Find proper home cooking straight from Myanmar on the outskirts of an industrial area in Armadale.
Mango Cafe, in a humble space next to the Oriental Food Warehouse in Armadale, proudly serves traditional fare, from a kitchen staffed by expat women sharing their love of the food of their homeland. While influenced by its surrounding neighbours of China, India and Thailand, Myanmar has its own distinctive cuisine, brimming with pungency, layered with spices and myriad textures, and generally served with pickles and chilli paste to customise the dish.
Come firstly for mohinga, Myanmar’s national dish. The Mango Cafe version of this hot and sour fish-based rice-noodle soup is Perth’s best, and strikes a balance where the fish is ever-present but not overpowering, with fragrance from lemongrass, ginger and banana stem. Then try the jelly-like tofu, made Myanmar-style with chickpeas rather than soybeans, either in a tofu toke salad that balances salt, sour and spice, or as tofu nway, where it takes on a creamy, porridge-like consistency and is doused with sweet soy sauce and toasted peanuts.
Come firstly for mohinga, Myanmar’s national dish. The Mango Cafe version of the hot and sour fish-based rice-noodle soup is Perth’s best, and strikes a balance where the fish is ever-present but not overpowering, with fragrance from lemongrass, ginger and banana stem.
Mango Cafe also offers a selection of traditional dishes not found anywhere else in Perth, including a number of Shan delicacies such as meeshay, where rice noodles are covered with peanuts and minced pork or chicken marinated in chilli oil, peanut oil and soy sauce. They’re served with pickled mustard greens and a bowl of light chicken broth that can be poured over the top.
The cafe is simple but spacious, and while the staff are friendly, expect no frills with a self-serve station of cutlery, water and condiments. With the food of Myanmar often overshadowed by other cuisines, this is a place to celebrate and share in true homestyle cooking as realised by home cooks. Make the trip.
