Geelong cafe: Little Creatures Brewery

While we ate lunch at Little Creatures Brewery in Geelong last week, we marvelled at the success of the place.  I am not familiar with the brand but I don't drink beer.  However the food is creative, good quality and easy to share.  The vibe is hip, interesting and kid-friendly.  It was my first visit to the Geelong restaurant, but I have been to the Little Creatures dining hall in Fitzroy (Melbourne) a few times and enjoyed it.

Whereas the Melbourne dining hall is a large restaurant in a street known for eating out, the Geelong one is actually based in the brewery and you can take a tour of the works.  A yellow striped path leads from the car park to the restaurant.  Along the way the sights are promising.  I see street art and I take out my camera! 

We turn the corner and see the outdoor dining area that is dwarfed by a large redbrick industrial complex.  It is busy.  Only one lone sunny table without colourful canopies is vacant.  An old school drinking trough is covered in vines.  Chimneys rise in the distance.  Pipes criss cross up high.  Children play in a sandpit.

Someone has fine chalkboard skills.  The sign welcomes us into the warehouse where more diners are seated.  There are so many of them.  The space is huge. 

We don't have to wait for long before we are seated at a high table with stools.  On our table is a quirky woollen sheep.  I love all the incidental artwork.  It is a great distract for fidgety kids.

We order and I walk around the restaurant to explore the space.  There is a giftshop, a map of the origins of beer, yarn bombing, paintings, and boxes of beer.

I enjoy watching all the people eating their meals.  They are such a diverse bunch.  Lots of noisy happy groups.  Young and old.  Foreigners and locals.  The beautiful and the ... um ... not so beautiful.

I love the above green sign that I assume is for people who are going on a brewery tour.  We see a group in bright orange jackets and I am told by my parents that you need covered shoes to do the tour.  Which probably cuts down on those who are eligible on a warm summer's day.

Dinner comes as I am taking Sylvia for a wander.  She has had enough of drawing pictures with her cousin.

My sister and I share braised chickpeas with flatbread.  It is good hearty honest food with lots of spice but not too much heat for me.  The flatbread are soft and pillowy with attractive chargrill marks.  My parents share a meaty dish (apparently with similar spices) and Sylvia and her cousin each have a pizza to share with the rest of us.

Sylvia's margherita pizza is beautifully cooked with lots of cheese.  She also had the apple juice which I highly recommend.  It tastes like real apples and is so much nicer than many of the apple juices she orders elsewhere.  I also see chips go by that look delicious.

By the end of lunch I am full as a state school.  Which is a shame because the people next to us have the brownie with a scoop of ice cream and there are amazing brownie muffins on display.  I have sampled chocolate tart and salted caramel doughnuts in the Melbourne dining hall which were indulgent, heavenly and too rich not to share.  So I am sure desserts here are excellent as well.  Sadly they will have to wait for another day!

Little Creatures
Geelong Brewery
Cnr Fyans and Swanston Streets
Geelong
Te;: (03) 5202 4009
https://littlecreatures.com.au/