Earl’s Mount Hawthorn review: April Ooi visits viral sandwich shop for pork belly hoagie, roast lamb flatbread

Mt Hawthorn didn’t know it needed a sandwich shop until Earl’s arrived — and now it can’t live without it. This is no suburban cafe with tired toasties and served-to-death avo toast. Every dish is unique and thought out, combining impeccable taste, produce and cooking skills to keep customers wondering what they’ll put out next. The fit-out is handsome, with clean wood finishes and an open space. Some tables are a little small for all the drool-worthy things you’d want to try on the menu, but when we visited the customers moved in and out rather quickly, so we were able to shuffle onto a bigger table eventually. The pork belly hoagie ($24) is the showstopper. It comes with thick, juicy slabs of pork belly; the crackling was crunchy and the fatty bits melted in our mouths with ease. The riot of texture and flavour, from the sweet apple relish to the light crusty bread, was immaculate. And then there was the roast lamb flatbread ($24), with chunks of tender lamb, garlic yoghurt and hot chips buried between a huge pillowy flatbread. Every bite swung between punches of chilli, cool minty-garlic yoghurt and smoky lamb. It’s a fancier take on a kebab and we loved it. From the sweets cabinet we got a slice of cheesecake ($12) and a chocolate cookie ($7.50). While the cheesecake was a little pricey I couldn’t help but nab it, as I’m a sucker for a Basque cheesecake. This one was unique in that it had a coconutty biscuit base. It almost tasted like an Anzac biscuit and worked unsurprisingly well with the cream cheese. The cookie was huge, almost the size of the plate it was served on. It’s a crunchier style of cookie with chocolate weaved into every bite and finished with chunky sea salt. The mixture of salty and sweet is my favourite. As for drinks, Earl’s has an excellent long mac ($5). It was very precise — no burnt beans or over-aerated milk, just a nice rich shot balanced by silky milk. My sister’s almond chai ($5.70) came a little on the hotter side, but calmed down quickly to a nice, spiced brew. In a suburb stuffed with neat brunch places, Earl’s is a much-needed shake-up. For a place buzzing with hype, service was quick, coffee was faultless, and sandwiches are enough reason alone to visit. Earl’s 376A Oxford Street, Mt Hawthorn OPEN Tuesday-Saturday 6.30am-2pm; Sunday 8am-2pm CONTACT https://earls-mounthawthorn.square.site/ BOOKINGS No THE VERDICT Go once and you’ll be ruined for sandwiches anywhere else. 18.5/20