Come hungry, leave with dinner – Mamma G’s brings a taste of Italian hospitality to Coolangatta

There’s a particular kind of hospitality that exists in Italian families. You pop in for a quick hello and before you know it there’s food on the table, you’ve been offered seconds and there’s a container being prepared for you to eat later.

Spend five minutes with John Gambaro inside the newly opened Mamma G’s Delicatessen in Coolangatta and it becomes pretty clear that this is the feeling he’s trying to bottle.

Actually, make that three minutes. We hadn’t made it halfway around the store before John was calling across the room to make sure we were being fed. And that, right there, is what Mamma G’s is all about.

The new deli, cafe and pantry opened its doors on Boundary Street this week, adding another string to the Gambaro family’s growing Coolangatta bow. Pipi’s by Gambaro and Awaken Cafe are both nearby, but Mamma G’s is designed to become part of the everyday rhythm of the neighbourhood, somewhere to grab a morning coffee, pick up lunch, stock the pantry or solve the age-old question of what’s for dinner.

The name is a tribute to John’s mother, Joyce Gambaro, affectionately known by the family as Mamma G. She was there for the deli’s first day of trade, a fitting touch for a concept that draws heavily on the family and food traditions that have underpinned the Gambaro story for more than seven decades.

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“It’s about a community here,” John says, adding that the response since opening has left the team “overwhelmed”, in the best way.

Inside, the traditional delicatessen has been given a polished coastal update. Warm timber shelves, deep-red tiles and retro red-and-cream bistro chairs bring a little old-school Italian charm, while a long deli counter is laden with wheels of cheese, salumi, olives, marinated vegetables and antipasti. Overhead, legs of prosciutto and cured meats hang ready for slicing.

Beyond the deli counter, the shelves are stacked with the makings of a very good dinner, or an elaborate picnic if the beach is calling. Artisan pasta sits alongside Italian tomatoes, preserves, olive oils, sardines, sauces and spices, with boutique wines and Italian aperitifs taking care of the drinks. There are everyday essentials in the mix too, making Mamma G’s the kind of place you might duck into for coffee and emerge from with an armful of things you didn’t know you needed.

Mamma G’s opens from 5:30 am, seven days a week, with the offering shifting as the day unfolds. Mornings start with coffee, breakfast rolls, pies and pastries, before fresh bomboloni, cookies and focaccia sandwiches begin filling the cabinets. By lunchtime, the bain-marie is loaded with the likes of lasagne, meatballs, chicken and vegetables, alongside plenty of take-home options. As John puts it, Mamma G’s simply “keeps evolving as the day goes on”.

For those who have heeded the advice to come hungry, there’s a mortadella focaccia loaded with stracciatella, pistachio cream and rocket, a prosciutto number with fior di latte, tomato, basil pesto and onion jam, and a chicken-schnitzel focaccia with cheddar, garlic-herb mayo and pickles. Breakfast brings an egg-and-bacon roll and Mamma G Reuben toastie, while the cabinet is stacked with house-made pies, arancini and slices of focaccia pizza.

Those with a sweet tooth may want to make a direct line for the bomboloni. The sugar-dusted Italian doughnuts come piped with pistachio, vanilla or chocolate-hazelnut cream, alongside tiramisu, cookies and other cabinet treats.

Coffee comes courtesy of Merlo, but Mamma G’s has gone well beyond the standard caffeine run. There’s matcha, fresh juices and smoothies alongside cold brews topped with everything from salted-caramel cold foam to pistachio.

Then, when 5:00 pm rolls around and cooking dinner suddenly feels wildly ambitious, Mamma G’s steps in again. The deli offers fresh pasta, slow-simmered sauces and take-home fare including heat-and-eat lasagne, roast chicken and meat, turning the morning coffee stop into somewhere you can conceivably return to on the way home.

It’s not entirely new territory for the family. John’s father Michael once operated a supermarket in New Farm, making Mamma G’s something of a return to the family’s food-retail roots.

The thing about Mamma G’s isn’t something you’ll find on a shelf or inside the cabinet. It’s in the welcome – the warmth, the generosity and the sense that nobody should leave Mamma G’s hungry.

Mamma G’s is now open, head to The Directory for opening times.