Sponsor Profile - Little Eats

I'm really happy to introduce you to Jemma from Little Eats, a website with reviews on the latest and greatest kid-friendly cafes around Melbourne. After having her first child, Jemma didn't want to give up her foodie lifestyle...so Little Eats was born.

Tell me about what inspired you to start little eats?

A passion for food, coffee and cafes, an obsession with eating out and trying all the latest cafes and restaurants, a background in marketing, communications, advertising and writing, and a desire to not return to the corporate world or to put India in childcare.
Being an ideas woman, I was constantly coming up with hair-brained schemes and business ideas, however the Little Eats concept just clicked. There didn’t seem to be much else around, and I thought it would be a great way to combine all my interests, do something for myself, and help other coffee-loving new mums at the same time.
What makes a café a big hit for you?
For me it’s a magical combo of the food, the coffee, the service and the decor, fit-out and overall vibe and feeling of the place. You usually know if a cafe has got “it” just by walking into the place. However for my little ones, a cafe that make great babycino’s complete with marshies, and has a fun new box of toys and books to discover, or crayons and paper on the table then that is a big hit for them.

I think India’s favourite cafe is probably Cubbyhouse Canteen - she loves the park and playground next door, loves the little smiley face babycino’s with two marshies, loves the milk-crate full of dinosaurs and loves the two sweet bubble-blowing sisters who are the owners. Where as my faves are places with fancy-pants coffee, gourmet quality food, and cool interiors from the likes of Six Degrees etc eg: Auction Rooms, The Pint of Milk, Three

Bags Full and Miss Marmalade. Somers General Store is also one of my all-time faves.
Have you always been a ‘foodie’?

Yep sure have! Food, coffee, wine, cooking, dining out and entertaining have always been a big part of my life since I was a little one myself.

My parents are big foodies too, and my Mum is a hostess with the mostess extraordinaire, and they live overseas and are currently eating and drinking their way around Europe (half their luck!). When we were kids we would always do Sunday brunch on Brunswick St (usually pancakes at The Fitz followed by a quick stop off for flowers at Vasette - can you believe they turned 21 this year!), often go out for dinner to all kinds of places all over town, visit lots of wineries and were constantly hosting dinner parties and BBQ’s etc.

Their love for good food definitely rubbed off on me. My husband Van is in the hospitality/wine industry too and his father was a chef. So food is a huge part of our life then and now and now for our kids too. I think little India has been to more cafes and restaurants in her first to years of life than I did in my 10!

How has your dining out experiences changed now that you have kids?

The Little Eats concept has been around pretty much since India was born (she is now 2 1/2), so we have been out and about at cafes A LOT as it is all in the name of research of course! We still eat out heaps just as we did before kids, I guess just the types of places have changed now. We don’t really go out for boozy dinners any more where we would easily drop a few hundred bucks a night. We often go out for dinner somewhere cheap and easy on a Saturday night eg: Binh Minh for Vietnamese in Richmond. We all love pizza too and are big fans of Motorino and Mr Wolf. But mainly we are out on the weekend for brunch and lunch doing reviews for Little Eats or catching up with another family.

You are a mum of two, how do you juggle work and mothering?

India is 2 1/2 and Aurora is 14 months, so they are 17 months apart. Hmmm juggling.... that is the story of my life. I don’t know how I do it... I just do it! I do love being busy though and wouldn’t have it any other way. :) Lots of late nights too!

I notice you travel to Bali a lot, is a little eats Bali on the cards?

Ha ha! Perhaps perhaps...
I wish! I would love to live there and just eat and drink and lie in the sun by the pool working on my laptop all day!

Thanks for doing all the leg work Jemma. It's great having a website like yours where I can check out the best cafes in the area before I head out. You've suggested a heap of places I haven't had a chance to visit, I'll have to make sure they are on the itinerary next time we are out for brunch.

Little Eats has been such a supportive sponsor of My Poppet, so show your support and visit them soon.

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Visit the Little Eats website here.