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Manze

Nobody puts “neighbourhood wine bar” in a corner.

Negroni, Corner inlet salmon and bouillon poisson.
1 / 9Negroni, Corner inlet salmon and bouillon poisson.Jason South
Inside Manze in North Melbourne.
2 / 9Inside Manze in North Melbourne.Bonnie Savage
Melon with chilli vinegar.
3 / 9Melon with chilli vinegar.Bonnie Savage
Sseafood platter at Manze.
4 / 9Sseafood platter at Manze.Bonnie Savage
Octopus and green tomato salad.
5 / 9Octopus and green tomato salad.Bonnie Savage
“Unmissable” taro fritters with hot sauce.
6 / 9“Unmissable” taro fritters with hot sauce.Bonnie Savage
Rasmalais with strawberries.
7 / 9Rasmalais with strawberries.Bonnie Savage
Eggplant and ginger fritter.
8 / 9Eggplant and ginger fritter.Eddie Jim
Oysters and squid vindaye.
9 / 9Oysters and squid vindaye.Supplied

Good Food hat15.5/20

Mauritian$$

Before Manze opened in 2021, who’d have envisioned drinking low-intervention wine with gato pomme de terre, the besan-battered potato cake served here with plantain hot sauce? Now, it’s hard to imagine not doing so – and hard not to order another round.

Dining at this joyful 24-seater means boarding the set menu train, but hold off on optional extras until your final destination. A culinary cavalcade is heading your way. It’s built around sustainable seafood, produce from small farms, Indo-Mauritian spices and the smoke and char of the galley kitchen’s wood fire.

Standouts on the keenly priced menu include merveille, the cracker-like wafer, ferrying Port Lincoln sardine amped with curry leaf chutney. And fanned slices of gently spiced and smoked lamb with mint yoghurt sauce. Let’s hear it for Melbourne dining’s new wave.

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Melbourne’s Northern Suburbs
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Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/goodfood/vic-good-food-guide/manze-20240411-p5fj21.html