A friend of mine recently mentioned they went to Madre Mia, a 10-month-old smoothie and juice bar in Paddington...and loved it. Well, as a fan of all things Mexican and speaking the language, I loved the name. But I wasn't interested in their juices; it was pictures of their smoothie bowls that whet my appetite. We ordered two Chocolate Butter Fudge Smoothie Bowls and chose the large ($18) over the smaller one ($16). And that was a big mistake, literally, because it was h.u.g.e! It was overflowing with so many ingredients (see the menu picture for all of them) we tried in vain to push them back into the cup with many, mostly seeds, sacrificing themselves to the sidewalk below us. However, the flavours were a pleasure on the palette and so densely packed into the container that we only made it halfway through before we popped a lid on them and headed quickly home to refrigerate the leftovers for later. Madre Mia is run by an expatriate Southern Californian named George who's Hispanic (hence the name), super friendly and energetic and turning out some very tasty and sensational smoothie bowls. Next time, knowing what we do now, we'll downsize to the smaller version. Or fast for 48 hours beforehand because that extra $2 for more is a temptation that's hard to ignore. read more