Almost ten years ago I lived a couple hundred metres down the road from the corner of Nicholson Road and Derby Road on the border of Subiaco and Shenton Park. I had learned from locals that across the road used to be a pub, which would have been extremely handy. Instead it was now a retirement village, and there was very little else decent in what used to be a nice little suburban village. A fish and chip place opened (sister to one in Kalbarri) that was great but that was it.

Travelling back in time to my old neighbourhood, I was pleased to see a build in activity and one particularly busy cafe. Little Pantry is aptly named given the front room is tiny. Luckily there is space out the back to utilise the amazing climate Perth has to offer, and a beautiful lawn in the sun where we were seated for lunch / late breakfast.

It might have been May, but Perth doesn’t seem to do autumn and skips straight into winter so the weather turned it on for Mother’s Day! Glorious is the only way to describe it. Besides doing breakfast at lunch (I’m not sure if this is always the case), the cafe offers authentic Italian dishes centering around pasta. Several of our group tried the macaroni which I had a quick taste of (very nice) but I was focussed on breakfast. The Boston beans were exactly what I felt like. Beautifully slow cooked, but still with some texture, in a rich tomato sauce, with delicious sourdough. Some of the group had cake for dessert which was worth coming back to have more than a little try!

The staff and the owner was great and having brought a group along they were eager to please. The coffee was good quality, as it should be when prepared by Italian expats! I wish Little Pantry was here a decade ago – I would have been there five times a week!