Mammoth Cafe: Review

Mammoth: Review
736 Malvern Road, Armadale
Mon-Fri 7am-330pm, Weekends 730pm-4pm.
eatmammoth.com

Even before its arrival a few weeks ago, Mammoth had garnered a fan following. The new venture in Armadale by Loren & Jamie Mcbride of Touchwood, Barry and Pillar of Salt had hour-long queues forming out the door on their opening weekend, and continues to pack in the crowds weeks later – a wait for a table on weekdays shows true popularity. Occupying a heritage building on a corner, the triangular space is spacious and bright, with slightly different levels and corners dividing the cafe into smaller and more intimate areas. White walls are paired with light oak furnishings, while the pastel blue tiled floor matches both the bar tables and the building’s exterior. When we arrived on a Tuesday morning, the place was packed out, but surprisingly, considering the number of babies in attendance and the hard furnishings, wasn’t particularly loud.

With the kitchen headed by Emma Jeffrey, ex Head-Chef of Hammer & Tong, a cafe setting the benchmark in Melbourne for restaurant techniques in the cafe setting, the innovative menu came as no surprise. Full of unusual flavour combinations and wild ingredients, we were spoilt for choice: it isn’t everywhere that you can have not just pancakes, but a cherry lamington dutch baby with coconut crunch, cherry and dark chocolate ice cream ($17), or your eggs benedict turns into a lavish affair with duck sausage, orange and corn blini, pickled onion, fried egg and smoked maple hollandaise ($20). The spanner crab is in blackened crepe form and served with a side of lemon sorbet ($24), the bagels, infused with lavender, come with fresh honeycomb and whipped buffalo ricotta ($12), and a lunchtime smoked chicken salad encompasses cucumber spaghetti, pumkin leather, radicchio, shallot dust and a sweet lime dressing ($21). The dessert on offer looked equally good and is perhaps a nod to the recent release and subsequent popularity of tub form Golden Gaytime ice cream – a Golden Gaytime panna cotta with honeycomb, sable biscuit and chocolate popping candy ($15).

We couldn’t bypass the second to last menu item: the lobster donut burger (I know, honestly never thought I would string those three words together). It did not disappoint, though sticky fingers are unavoidable – think a sugar and spice coated donut with a coriander and mint filled papaya-green mango slaw coated in a lime fish-sauce dressing, dripping sriracha kimpi mayo, more sticky cucumber jam and big chunks of lobster slipping out from within the sweet ‘burger’ bun. The size was maybe a little lacking though – but maybe that is because I just had half. It is an experience, of that I am certain – and you know what? It tasted pretty freaking amazing too.

The avocado dish was probably a safer choice, but just as good. A decent slab of soft but thick-crusted dark rye toast is liberally smeared with a pumpkin seed hummus and topped with coddled eggs and chunks of avocado. The texture and flavour of the hummus made the dish – I would seriously love to somehow obtain that recipe!

Last was the chia pudding, where a coconut and vanilla-bean infused almond milk pudding is topped with grilled lychees, passionfruit gel cubes, macadamia nuts, freeze dried Manuka honey, hemp seed crumble and edible flowers (because where would we be without edible flowers to pretty up our meals, people?!). On a chia pudding rating scale, this was a 10/10 – not too heavy, which they can be if full coconut milk is used, not too sweet, and topped with just the right amount of texture and hits of flavour – those passionfruit gel cubes were perfect.

Mammoth is already a slick operation: friendly staff (that you might have spotted at some of their other cafes), fast and efficient service, and an unusual menu from which nothing you order, short of plain eggs, will be anything like what you make at home. One thing I am sure of is that we will be back!

Rating: 8.5/10
Do: go at an off peak time (i.e. a weekday!) to avoid long waits for a table
Don’t miss: that donut lobster burger or the pumpkin seed hummus
Features: child friendly