Mama's Buoi, Melbourne

Recently, we ventured down one of Melbourne's famed laneways to dine at Mama's Buoi, a Vietnamese restaurant that is a relatively new addition to the Melbourne dining scene.  It is called Mama's Buoi because all of the dishes are inspired by the Vietnamese home cooking of the founder's mother, Mama Hoang.

On a bustling Friday night, we were not able to get a table immediately, so we settled down for a drink at the bar.  A highlight of the bar is the selection of cocktails with Vietnamese flavours.  We didn't have to wait long before we were shown to a table in the laneway, and were presented with these beautiful menus:

To start, we ordered these gorgeous pork and prawn rice paper rolls to share:

For main, Tim ordered the duck curry:

together with some steamed rice to mop up all the lovely curry sauce:

I decided to go with a Vietnamese classic, the green papaya salad:

The flavours in this salad were crisp and clear, and the green papaya has an unusual taste all its own that lingers (in a good way) long after you have eaten it.

We couldn't go past this beautiful rice pudding for dessert:

It was a perfect way to end the meal.

The service at Mama's Buoi was efficient and friendly.

Overall, we had a great experience, and would go back.

Mama's Buoi

Postal Lane, Melbourne GPO

(via 350 Bourke Street)

Melbourne VIC 3000

Ph:  03 9671 3426