First Look: It’s Matcha Clouds and Japanese Lunches at Mamuki Glebe

By Wednesday, I’m usually in a state. But when I arrive at Mamuki in Glebe, I’m instantly put at ease by the soft jazz playing and the quiet ambience of the suburb’s new matcha spot. 

The space, which quietly opened in February, is the second location for owner Panidtha Saard and the team behind the original Enmore Road cafe. With a green striped awning, a sage-green double door and two huge windows looking onto the street, the shop is a study in Wes Anderson symmetry. 

A small Japanese garden, complete with a small fountain, is found inside. A blond timber counter is lined with bags of Ona coffee, and a cabinet of house-baked banana-matcha muffins and generously filled onigiri catch my eye. Nearby shelves are lined with glazed clay cups ready to be sold for those hoping to bring the matcha ritual home.

I take a seat along the wall next to a string of matcha-drinking young women. Following their lead, I decide today will be the day I finally order a matcha. (I’m usually a matcha-gnostic). I tell the staff I’m a matcha novice and she brings out a picture sheet of Mamuki signatures. 

There are matcha clouds, “soft matcha”, matcha yuzu fizz, matcha with fresh orange, and classic hot serves. (For non-matcha drinkers there’s Japanese loose-leaf tea, house-made iced tea, chai lattes and coffee.) I’m steered towards the matcha with berry jam, which is sweet, light and comes topped with strawberry and rose petals. 

On the food menu are brekkie staples – toast, eggs and a “granola garden” with fruits, yoghurts and roasted pistachio and signature items like avocado toast topped with green apple, feta and lotus root crisp. A tamago sando – a signature from Enmore – includes a one-two egg punch of scrambled and soy-marinated soft-boiled eggs. 

The lunch menu is a set of onigiri served with dashi, tamago and pickles; bara-chirashi (a sushi bowl); unagi don served with a side of seaweed salad and a dashi soup; gyudon (a Japanese beef bowl made with Wagyu and topped with a poached egg). The store is also noted for its Japanese curries.

The godai and ochazuke are popular. Your choice of fish or tofu and veggies is served in a light and crisp tempura, alongside a bowl of rice served with a pot of deeply flavourful dashi (or green tea for vegos), and a selection of bright pickles.

Mamuki is packed with friends (mainly students) tapping away at laptops or sipping on matcha while dissecting the latest TV shows. I strike up a conversation with the girl next to me who moved to Sydney from Taiwan a few weeks ago and is already on her second visit to Mamuki. Whoever said it was hard to meet people in Sydney clearly hasn’t spent an hour in this pocket of Zen. 

Wednesday is looking up. 

Mamuki Glebe
16 Glebe Point Road, Glebe
No phone

Hours:
Mon to Fri 7am–3.30pm
Sat & Sun 8am–4pm

@mamuki.bake.bar