Matta Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

Matta was a splendid little cafe we've driven past. Such cute decor inside, rustic vibes, there is so much more to the cafe inside than out, we went for a weekend brunch so it was a little busy.

We ordered the omurice and the prawn tacos with a side of very generous fries. Service was a little slow but incredibly kind and professional. The prawn tacos came out exquisitely presented, on a fried seaweed shell and a fresh salad bed, I really enjoyed this dish but you can't leave the prawns out for too long as the fry batter got soggy really quickly. However, those prawns were most definitely jumbo and so so fresh. My partner had the omelette curry rice, which was a hearty meal, the ebi katsu was very fresh also, the prawns were juicy, and serving size was immensely generous. The fries came a little bit late to the table so we were already quite full when it came, and they were fresh fries, thats it, nothing special, just a solid serving of fries. Would definitely come back to try more options!

Coffee was a bit of a miss in this instance, my cold brew was lovely but the Matta coffee black was a bit off...

We had been saving this restaurant for a special occasion and finally went on a sunny day. We tried four things: Omu Rice with Ebi, Ebi Sando, Cold Soba, and Wagyu Burger.

First, the highlights - the place has a cozy vibe, perfect for brunch. The only downside was it's kinda noisy. We could hear other people's conversations, which was a bit distracting.

The service was passable - not amazing, but good enough for a brunch spot.

Food – overall food experience was hit or miss considering the price range of $25-$30 per dish. The Ebi sando was probably the stood out, nice and big portion. The Omu rice looked good in presentation but tasted mediocre. The wagyu burger, its taste didn't justify the $26 price tag, nor did the portion size. As for the soba, it was dry, and the sides weren't great; my wife was a bit disappointed.

So, overall, it wasn't terrible or anything. We just had high expectations since the place has a 4.6 rating. Maybe it's just Melbourne, where it seems like a lot of places focus more on presentation than food quality, I guess I can't be too surprised or...

We ordered Just Chicken plus Fries and Curry Rice.

The chicken dish is horrible with the non-marinated chicken pieces. I could even feel the rawness smell of chicken. Even the mayonnaise which could make almost everything tasty could not improve the favor at all. This is like the second worst fried chicken I had in Melbourne.

Curry rice is merely not bad. It is obviously overprice as a bowl of curry rice with 3 ebi prawn which costs you about $25 though the ebi taste good and crispy than fried chicken. But the curry sauce is not thick enough.

DONT order Matta Iced Black. I ordered the long black as what I would do as usual. And it is way too bitter than I ever drank. The Iced Long Black is like adding more bitter lemon taste to make it taste much bitter and weired.

Last, we spent like roughly an hour here for lunch. Three kids of next table were running around making sounds annoying everyone in restaurant. I understand it is hard for staffs to do something in similar cases. But I was still disappointed that they did not do anything to care other customers'...