Moon Mart is a ray of sunshine. Ear-to-ear smiles and splashes of yellow beckon you into the West Melbourne cafe. And an all-killer, no-filler menu – emulating the best of the convenience stores in both Korea and Japan – keeps beckoning you back.

Almost half the items are sandwiches (or sandwich-adjacent – hello, bulgogi-sausage muffin) warranting this column’s attention. But today, the kimchi jaffle is king.

“It’s been on the menu since we opened, and I don’t think it will ever come off,” says owner Eun Hee An, who made a name for herself at notable, now-closed Sydney Korean restaurants Moon Park and Paper Bird before relocating to Melbourne in 2022.

The filling 411

“Koreans love kimchi and cheese together,” says Korean native Hee An. And Australians love jaffles. “I’d never had [one] until I came to Australia, and I fell in love with them.”

Her version of the crimped-edge toasted sandwich is plain white bread encasing bite-sized chunks of kimchi; slices of smoked mozzarella and maasdam, an Emmenthal-style Dutch cheese; and a smear of Kewpie mayonnaise, “just to help everything get along”, Hee An says.

But this isn’t just any kimchi

Because Hee An isn’t just a cafe owner. In 2020, before opening in West Melbourne, she started making small-batch condiments and products under the Moon Mart label. Many are in jars to buy at the cafe. And many star on the menu, like the kimchi in your jaffle.

“It’s the same wombok cabbage kimchi we sell in the store, only the seasoning is slightly adjusted,” says Hee An. “[There’s] slightly less fish sauce and [it’s] less fermented.”

Still, it takes you to Funkytown. Just as the marriage of molten mozzarella and maasdam threatens to cheese you off, in comes a nugget or two of toothsomely tangy and still audibly crunchy kimchi painstakingly made by Hee An’s own hands.

Honey honey, how you thrill me

Riding shotgun with your jaffle, alongside a handful of potato chips, is a bowl of glossy goodness. “I steam garlic, mix [it] with honey and ferment it for at least a month,” says Hee An. The fermented honey sweetens the deal while imparting a mild garlicky undertone. And it’s not too sticky, so you can take your waiter’s advice and pour it into the jaffle, post-first bite. Or dunk it in as you go.

Basic bread can be a delight

Swanky sourdough need not apply. “The best bread to use is actually sliced white loaf from Bakers Delight,” says Hee An. Once filled, the sanger’s outside gets a generous swipe of butter before hitting the jaffle maker to get all its crunchy corrugations.

How do I get one?

The kimchi jaffle ($14) is available to dine in or take away Thursday to Monday from 8am to 3pm, at Moon Mart, 11-13 Stawell Street, West Melbourne.

This is the latest instalment of Sandwich watch, a column dedicated to the Melbourne sandwiches you need to know about.

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