Trotters: Carlton cafe

Did I ever tell you about the time I won a poetry competition at my college and won dinner for two to Trotters!  That was a long time ago.  Trotters has been a fixture in Carlton's Lygon Street since I can remember.  I have fallen in and out of love with it a few times over the years.  I've been there a couple of times lately for enjoyable dinners.

Trotters was always a poky place with a soup, quiche and salad sort of menu. It always seemed more vegetarian-friendly than a lot of the Italian restaurants nearby.  The cafe was small and crowded in a little terraced building with an upstairs.  Recently it has expanded into the next door building and feels far more spacious.  I don't know if the old signs were always on the walls but I really like that ambiance they create.

It is close to the Cinema Nova so I have been there after the cinema a few times recently.  Last year I ate at Trotters after seeing Enough Said with my friend Heather.  I had eaten a light meal before the film so I ordered two sides: polenta chips with chilli aioli and sauted seasonal greens with shaved parmesan.  I loved the crispy polenta chips and the aioli bu wasn't sure what to do with the shaved parmesan on it.  The broccolini was exactly what I needed, though again I didn't quite need so much parmesan.

Heather had the house-made pan-fried gnocchi with roasted butternut pumpkin, baby spinach and pinenuts, drizzled with burnt sage butter.  She enjoyed this.  I tasted it and decided I must order it some time.  (Update April 2014: went to Trotters again and ordered the gnocchi - it was lovely and light and delicious.)

Trotters offers some standard vegetarian meals: the vegetarian burger, a risotto and eggplant parmigiana.  It is the sort of choices that I can find comforting or boring depending on my mood.  However it appeals more than some of the other offerings on Lygon Street.

The real disappointment at Trotters was the dessert.  There is no appealing chocolate option.  We decided to share the apple crumble with ice cream.  The crumble was nice but a bit on the dry side and really needed the ice cream.

My other recent visit was early in the year when E and I went to see Inside Llewyn Davis.  We went for the pizza menu and I would definitely recommend this.  The hand stretched organic spelt pizzas seem a tad more modern and exciting than the rest of the menu.

I had the Ortolana pizza, which came with tomato, mozzarella, zucchini, capsicum, eggplant, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and provolone.  Roast vegies can be done really badly on a pizza but this was excellent.  The base was thin but satisfying (and not baked to a crisp like a recent pizza I had a pub)!  E ate the outside first in case he was full but I really loved the crust.  It was filling enough that I couldn't finish mine.  E thought the spelt base was lighter than regular pizza bases.

Trotters is one of the cafes on Lygon Street that makes me feel nostalgic for times when I spent so much more time in that area and a little pleased it is still going strong.  I have really missed the Vina Bar ever since it shut (despite great other cafes nearby).  However its Vietnamese cuisine sat a bit oddly in the Italian strip of cafes.  Trotters seems the perfect cafe for Lygon Street.  A little bit student chic, a little Italian, a little modern and generally good food.  Now if only I could still write the sort of poetry that would win me a meal there.

Trotters
400 Lygon Street, Carlton
Tel: 03 9347 5657
trotters.com.au