Inspired by the ‘Bar-Tabacs’ of Europe, Mammoni is a day-night venue serving up Italian-inspired drinks, coffee, pastries, and pizza.
Bar Mammoni is the fourth venue that House Made Hospitality have added to the fledging ‘Quay Quarter’ development on Young Street, following Grana, Apollonia and Lana.
Found in the Loftus Lane laneway behind Hinchcliff House, the venue actually takes its name from this location, as House Made Beverage Director, Jason Williams told Bars and Clubs.
“Mammoni roughly translates as ‘mummy’s boys’, and refers to the fact that this venue, the youngest in the Hinchcliff family, is located right next door to the ‘mothership’ of Hinchcliff House,” Jason says.
“You’ve got these beautiful little laneways around Circular Quay, and we thought there’s a great opportunity to bring in some house-made pastries and big slices of chunky pizza, with great coffee, some spritzes, and a little aperitivo,” he continues.
Indeed, the bar was conceived with this specific laneway plot in mind.
“We had our eye on it, because we had this concept stewing that we thought could really work there,” Jason says.
In total, it took between eight to 10 months for the bar to come from idea to reality.
Pastries are made overnight at Grana and then walked the few metres down to Mammoni, with Jonny Pisanelli (House Made’s Head of Viennoiserie) overseeing the bakery. House Made are known for attention to detail when it comes to baked goods, and the flour used for Mammoni’s menu is also produced in-house.
Pisanelli has joined forces with Bar Mammoni’s Head Chef, Jason Duncan (formerly of Charlie Parker’s) to create Mammoni’s menu of croissant sandwiches, pizzas and bruschetta.
Alongside the Italian-inspired food and drink offering, Bar Mammoni features an outdoor dining and drinking space, very much in the mould of European piazzas.
“Inside it only fits about eight people,” Jason says.
“The idea is you go in, get your pastry or pizza by the slice, grab a cold drink or a coffee, or a beer, and then head back out to the little tables and chairs in the alfresco space, and just hang out.”
“It’s a really sociable little food and beverage experience.”
The bar was the brain-child of Scott Brown, House Made Hospitality’s Creative Director, who is hoping than as workers begin to return to city offices, Bar Mammoni can be a ‘triple threat’: offering coffees and pastries in the morning, pizzas at lunch, and a great place for after-work drinks.
“We wanted to create a venue where the quality of the snacks and drinks is just as good at 7am as it is at 7pm,” Scott said in a statement to press.
“That reliability of service and quality ingredients is at the heart of everything we do at House Made Hospitality and Bar Mammoni allows us to provide that to a more transient collection of guests. Those who just want a great snack to keep them going through the morning, a bite at lunch or something to nibble on with their evening drink.”
In terms of speciality cocktails, Jason says they’ve made a conscious choice to keep the menu low in quantity, but high in quality.
“We’ve got three signature spritzes that we call ‘Laneway Spritzes,’” Jason says.
See the recipe for the Strawberry Spritz here.
A lot of these mixed drinks will actually be made next door at Grana and Apollonia (Alissa Gabriel is Hinchcliff’s Bar Manager), while Mammoni itself will focus on a small selection of amari and grappa.
“We’ll also be doing shots of Negroni, Negroni Sbagliato, Americanos and café corretto – where we rinse your espresso glass with some grappa,” Jason adds.
A short list of European-varietal Australian wine has been overseen by House Made’s self-styled ‘Wine Guy’, Christian Blair, with wines available by glass, carafe and the bottle.
Bar Mammoni is found at Loftus Lane (behind Hinchcliff House), Circular Quay, and is open Tuesday to Saturday, 7am to late.
