CAFÉ SCENE
THE HUNGRY FOX CAFÉ
305 Wirraway Road, Essendon Fields, Victoria, 3041 Open Monday to Saturday 7am to 3pm (03) 9027 9201
The Melbourne suburb of Essendon is known for its proud football club, Melbourne’s first international airport, and one of the most talked about supermarkets in town, LaManna.
Just as conversations in Melbourne celebrate coffee, when it comes to groceries, LaManna is top of mind as a “destination” for its quality food, custom cakes, and the “deliberate chaos” it creates on the weekend.
Just a few hundred metres away in Essendon Fields Airport is The Hungry Fox Café, an extension of the LaManna brand but in its own dedicated way. An experience in its own right, since the café opened in 2018 it has become a local favourite for customers to linger over a coffee and chef-prepared dishes without a shopping trolley in sight. Rather, the only connection to the supermarket down the road is the quality produce it supplies for the menu and its traditional family values, meaning everyone is welcome.
“From supermarket to café life, opening The Hungry Fox was a challenge for the LaManna family because it was new territory, but as soon as I started working here I knew it was something special,” says Jason Shiong, Head of Hospitality at LaManna. “To see its progression from where it started to where it is now, and where it’s going, is incredible.”
The café is positioned among the car dealerships of Essendon Fields, the Victorian Police Air Wing, Royal Flying Doctor Service, and regular airport traffic, meaning there’s never a shortage of customers. That includes couples, and mums and bubs that swarm to the playground for an hour of relief.
Just as
