Mama Bear

Once you're past the bustle of Flemington's multicultural main drag on Racecourse Road, shops and eateries not directly related to all things equine thin out, but just shy of the racecourse itself - and directly opposite the Ascot Vale Stockfeeds - Mama Bear has a quiet monopoly on the locals and those in the know.

For many years it was the Tres Tacos cantina (does Melbourne hold a record for unsuccessful suburban Mexican restaurants?) but the beautiful old building was originally a farrier's foundry, and the post-taco fitout features sand-blasted brick walls, concrete floors and original roof trusses and hard-to-miss artwork by Blender Studios.

Mama Bear opened a couple of years back but current owner Simon Barbar, who also owns Brunswick's Miss Marmalade, took over a year ago.

"We made just a few changes to the menu but kept it mostly the same," he says. "It's a bit of a different vibe to Miss Marmalade - and the menu is very different there - but it works well in the area and the local clientele keeps growing."

The all-day breakfast menu is a mix of cafe classics, including the Mr Benedict of two poached eggs, grilled short-cut bacon, English muffin and apple cider hollandaise ($16.90), savoury French toast with Virginia ham, Gruyere, spring onion, fried egg and house-made tomato relish ($16.90). There's also the obligatory Bircher, here featuring black quinoa, shredded apple, honey, natural yoghurt, mixed berries and crushed hazelnuts ($10.90) and the omnipresent smashed avocado, here served on seed and sprout toast with marinated feta, wild rocket, tomato salsa, lemon and sumac, ($14.90/$16.90 with poached eggs) - and quirkier, vaguely Asian inspired dishes. Mama Bear's Vietnamese omelette, with sautéed prawns, chicken, sesame, soy, coriander, bean shoots and green nam jim ($16.90) almost out-ranks the smashed avo as the cafe's most popular brekkie.

"But the really popular dish, the biggest seller I would say, is the pork belly scrambled," Barbar says of the scrambled eggs studded with slow-roasted pork belly, caramelised onions and scallions, served with an orange and pomegranate salad ($17.90 and almost ridiculously large).

Other options include the saffron and orange blossom rice pudding for sweet tooths ($12.90 and served with passionfruit, blueberries, pistachios and a pomegranate reduction sauce) and the more macho-sized grilled scotch fillet with fried eggs, home-made tomato relish and a Worcestershire glaze ($17.90) or the Big Mama Breakfast ($19.90) featuring a bit of everything plus pork and fennel sausage.

There's also a decently priced "cub's menu" for kids and a range of cakes and sweets, some made in-house and some from Barbar's Johnny Miller group's central kitchen; a network of sub-regional cafe-bakeries which grew out of a small bakery/patisserie in Gisborne.

Coffee here is Mama Bear's own blend and has been a hit with the regulars, says Barbar.

"Because we're a bit isolated up here, we don't get that much passing traffic, so we've become something of a destination point for lots of locals for our coffee," he says.

Except, of course, during racing or Royal Melbourne Show season.

"Then you can't even get a park around here!"