Mabu Mabu Big Esso Snack Bar

 September 24, 2021

   

I have to hand it to the Mabu Mabu team for overcoming two of my prejudices with this one offering! First, Michael and I have rarely subscribed to the 'heat and eat' services that have sprung up during the pandemic - they seem to generate a lot of packaging and aren't always convenient when you don't have a microwave. (That said, it was novel to celebrate a special anniversary at home with Estelle last year). The second prejudice runs longer and deeper - I am really, really uninterested in football. But when Mabu Mabu announced that they'd be catering vegan game boxes for the AFL grand final weekend, I was signed up in minutes!

We had the box delivered direct to our home for a $5 fee, and there was also the option of direct pick-up at Big Esso in Fed Square. It arrived right on schedule and the staff were terrific in dealing with a minor address glitch.

   

To my delight, all the heated components called for mere minutes in the oven. The dishes looked to us like enough to feed four people, and we stretched them out over a couple of days. We made the loaded chilli cheese yams for an early dinner - they're a reliably comforting carb, and we actually would've been content to skip this mock cheese.

   

We paired the yams with the wattleseed eggplant schnitzels and they came out as an early favourite - impressively crispy outside and tender inside following their 10 minute bake!

   

A couple of hours later we took on the bush tomato cauliflower hot wings. They were still a bit watery after the recommended bake time, and we should have cooked 'em longer. They weren't short on flavour, mind - I actually conferred much of my share to Michael because I found them pretty spicy.

   

By contrast, we were both making sure we got our portion of the saltbush caramel popcorn for dessert. I liked that the caramel was striped across the batch, allowing for crunchy toffee, puffy corn and nutty kernel textures.

   

We unwittingly saved the best for lunch the following day. The mini pepperberry mushroom bourguignon pies were spectacular, with an impressive thousand-layer flake to the golden-brown vegan pastry. The box included a full bottle of Mabu Mabu's organic tomato sauce, which is already a favourite condiment in our kitchen. Surprisingly, the strawberry, cos lettuce and native tamarind salad might've been my favourite dish of all - the native ingredients shone brightest here, creating a sweet, tangy and refreshing medley.

   

Unfortunately, I was nursing a headache on the day of delivery so we postponed drinking our desert lime margarita for a couple of days. It was small but strong, and we really liked the coconut notes. I was also able to throw a top-up jar of ground wattleseed into the order and, as you can see, Zimbra loved the box! So we stretched days of enjoyment out of a delivery celebrating an 80 minute game.

While the game box's moment has passed, Mabu Mabu offer other 'heat and eat' packs regularly. Now that picnic season is building up, Big Esso looks like a great potential source for riverside snacks too.

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Mabu Mabu Big Esso Snack Bar

Fed Square, corner of Swanston & Flinders Sts 

https://www.mabumabu.com.au/

Accessibility: Big Esso has a wide, flat entry, although Fed Square itself has a somewhat cobbled surface. At the moment you can pick up food at their entry, or arrange for home delivery.