Restaurant Manger, Paris – does it live up to the hype?
This restaurant is now closed.
When an establishment gets anointed as ‘the hottest new restaurant in Paris’ by Conde Nast’s Traveler, what self-respecting foodie wouldn’t try to get a table? Greedy Girl and gluttonous husband were rewarded for their habit of dining ‘early’ by achieving a booking at Manger, an 11th arrondissement bistro and the toast of that respected magazine.
Early is a relative concept, especially in Europe. Having arrived in Paris that morning, it was a wonderful way of trying to stay awake and ‘get on local time’. We trundled down Rue Keller, arriving at a very untraditional-looking shopfront (for a Parisian restaurant) promptly at 7.30pm – and were the first customers for the evening. Shown to a lovely banquette seat under a large skylight, next to the open kitchen, initial impressions were very satisfying. Being summer (of sorts) in Paris, the sun sets late and the natural light shining on a predominantly black and white setting (with a few splashes of yellow) provides a very pleasant environment.
This is dining with a side of social justice. Manger, which opened around two months ago according to our friendly Maitre D, has a mission of giving opportunity to the city’s underprivileged in terms of training them in hospitality – not unlike British chef Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen concept.
Under the guidance of executive chef William Pradeleix, Manger serves up multicultural fare, anchored by a range of French classics. The menu includes dumplings, gazpacho, pizza and tataki as well as steak au poivre (more on that later) and luscious, traditional desserts. There’s also a special chef’s tasting menu where some of the city’s rockstar chefs offer a recipe to be executed by the Manger team. On this visit, there were offerings from Pierre Gagnaire, Yannick Alleno and Michel Trama, with the dessert selection orchestrated by Christophe Michalak, the patisserie guru at the Plaza-Athenee hotel. Greedy Girl and gluttonous husband couldn’t see their way clear of a tasting menu so went for the a la carte. Fuelled by a glass of the house champagne and a draught beer, we chose starters, mains and contemplated sharing a dessert.
First up was a tataki of tuna, a special this particular evening. Tataki is a Japanese style of preparing fish or meat that has been very quickly seared in a hot pan, usually after being marinated. This was served with a great many thin slices of cucumber, topped by a pickled relish and a few fronds of sprouts. The tuna was coated in white sesame seeds and there was a very light soy to moisten the plate. It was light and refreshing but didn’t need quite as much cucumber.
Tuna tataki
Both our mains were specials of the day. Greedy Girl chose a fillet steak, while gluttonous husband had roast pork. Both were served with an intoxicating black pepper sauce.
Steak with black pepper sauce
Roast pork with black pepper sauce
Greedy Girl has been to France often enough to know how to order her steak. While most chefs seem to find it difficult to do anything more than show the meat to the pan, ordering a steak medium (a point) will get you something that most non-French people would recognise as rare (saignant). The exterior was beautifully charred and Greedy Girl was very happy to eat around the edges and leave the still-mooing centre to gluttonous husband.
His pork was incredibly soft and tender but some of the fat proved to be more than a mouthful – almost gristly – and this was left on the side of the plate. Both dishes came with a most untraditional pepper sauce – it was tangy, spicy and sticky. It tested positive to garlic, to booze and to heat. It worked brilliantly with the beef but was probably a tad too dominant for the pork. Nonetheless, both plates were gobbled down, augmented by side dishes of perfect roasted new potatoes (with skins on) and ratatouille.
It was time for dessert. We chose the profiteroles maison which were essentially three pieces of choux pastry sliced and filled with ice cream and cream and topped with a decadent mixture of chocolate, nutella and chopped nuts. It was totally yummy and outrageously rich. Greedy Girl, not a fan of either cream or ice cream, delicately ate her way around those items and concentrated on pastry and chocolate. Gluttonous husband mopped up the rest.
Chocolate and nutella. Oh boy.
We were stuffed – literally. Downing the last of our little carafes of Bordeaux red, we prepared to ask for the bill. Our friendly wait staff would have none of that, bringing us a complimentary special dessert – a Paris Brest. This was another choux pastry delight, filled with praline cream, dusted with icing sugar and a few crushed hazelnuts. So sweet, so delicious. Down it went with a minimum of fuss.
Paris Brest
The Maitre D asked us how we’d found out about the restaurant – he seemed incredulous that two dedicated Australian travellers had beat a path to his door. We were very mutually impressed.
The service was very good, the food very accomplished. Pradeleix, a young gun of French cuisine, has worked with some of France’s greatest chefs, including Helene Darroze and Jean-Georges Vongerichten and it shows. Manger is part of the gentrification of the neighbourhood and, by all indications, will be leading the charge for some time to come.
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