The Team Behind Mammoth and Barry Open New Northcote Eatery, Primo

If you've ever eaten a lobster doughnut burger from Mammoth or brunched on hotcakes at Barry, you'll be very happy with the news that the crews behind these two cult Melbourne cafes are opening a newbie. Husband and wife team Jamie and Loren McBride, who are involved with Northcote's Barry, Malvern's Mammoth and Touchwood in Richmond, have paired up with Jemma Richards and Iza Dawkins of Shawcross Pizza to bring a touch of New York to Northcote. This collaboration has culminated in the opening of a brand new Westgarth Village eatery, Primo, which opened last week.

"Westgarth Village is such a great neighbourhood," says Loren. "We are in our mid-early thirties with young kids. we wanted to make a place us and our friends would love to go to. Primo is the sort of place you can take the family, meet friends on Friday night for pizzas and drinks, catch up for a casual lunch on weekends."

The  menu will feature New York-inspired pizzas and soft serve, which is a pretty tight business plan, if you ask us. "Soft serve has so many fun elements to it — the option to be creative with flavours is endless," says Loren. Of course, they won't be the only players in the soft serve game. Sydney's Aqua S has just opened up shop in Melbourne's CBD with their famous sea salt soft serve, and Tuck Shop Take Away has being doing flavours like Redskin and Milo for a few years now. Primo will take the soft serve idea all the way though. "We are going to have soft serve floats on the menu, sundaes, affogatos — it's a classic combo. We will play with classic Italian ingredients and flavours; think zabaglione, olive oil, panettone, tiramisu."

So it's kind of like Pizza Hut — but with soft serve and way classier — and all of the ingredients will be locally sourced in an effort to keep Primo's environmental footprint as low as possible. "We want to keep the produce seasonal. A lot of pizza joints promote imported product, which is great and often desirable, but we have brilliant local producers doing great things." says Loren. "Our menu will speak to what is good now and celebrate the type food we love eating."

And good news for Northcote locals who like to eat pizza in their pyjamas: their nosh is available to order through Menulog. Primo sounds as though it will be a welcome addition for those wanting to eat casually (and well) without straying from High Street — or home.

Primo will is now open from midday seven days a week at 104 High Street, Northcote. For more information, check their Instagram. 

Updated: September 12, 2016.