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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