it has finally paid off. Whilst I can hardly call myself a “rich bitch”, I am enjoying a level of luxury that I wouldn’t have even dreamed of having in my student days.
The Boy has developed a similar appreciation for the finer things in life having originally also come from humble beginnings. He has recognised my last couple of years have been tough ones and so he decided to spoil me for my 40th birthday with a brand new AMG A45. After driving a 1999 Honda Civic for the past ten years now I feel like I’m in a fantasy land. I never thought I could be in love with something with no heartbeat but who am I kidding, I’m completely smitten. She is fast, has a satisfying loud sporty engine and comes complete with personalised plates.
Of course I now want to get behind the wheel at every given opportunity and our occasional weekend lunch dates generally involve a Sunday drive paired with a pit stop somewhere decent for food. In keeping with this concept we headed down to East Fremantle to check out May Street Larder, a new café from the creators of Bib & Tucker. Knowing Bib & Tucker’s food well I was anticipating good things.
As we waited for our table in the standing area, the barista called out to us to see if we wanted any coffees. We had been up quite late the night before and a hit of caffeine was just what I needed.
The Boy isn’t a coffee drinker which is something I will never quite understand. To each their own I guess. Once we were seated at our table he ordered himself a banana fig smoothie instead. It was not overly sweet and quite creamy, and he didn’t utter a single word until it was all gone.
I was keen to try the zucchini, lupin and lemon fritters. Lupins are a Western Australian grown product and were one of the main hero ingredients for last year’s WA Signature Dish. They are high in protein and fibre making them very filling.
My lupin fritters were topped with smashed avocado, savoury granola and a couple of poached eggs. The eggs were cooked magically with the fluffy whites encasing liquid gold yolks. We were seated on a communal table and I received a couple of bemused looks as I furiously photographed to capture ever second of my egg porn moment.
The lack of sleep was giving the Boy a small dose of indecisiveness over the menu until he saw a waiter with a pulled pork sandwich scoot past to a nearby table and then his choice was crystal clear. The pork shoulder was slow cooked to a near melting point and was ever so moist and flavoursome. The chipotle aioli wasn’t too intense for his sensitive tastebuds and he informed me he liked that it had a subtle sweetness to it. His sandwich also came with some May Street Larder house pickles along with very moreish deep fried sweet potato crisps.
Sadly this was a rare day where my appetite lacked its usual gusto due to a persistent hangover. Additionally my dish of lupin and zucchini fritters was so filling it left me no room for any sweets. I was so disappointed and consoled myself by wandering over to the counter to at least have a peek. What a shame! There were heaps of desserts for people like me; gluten free, vegan and raw options so I would have been spoilt for choice. Basically this simply means I will just have to come back again another day!
May Street Larder
Shop 23, 155 Canning Highway, East Fremantle WA 6158 | www.maystreetlarder.com.au
13 thoughts on “May Street Larder, East Fremantle”
Comments are closed.
No sweets! I feel like I don’t even know you any more! Haha but all joking aside, looks like a fab meal. I’m a huge fan of their polenta waffle with fried chicken 🙂
LOL! It was a rare moment of patheticness. Please still be my friend! Ill eat double the desserts next time!
“Basically,…come back another day”…in your fab car! haha. I think I may have to pay a visit to this place soon; it’s popping up everywhere!
Yes, you must. Its hard keeping up with all the new and awesome places in our city!
hehe I can not imagine you on a student income now, you would so not be able to eat anything with your taste in food 😉
I can’t believe the boy does not have coffee – and is back to being a carnivore? I think we can be friends again – that pulled pork sandwich looks and sounds AMAZING.
Tsk tsk dessert is a diff tummy space, I thought we talked about this? 😉 I think we need to organise that dinner of ours asap so I can back you on track.
xxx
ROFL! Yes I certainly have adapted to my income easily! Thank goodness I didn’t know I was Coeliac back then! It is a bit shameful my poor efforts on the desserts, very unusual for me as you know, it WAS a banging hangover! Dinner is a must – am off all next week what day suits you? PM me xx
Kudos to you, it just means you’ve got the skill and attitude to match! Lessons we learn in life early make us what we are now. And it’s nice to have a foodie reward sometimes :)…
Julie & Alesah
Gourmet Getaways xx
It is so true! I wouldn’t appreciate things as much as I do now if I hadnt had to start from the bottom and work my way up!
Congratulations on your new car Martine!! I was the same. I was not a car person. Then I met Little Red Riding Hood and then Patronus. I love my car so much 😀
Thanks Lorraine! It seems I found a match made in heaven **sigh**
Oh, I am so behind with my blog reading – so Happy Birthday and I love the look of those fritters even if you may not have appreciated them as much as on other days:-) I remember when I was a kid there was a father of another kid who said “A Birthday party isn’t any good unless you are sick, afterwards”:-)
Hi Rachel, oh you make me feel a little more relaxed to hear that because I am having just the same problem! Too many good blogs out there and not enough time to read! I like your friend’s father attitude, kind of like “go hard or go home”!