Now Open: Lady Luck, an Eclectic New Cafe in the Adelaide Hills

A pair of cowboy boots, hand-written "reserved" signs, bunches of sunflowers and a colourful array of fruits and vegetables – Mount Barker’s newest cafe Lady Luck feels like you’re stepping into owners Maddi and Taylah Cannys’s home. Opening at the close of January, just two weeks after the siblings were given the keys to the space, the cafe's mix-and-match interior is more a result of necessity than design – but you wouldn’t know it.

“We were so lucky. It was a combination of family and friends, over 10 days,” Maddi tells Broadsheet of the renovation. “Literally, we spent over 14 hours a day in here; just building, painting, creating.”

Maddi and her sister Taylah have more than two decades of hospitality experience between them, including venues in and around Adelaide (such as Cafe Troppo), and cafes overseas. “For years, we’ve spoken about it together as sisters; that we wanted to open a cafe,” says Maddi. “Tay hit 30 and I hit 26, so I said, ‘We’re not leaving it much longer!’… we just thought, now’s the time.”

The siblings have created an eclectic, inviting space serving brunch classics, vegan and gluten-free cakes and De Groot coffee. The tightly curated menu includes a crispy chicken burger (with cheese, butter lettuce, gin-pickled cucumber and sambal mayo); slicker-than-your-average smashed avocado (dressed up with turmeric pickled radish, greens and almond pepita dukkah); a falafel bowl; and leek and chive dumplings.

For now, all of the cakes behind the counter are house-made, but will soon include some from suppliers to keep up with demand (they’re currently selling out each day). “At the moment, we’ve got a white choccie one, an orange and almond, and a brownie one. And one banana bread. We want to cater for everyone,” says Maddi. “We’re doing a lot of gluten-free cakes, and some vegan cakes. But I think, as time goes on, we’ll definitely ramp up more.”

A retail shelf sells works from local makers (such as ceramics from friends at Murray Bridge-based Rawart Studio, who also supply the cafe with crockery); homemade jams; and De Groot coffee. Paintings for sale from Sturt Street’s Indigenous art gallery Indigenu cover the walls; there’s works from Indigenous artists Yaritiji Heffernan, Bernadine Johnson and Audrey Brumby.

The name Lady Luck is a nod to the risks that come with opening a cafe. It also rejects the assumption that hospitality work is supposed to be transient. “For so long, when I’ve worked somewhere, people go, ‘Oh, what are you going to do next?’ and I’d always be like, this is my forever dream,” says Maddi. “We’re opening a cafe in the end part – especially for SA – of a pandemic, so we’re really taking a chance. We’re two girls, hoping for a bit of lady luck... And I think that we’ve got it.”

Lady Luck
16 Walker Street, Mount Barker
Hours:
Mon to Fri 7am-4pm
Sat 7am–3pm
Sun 8am–3pm

facebook.com/cafeladyluck