Melbourne's Mayday sends a message of safety

COVID-SAFE DINING

How do you judge a restaurant? In long-ago different-world February, I'd start with food, experience, story and context. But in November 2020? My answer is COVID-safety. If we don't keep corona quashed, we don't have restaurants at all. We are Melbourne. We know that better than anyone else in Australia.

With all our magnificent doughnut days, it's easy to think we are done. We aren't. London had a fun summer in restaurants. They're now locked down. In July, Prague held a "farewell party" to the pandemic. Their restaurants are closed again. Greece? Bouzouki over summer, now in hard lockdown with citizens required to send an SMS to the government for permission to leave home.

My message? Enjoy our reopened restaurants but patronise those serving you safely and meet them more than halfway by cheerfully following the rules that keep us safe and open.

Mayday nails it. The five-year-old cafe is owned by Elisa Mariani and her brother Adam. She's a former home economics teacher who loves working on protocols and procedures. He's a longtime hospo guy. The cafe does great food.

Their breakfast taco is a colourful pile over a puffy wheat flatbread with smoky baked beans, jalapeno salsa, sweet pickled onion and runny fried egg.

A coconut chia pudding with blackberries and a sesame wafer is a taste of the tropics we can't visit right now. The roasted broccoli salad with feta, crunchy seeds and green chilli zhoug has bags of flavour and texture.

The coffee is great, the juices are zingy and there are beers if you want to toast freedom.

The reason I could enjoy everything is because I felt safe. There's QR code check-in, sanitiser everywhere, tables well-spaced, number limits adhered to, guidance on masks (put it in your bag, not on the table), online menus and diligent cleaning. A nurse recently stopped in for coffee and gave them the thumbs up from a delighted 1.5 metres.

COVID-safety is the key condiment we never knew about: it makes food more delicious and helps Melbourne come back to life. Stay safe, stay open, legends!

Mayday Cafe 410 Bridge Road, Richmond, 03 9421 0111, maydaycoffeeandfood.com.au
Open Monday-Saturday 

7am-3pm, Sunday 8am-3pm
All-day menu: $7-$22

Also try

Ladro Tap

When you've been closed for months, it's hard to turn away customers who want to cram in. But Ladro is doing its bit to keep the double doughnut days rolling, sticking within number and density limits and serving pizza, caprese salad and spritzes with pandemic protocols top of mind.

162 Greville Street, Prahran (also Fitzroy), ladro.com.au

Pt Leo Estate

A clear marquee in the sculpture park boosts limited indoor dining capacity. One cute COVID-safe innovation is an arty paper envelope for diners to put their masks in. You are allowed to take masks off while eating and drinking at the table; replace it using the handles when going to the toilet and leaving the restaurant.

3649 Frankston-Flinders Road, Merricks, ptleoestate.com.au

Bincho Boss

Clear guidance on the health directions and an adherence to all recommended protocols means staff are always wearing masks, high-touch areas are sanitised frequently and diner number and density limits are followed. It makes the sashimi and skewers even more delicious.

383-385 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, binchoboss.com.au

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