Australia / Melbourne / Victoria

Manzé – Wonderful food and wine

Manzé – Introduction

Manzé is a particular favourite of ours. Set in a shopping strip in North Melbourne, there is nothing pretentious about this restaurant – however it has a very loyal following due to the food, the service and the beautiful wines that are all part of the experience here.

The flavours here are are based on those of the island of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean which are the homeland flavours of the owner and head chef Nagesh Seethiah. Nagesh goes to a lot of trouble to source organic vegetables and fresh fish for the dishes he and his team craft each day.

We have had many meals here over the past two years but here we will describe the most recent meal which we still remember vividly.

At the present time diners can choose either a short menu or a long menu – we decided to chose the long menu so that we could enjoy a series of small snack dishes and then move on to a larger dish to share along with some vegetable side dishes.

So, here we go!

First we should say that the wine list is very good with many natural wines available and someties some of the wines we import from France. On this occasion we decided to order a wine that we have enjoyed a number of times in the Jura, namely the Didier Grappe Traminer – a white wine of considerable finesse.

Now to the food.

Cucumber and lemon pickle. The cucumber was very fresh and crunchy and the lemon pickle gave it a lift which was very clean and vibrant. Lemon really is a great way to add excitement to any dish!

Portarlington mussel with pickled pineapple and chilli. This was a tiny taste but one full of vibrancy. The work they do here with fermentation (in this case the pineapple) really makes the food sing! The mussels were wrapped in fresh sorrel leaves.

West Bank Farm mushroom fritter with Manzé hot sauce. Perfect crunch in the batter (not an easy task) which coated the mushrooms and then a lovely sauce underneath.

Taro fritter also with Manzé hot sauce (but made differently) with the taro being nicely cooked to break apart the calcium oxalate. Once again the fritter was enhanced via the flavour of the accompanying sauce.

Dog Creek Growers peppers with cashew chutney saw beautiful peppers cooked perfectly, sitting on a lovely chutney made from fresh cashews. We are very keen on the organic vegetables being grown by Dog Creek Growers they are packed with clean flavours.

Market fish wing with sauce de jour was a stunning dish with the fish being cooked perfectly (still with lots of fresh flavours in the flesh) then lifted by the herbs and sauce accompanying.

Goolwa pippies, mango and salted fish was a beautiful dish with the seafood benefitting from the accompanying mango and the salted fish sauce.

Corner Island snapper with okra & tomato fricassée. The snapper was cooked perfectly and enhanced by the flavours of the okra and tomato that accompanied the dish.

Dog Creek Grower’s salad was an accompaniment to the snapper and was full of flavour due to the organic handling of the vegetables.

Poudine mais – the Manzé sweetcorn pudding, peach and coconut, which not only tasted amazing but also looked good on the plate. It was a very fitting end to an exceptionally tasty meal.

Additional information

Name: Manzé

Street: Shop 2/1-5 Errol St

Suburb: North Melbourne, 3051

Telephone: 0401 749 051

Opening hours: Lunch Thursday – Saturday, Dinner Tuesday – Saturday

As we said earlier in this story, we have returned to Manzé on many occasions over the past two years and the food has always been exceptional – this meal was no exception.

For those who love natural wines, have a chat with the waiting staff and they will be able to find a wine to enjoy with the bold flavours of the food.

You can read more about Manzé on their Web site here.

We have included Manzé in our story about places to eat in Melbourne here.

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