So, apparently, the lobster doughnut is now a thing.

We’ve had the Nutella doughnut and cronut, then the pork-filled meat doughnut, now Mammoth, a fab new cafe in Armadale, wants us to get our heads around the, shall we say, craynut.

Sure it helps with the buzz, but Mammoth really isn’t in need of such gimmicks to get people to join the (constant) queue. The brains behind this – Loren and Jamie McBride – know how to apply the winning cafe formula with care, with Richmond’s Touchwood and Pillar of Salt and Northcote’s Barry some of their prior creations.

So you know the coffee (Five Senses) will be good (it is) and fast (two baristas work the machine with aplomb), the fit-out coolly stylish (white washed walls, blonde wood, deep blues) and the menu a step up from the norm. Here, thanks to chef Emma Jeffrey, that menu is one of the most exciting, interesting and clever of any opening this year and warrants multiple visits.

Such dishes as the North Shore are a deft dance between savoury and sweet – a torched pineapple ring joining a smoky ham hock hash that’s paying posh homage to Spam, a cheesy jalapeno popper adding a hit of heat, two perfectly poached eggs completing a plate as pretty as it is satisfying.

The egg brulee also defty savoury sweet; sugar-torched gooey-yolked egg halves coming with a tumble of excellent pickled zucchini ribbons and artichoke crisps, while a bowl of coconut yoghurt custard is a sculptural triumph of texture, with multiple renditions of strawberry (dehydrated, fresh, jam) and wattleseed granola. Classy, clever and undeniably delicious.

And that doughnut? It’s actually surprisingly good. The subtly sweet meat sits on a lime-zingy green mango and papaya coleslaw between two halves of a yeasty, sugar-salt covered bun smeared with cucumber jam.

It’s strange, sure, but refreshingly so.

Mammoth has made its mark and is one of this year’s very best. Join the queue.

Tel: (03) 9824 5239