Mokum, Dutch Café & Bar, Brunswick

Mokum opened in 2023 as a modern Amsterdam themed cafe which draws on Dutch traditions.  I have had a couple of impressive meals there where the food, the service and the ambience have come together to make it a really enjoyable place to eat.  This is a place that has excellent crispy bittebollen (mushroom croquettes), an innovative approach to tempeh and a traditional apple pie that beckons with its sky high pile of apple slices.

Mokum is a cafe that E was going to regularly enough for them to recognise his face.  I had meant to go for some time when they appeared at the Coburg Night Market last December.  They serve a lot of meat but always have vegan and gluten free options.  In the photo of their market stall above you can see the owner Albert Sissens who the website says "is passionate about bringing the flavours of his childhood in Amsterdam to Brunswick locals and visitors."

We sampled the mushroom Bittebollen (or Dutch croquette balls).  The four fantastic freshly-fried crispy bittebollen for $10 were a nice snack.  Perfect for eating outdoors.  The medley of field and forest mushrooms are cooked in a creamy soy based herby roux.  The filling is dark and tasty with a generous amount of mushrooms and flavour. 

After enjoying the bittebollen, I was even more keen to get to Mokum.  I had lunch with a friend there about a week later.  

Above you can see the large mural at the doorway that is a homage to Dutch artists, with iconic images from Vincent Van Gogh's The Starry Night and Johannes Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring.  Perhaps not one for the purists but it is a bright and cheerful sign of a little piece of Amsterdam in Brunswick.

Mokum ticks all my loves of cafe decor: books, plants, green walls and humor!  It is welcoming and arty inside with cookbooks, vines, old bottles with gorgeous vintage labels, cogs and even a small wooden windmill.  A wooden chalkboard has a cheeky illustrated Dutch proverb: "it's like an angel pissing on your tongue".  It means that something tastes great.  

To drink I had a ruby peach and camomile iced tea ($7) which was pleasing and unusual.  The camomile flowers on top were pretty and reminded me of the loose leaf camomile tea I used to drink.  Infused in the juice, the camomile had a floral tone that was picked up on the sweetness of the peach and made the drink both refreshing and relaxing.  Note that in the background is the red, black and white flag of Amsterdam.

For my lunch at I ordered the "Weed Prtezel" ($19) from the Broodjes | In-Bread section of the menu.  The waitress had to check if there was a pretzel roll left.  I was very glad that it had. While I loved the wakame and hemp crusted tempeh with the satesaus, vegan mayo, crunchy slaw and roquette, the hero of the meal as the pretzel.  It was wonderfully soft and chewy at the same time as great pretzels are.  Kudos also to the satesaus (sate sauce) that give richness and flavour to the sandwich.  I also paid $7 for a side salad which was the perfect accompaniment with lovely chopped vegies on lettuce leaves.  On my recent visit, I was told that they are not able to buy pretzels for a few months but I hope they will be back.

 

Kerin had a charcuterie board, which I think is called a borrelplank in Dutch.  I did not take notes but I took a photo because, despite all the meat, it was nicely presented.  Can't you see it in an old Dutch Masters still life painting!  From the current menu it looks like it is rolmops (pickled herring), smoke eel and pork and chicken sausage, with gherkins, cheese and bread and a condiment of some sort.  It does not seem to be on the menu now but Kerin really enjoyed it.  I tasted a bit of cheese which was lovely.  I was impressed when she asked if it could be gluten free.  They kindly let her know that they could substitute gluten free toast but it would not be as crisp as the beschuit (crispbread) on the menu.

As it was December, there were lots of seasonal bakes on display such a gingerbread people, kerst stol (stollen) and mince pies.  The standard bakes were also on sale: iced cinnamon buns, oranjebitter friands (orange friands) and huge slices of appeltaart à la winkel (Dutch apple pie).

We were ready to leave but decided to take a slice of the berry basque cheesecake with us to share at my place with a cuppa.  It was lovely and, of course, gluten free.

We returned to Mokum lat month.  Sylvia was delighted with her Nasi goreng.  This was an Indonesian fried rice with cabbage, carrot, peas, sambal, spring onion and fried shallots .  She did not have the fried egg but had fried tempeh as an extra.  It says how good it was that thought she had been tempeh-curious before the visit, ever since she has been quite keen to eat more tempeh.

She queried this dish being Dutch which led to a conversation about the Dutch East Indies being the colonial name for Indonesia.  I don't know a lot about the occupation by the Dutch, but I learnt a little about Indonesian independence when visiting Yogyokarta a few years back.  It was interesting how talking about food can help us learn about history.

I was fascinated by my Pan Bati (vg/gf) 22.  It was an Aruban cornbread topped with smashed avocado, vegan feta, radish and served on a bed of pumpkin puree.  I also ordered a medley of Dutch cheese on the side.  I had expected it to be in slices of different cheeses but it was a small bowl of mixed grated cheeses.  The cornbread was quite soft and unlike the American style ones I have had before.  

Later I read (in Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary) about how Aruban cornbrad is like a thick pancake made in the Caribbean island of Aruba, which is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.  Yet again food gives an insight into history of The Netherlands.

E had a fried egg in a brekky bun with a potato rosti.  We all shared a starter plate of three bittebollen, which were as excellent as the ones at the market.  I would like a little more of the accompanying aioli but that is a minor quibble when it tastes so good.

 

As you can see in the above 2025 menu and the photos, the Dutch culture is evident throughout this cafe.  In the above photo of the menu, you can see the names of dishes are usually in Dutch with a pronunciation aid as well as the explanation of what it is.  I also saw that a while back they were making their own stroopwafels, which sounds amazing.  

This photo is a reminder that it is a bar as well as cafe.  While I was not there for beer, I enjoyed viewing the labels of beer bottles on display.  But I was more interested in looking at the wonderful cakes.

The word "Mokum" means home or safe haven and is derived from the Yiddish word for place.  It was originally applied to Dutch and surrounding cities around the 17th Century when European Jews sought safe haven.  Today it is used as a sentimental nickname for Amsterdam.  Indeed this cafe called Mokum embodies the welcoming nature of Amsterdam and is well worth a visit for a taste of the city's food in a delightful space.

Mokum Dutch Cafe and Bar
359 Sydney Road, Brunswick
Open Thurs, Fri, Sat 9am-9pm, Wed and Sun 9am-4pm
https://mokum.au/