The Lott, Cooma

The Lott, Cooma

The Style: The Lott in Cooma has that clever knack of being both trendy and rustic, cutting edge and cosy. It is a mish-mash of rough, warm wood and wicker baskets full of fruit clashing with bright,garish splashes of colour and the most amazing light fixture made of collanders and bare bulbs. The Lott has a wine barrel topped with free tasters of the gourmet oils, sauces and breads which are sold there as well as cupboards and shelves heaving with fresh fruit and veges, homewares, gardening gear, plants and of course, plenty to fill your tummy with over a Snowy Mountains Coffee.

Warm interiors and open kitchen, The Lott, Cooma

The rustic touch, The Lott, Cooma

The Taste: The Lott serves up a pretty high class menu - lots of nice ingredients teamed up in simple but delicious combinations. On a good day, the food at the Lott is faultless - just the other day I had some of THE best pancakes I have ever tasted. Unfortunately, it isn't always this way - I have also been dished up a pile of dry crumbs posing as a muffin (although I suspect this was the fault of the disinterested teenage waiter who microwaved it for way too long, forgot to bring it out and then, after a gentle prompt served it cold.) I do think that you are more likely than not to get good food here but I wish it hit the mark every time because then it would be a seriously great place to eat rather than a good one which has the occasional slip into mediocrity. And one last thing, the mushrooms at The Lott are cooked in olive oil - not a scrap of butter to be seen. Biting into a mushroom to have a big squirt of oil coat your mouth is not too pleasant and so hopefully they might switch to butter soon!

'Breakfast with the Lott', The Lott, Cooma

Scrambled eggs and mushrooms, The Lott, Cooma

Smoked trout eggs, The Lott, Cooma

Strawberry and ricotta pancakes, The Lott, Cooma

The Service: Like the food, the service at The Lott can be amazing one day and horrendous the next. The more experienced staff do a great job and really keep the place ticking over. The problem is, there are a lot of bored, disinterested looking kids floating around the floor some days which makes you feel like the service at McDonalds is something to cheer about. The Lott expanded a while back and it is great that such a place exists but beware for the service to see-saw depending on who comes to your table.

Free tasting - The Lott, Cooma

The Price: The food at the Lott is a little more expensive than an average Cooma cafe and on a good day when a perfect combination of really good ingredients comes your way, it is worth every cent. There have been a couple of times where I have thought that the pricing hasn't matched the service or the food but the good meals and experiences are starting to outweigh the bad so hopefully this is a sign that the management are ironing out some of the teething problems which the expansion may have created. Lets just hope The Lott didn't get too big for its super-trendy boots!


The Location: The Lott is located at 178 Sharp Street (Snowy Mountains Highway), Cooma.

Homewares for sale, the Lott, Cooma