Nestled just off St Georges Road, Mary Miller represents the newest project from Marie Macheras and Sargon Michael, who’ve previously owned The Glass Den and Cheshire. The site used to be a simple cafe that served mainly sandwiches, but now the interior and the kitchen have been completely redone, and thankfully the revisions include a proper food menu.

For drinks there’s a range of milkshakes and lattes, such as the earthy beetroot, fresh tasting matcha and mint, and a turmeric latte, which is less heavy handed with the ginger than usual.

There are a lot of vegans and vegetarians in the local area, so Mary Miller is providing plenty of options for them to pick from. With a head chef from Nepal and a Thai chef working alongside him, there’s a bit of spice in the menu too.

Sadly the popular sweet potato cakes are so popular that they’ve sold out, so we go for the Zucchini and Halloumi Fritters instead. The fritters are teamed up with bacon, smashed avocado, tomato relish, poached egg, feta, roquette salad and corn salsa. There’s a bit of spice and heat here, and the fritters are moist and tasty. Chilli Scrambled Eggs come with shiitake mushrooms, basil and chilli infused olive oil, crispy shallots goats cheese and fresh mint. The moist and creamy folds of egg go nicely with the creamy cheese.

For sweets we go for the French Toast special, made using demi-vienoise bread, Canadian maple syrup, toasted pistachios, almond flakes, vanilla mascarpone and rhubarb jam. Hints of cinnamon and the fluffy texture of the bread make it a wonderful conclusion to lunch.

Mary Miller has a very friendly neighbourhood charm to it; there’s little pretentiousness to be found. The food offerings are solid, and there’s plenty of potential for it to develop into a great local cafe.

Disclaimer: I was invited to Mary Miller as a guest, however, opinions expressed here are purely my own, and are based on my experience at the time

Mary Miller
171 Miller St
Fitzroy North, VIC, 3168
(03) 9489 6740
www.marymiller.com.au/