As people become more aware of their food intolerances, it can be a nightmare for them to find a place where they can order safely from the menu. For their friends, it’s a nightmare to find somewhere that caters for those needs, without being forced to eat food that tastes like cardboard. Prahran has a place that fills that niche – MOM, Market on Malvern.

The vision of Market on Malvern is to enable people to eat foods with a particular purpose in mind, such as those providing energy, better digestion, and aided sleep. Everything on the menu is gluten free, with options for other intolerances and special diets, including less common ones like yeast-free, fructose-free and low-FODMAP. Nutritionists worked together with the consulting chef to create a menu full of ingredients researched for their nutritional benefits. Desserts and raw treats can be found at the front counter, and other snacks and meals-to-go are waiting to be picked up from the cabinets. For hydration there’s a range of teas, including teas blended specifically for different purposes, and a variety of caffeine-free lattes such as the beetroot cacao latte, which has a slight earthiness, and a background note of cacao, but doesn’t have any unpleasantly raw taste.

The Miso Eggplant bowl comes with sesame and agave inulin black rice, yuzu greens, purple sweet potato, spinach, fermented vegetables, spinach, and crispy matcha lotus chips. The strong miso paste dripped over the eggplant seasons the whole bowl nicely when it’s mixed up properly, and the pickled flavour of the fermented vegetables provide extra interest to the flavours. The black rice is nicely cooked, with a bit of chew. We opt to add the moist and flakey coconut amino glazed salmon, which arrives on the side.

We also order the caramelised sweet potato, which is paired with avocado and hemp protein hummus, sprouted bean cabbage slaw with nut milk dressing, and steamed chicken breast. The chicken is very well handled. The meat is finely textured and not dry at all. The hummous is tasty, and the overall combination of sweet and nutty flavours is a delight.

Red velvet pancakes are topped with fresh strawberries, organic coconut yoghurt and chocolate medjool date syrup. The coconut yoghurt tastes a bit like a foam made from sour cream, and is needed to provide relief from the decadent richness of the chocolate syrup. The pancakes themselves are moist, and have a great texture. It’s hard to believe these are gluten free.

I don’t normally go out of my way to eat healthily, but I was actually very impressed by MOM. The food was flavoursome, even by non-healthy cafe standards, and left us feeling sated and satisfied, not overstuffed and heavy. For taste-good, feel-good food, especially if special diets need to be catered for, MOM Cafe is a good bet.

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

MOM Cafe – Market on Malvern
388 Malvern Rd
Prahran, VIC, 3181
(03) 9529 7701
https://www.beingwellhc.com.au/mom-cafe/