When offered lunch out by my son for my birthday, I accepted! Though it took me a month to organize a time that suited us both, finally I was happily seated at North Melbourne"s Mauritian inspired wine bar style restaurant, Manze.
A quick look at online reviews gave me an idea of what to expect - street food-inspired snacks like potato cakes with chilli-and-plantain sauce, and signature dishes like kingfish head with fermented green-chilli paste. Jarrah had already eaten there as the restaurants owner lived in his apartment block. He loved it, as Jarrah's a bit of a foodie and loves to learn about different spices. Chef Nagesh Seethiah has an island heritage and draws inspiration from the diverse cultural backgrounds in Mauritius - Creole, French, Indian, and African influences - and so as Jarrah said, it was hard to pin down what to expect.
That was one of the first things I noticed - on the shelves of the restaurant were jars and jars of pickles, vinegars and ferments, from spicy jalapeno and habanero to watermelon rind and mangoes. This was my kinda place! The attention to pickles and preserves and a bookshelf of quality cookbooks added a home-style authenticity, and a relaxed and welcoming vibe. The place was small - you kknda need to book - but definitely Melbourne vibes with a tattoed waitress with a cool haircut and piercings. We talked for a bit about her Keith Herring tattoo, which she got because of it's links to NYC hip hop and Run DMC.
Anyway, back to the mad pickles and vinegars. If anything made me inspired to go home and pickle, it was these jars. I love a restaurant that creates their own chutneys, sauces and condiments like this! Very cool, and very little waste as well.
The pickles and preserves obviously contributed to the layering of flavors in what we ate, emphasizing the interplay between fresh and fermented ingredients you'd expect in South Indian cuisine. For example, the taro fritters with a rhubarb and habanero hot sauce were next level! Honestly I could have eaten a dozen of them.
Jarrah ordered an orange wine - wine made with the skin-contact method, where grape skins are left to ferment with the juice, giving the wine its amber colour. It tasted quite kombucha like almost and had a rustic feel, but it's bold flavour suited the food we were enjoying, like this melon soaked in pear vinegar with chilli. Wow!
We were given a couple of on the house snacks such as this samosa with coriander chutney. It definitely inspired me to make something similar especially with all the coriander I have in the garden currently!
And these gorgeous pardon peppers with almond butter deep fried were next level. I mean, fried food is definitely Indian's speciality, but these had a freshness to them that far surpassed anything I'd had before and almond butter instead of cheese was really unexpected and delicious.
At Manze the food menu changes all the time and you don't get a lot of choice - the place has a pop up feel to it. So the mains were a choice between pork with a wild olive chutney and an octopus. I don't eat octopus as they are far too smart, and as the pork was from a free range, ethical farm near me where I knew the owner, we both decided that was a more comfortable choice. It was really nice but I'm not sure I'd have it again and would maybe just get more sides or ring ahead for a vegetarian option. It was served with basmati rice and a yummy green salad.
It's $49 a head for two courses and I think $60 for three which might seem expensive but for such great flavors that are hard to replicate at home it's worth it to treat yourself. We both agreed that if you're going to eat out, you want it to be inspiring. Between that, the rune and a tip, it came to $130. Not something we'd do every day but I firmly told Jarrah he must take me next year on my birthday!
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With Love,
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That's an excellent birthday meal, but I don't see any crocodile on the menu! 😄
Hahah was thinking of you since it's about .... Um... Food.
Fun fact... Australians hardly even eat kangaroo!
Who said anything about kangaroos? But since you brought it up...
Kangaroo meat is actually really healthy and quite good! And there are tons of them.
That's interesting. I imagine it's like one of those things that most people have on rare occasions, like bear or deer meat here. The most exotic I've had is armadillo. Stinky gamey nasty meat, but it was probably the way it was prepared :)
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