Jacinta Price opened Matilda in Mont Albert North in 2022. The cafe-corner-store-hybrid, set in a former milk bar and revamped with a French-inspired interior, was quick to draw a crowd with its glass pastry case filled with bagels, hazelnut espresso cake and scones. And it’s mostly a vegan menu.

Now, the beloved suburban cafe has opened a smaller takeaway-only spot in an old office building. Price says Petite by Matilda is a “little sister version” of the original. The idea came about after the team quickly outgrew the Matilda space. “The kitchen was the size of an at-home laundry and we could not keep up with the amount of food we had to produce in that space,” Price tells Broadsheet.

So the team rented the shop across the road from Matilda and built a commercial kitchen, which allows them to offer catering and celebration cakes in addition to the same toasties and salads they’ve become known for.

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“We’re selling celebration cakes off the shelf every weekend. [You can] come in and order a six-inch cake that’s on display and just take it home with you,” says Price. There’ll be three simple flavours on offer each weekend and there’ll always be a gluten-free and a vegan cake available.

The Petite by Matilda interiors were finished by Price and her partner Travis Nesbitt. It has the same French feel as Matilda, thanks to the revamp, and to the addition of details including arched windows the team found second-hand and painted robin egg blue.

For food, there’s a chicken baguette and rotating daily toasties like the mushroom, pesto and goat cheese and the Matilda toastie, which includes pumpkin, kale, onion jam and vegan feta – all made with bread from Cobb Lane.

There are also salads, an acai bowl, overnight oats, fresh-squeezed orange juice made in-house and a selection of smoothies. A section of the menu is titled “For the Dog” with toasted scraps (to help with food waste) and puppy-chinos.

Petite by Matilda
14 Arcade Road, Mont Albert North
9969 7235

Hours:
Mon to Fri 6.30am–5.30pm
Sat & Sun 7am–4pm

@petitebymatilda