George Calombaris, for your restaurant Mama Baba, I give you a Masterchef score of ......

Well, when my wife wanted to have our wedding day on the same day of her birthday, that was good news to me. I am the type of person who can nearly forget what happened last week, the person who still cannot remember the exact dates of Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day. I can only remember pretty much my birthday, and our anniversary and her birthday. Most other important days struggle to stay in my messy filing system in my head, they come and go as quickly as the trains at Flinders Street Station!

It was three years ago that we were in Hawaii for our wedding. We had a fancy birthday dinner at Nobu, for my wife, and every year since then we normally go to Nobu for our anniversary/birthday celebration dinner. We decided to break this tradition with going to one of George Calombaris' Restaurants, but which one? In the end, we decided on Mama Baba, which was close to home.

One of the main reasons for picking Mama Baba, was The Mama Menu option, for $55, you get a four course dining experience, which is a sample of what they have to offer. Thinking it was a good price, and we weren't sure what to get, then The Mama Menu was there to make the decision for us. So I made sure that I booked our table a few weeks in advance and lucky I did, because they only had either 6:30pm or 9pm to choose from for the night we wanted. So I of course picked the 6:30pm.

On arriving at the restaurant, we opened the doors, and started our journey down the steps, where we had a very nice surprise of seeing George himself slaving away in the kitchen. Of course we were expecting to see him, but it just added to the great night and experience which we did have. I should have probably mentioned this earlier but I am not very good at listening and going over the finer details of most things, so when my wife told me they had this special $55 per person menu, to me, it was a good way of having a good night without thinking about what to eat.

So without really looking at the menu we decided that we would go with The Mama Menu. The waitress was very quick to prompt that they cater for dietary/allergies, and of which my wife is allergic to poultry products of all sorts, and this was no issue for them. They replaced a duck dish for lamb.

I was facing away from the kitchen, and when the first course come out, I just saw the waiters arm, and was just trying to concentrate on him explaining each dish, as he was putting the plates on the table. But then it clicked, this was no waiter, this was George. George himself served our entree! First to see him working at one of his restaurant, then to see him serve us, it was just fantastic. Entree consisted of RICOTTA Byzantine vinaigrette, PROSCIUTTO with mustard fruits, and a swordfish CEVICHE.

The second course to come out was TORTELLINI Prawn saganaki, tomato, feta and the other dish was the MAKARONIA White balsamic braised lamb, chestnuts, oregano, side serve of FENNEL Orange, spring onion salad.

After the second course, we were very full, and were expecting the next course to be our dessert. At this stage I was impressed with the size of the servings per dish and I was very content with the outcome of the night, and then the mains were served. Mains consisted of Beef cheeks (cannot remember the exact dish name), MULLOWAY Parsnip purée, dutch carrot, wasabi lettuce, with sides of peas with ricotta and wet polenta with two cheeses.

Deserts was Cinnamon bomboloni with Nutella and The Italian Mess. Which we consumed very quickly.

All in all, we had a great feast. Enough food was brought out for us to make it worth our while. Not only that, the food was to die for! I would say that it would have to be one of the best restaurants that I have been to in a long time. The service was also fantastic, even if George hadn't of been there, the staff of course were A+ and very friendly. George too was very friendly, and did the rounds of the tables, everyone wanting their picture with him, and he did not blink once. He didn't mind having his photo taking, and not only having his picture taken, he would stay for a quick chat too.

George I give you my Masterchef score of 10 put of 10, for the service, also for your personal service, of course the food, and just the overall experience. Thank you Mama Baba, I will be coming back again, and look forward to many yummy memories.