Maalu Maalu

May 21, 2022

   

On Sydney Road, Italian café Marcella was recently replaced; a new plain-text sign read 'All You Eat Buffet'. On further inspection, we learned that the buffet is Sri Lankan food (not spicy! assured another sign on the door) and the restaurant is named Maalu Maalu. We met up there with our friend Will for dinner to take our minds off the early hours of vote-counting this weekend.

The rice and curry buffet is available regularly for lunch and dinner ($20 per person), with thosai on offer Friday nights ($25 per person) and both plain and egg hoppers on Saturday nights ($25 per person). Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are abundant and well-labelled. We arrived early enough to receive just-cooked plain hoppers as soon as we approached the buffet and set about piling our plates with rice, noodles, curries and condiments. We were delighted by everything we ate, including eggs in a coconut gravy, lentil dhal, coconut sambol and pineapple chutney. I drank a mango lassi ($6) on the side. 

The restaurant setting is plain but it had a lovely atmosphere nonetheless: the air was filled with the aroma of coconut oil, the staff had smiles bursting through their masks, and the tables hummed with several rounds of satisfied customers. We'll definitely be among them again soon.

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Maalu Maalu

246 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

9380 6311

all-you-can-eat buffet $20-25pp

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Accessibility: The entry is narrow and includes one step. There are wide, flat passageways throughout the interior. Tables are regular height, somewhat densely spaced, and chairs have backs. The buffet is served at regular-height tables, but a person would probably need to be of standing adult height to see into and serve themselves from the bain-maries. We paid at a low counter, and didn't visit the toilets.