By Amy Van Veen (The Cascade) – Email
Date Posted: September 27, 2011
Print Edition: September 21, 2011
2551 Montrose Ave
Abbotsford, BC V2S 3T4
604.854.2382
Prices: up to $13.99
Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
In the heart of Abbotsford’s old downtown, between a furniture store and a costume place called Jazz Ma Tazz, a little surprise of a restaurant has made its home. The aptly named Little Farm House in the City offers patrons fresh food at decent prices within a homey, country atmosphere.
Don’t let walking through the front door confuse you! What appears to be a knick-knack shop is actually just a little boutique to complement the small restaurant, in the same vein as Wendel’s and Porter’s Coffee and Tea House.
Once you walk past the pashminas, past the wall of teas that will make any British lady swoon, and finally past the display filled with an array of cookies and Roger’s chocolates, you find yourself at the opening to the hardwood-floored restaurant in the back.
Appearances are definitely deceiving for this 1927 heritage building, and once you nestle into one the many tables, you can relax and enjoy their incredibly affordable menu. If you feel the need to head there before one of your morning classes, you can take advantage of their vast breakfast menu, but if you find yourself sleeping in and trying to cover up your grumbling stomach through a rather quiet seminar class, you can drive the ten minutes to the Little Farm House and grab a sandwich, quesadilla, perogies, or a plate of spanikopitas.
All of their lunches are served with either their soup of the day, salad or homemade fries, and even though “homemade” is a term that is rather too casually passed around bistro circles, the fries were neither greasy nor fatty, and they still showed the skin of the potato proving their rather fresh quality.
The sandwiches can be served on white, brown or gluten-free bread as well as croissants if a croissandwich is more up your alley. I ordered the turkey, bacon, tomato and cheese sandwich because bacon makes everything better. Most people choose the white meat to fill their turkey sandwiches, but the Little Farm House favoured the dark part of the bird, which has never been my first pick, but it was by no means a disappointment. While the lighter meat can be quite dry and stringy if not properly prepared, the dark meat is more guaranteed to offer a savoury flavour. The bread was all buttered-up, which was good because butter, like bacon, makes everything better, but it was difficult to enjoy the sandwich without a generous supply of napkins within arm’s reach.
As for atmosphere, the whole country theme is played up to a tasteful degree. It’s not in your face with paintings of roosters and white picket fences on every wall, but it is instead experienced with muted colours, soft lighting and a successful faux coffered ceiling. Chandeliers adorned with dangling crystals and soft shades make this restaurant-behind-a-gift-store a rather pleasant surprise. And even though conversation can fill the room with the hum of background noise, it’s never at an uncomfortable level and, more importantly, it’s never at that point of silence where you can hear every syllable of conversation from the table beside you.
It would seem that this little bit of country in the city is mostly reserved for women of, shall I say, a more sophisticated generation. It may feel odd, then, for a twenty-something to be sharing the same ambience with people their mothers, or even grandmothers, may have gone to college with. However, if your mother’s birthday is coming up and you don’t know what to get her, spend ten bucks on lunch and buy her some tea on the way out. If, on the other hand, you’d like to prove to the world that you’re not an ageist when it comes to restaurants, then by all means visit the Little Farm House and take advantage of good food at a decent price.
