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Dining at Manresa is certainly an experience and one that
Dining at Manresa is certainly an experience and one that highlights the seasonality of ingredients. My family and I had the opportunity to enjoy the Early Spring Garden menu. Given that Manresa has a set menu, I was not terribly confident that they would be able to accommodate the LONG list of allergies and preferences amongst various members of my party. Luckily, they were able to accommodate the dietary needs of our dining part. However, given the prestige of the restaurant, I was surprised by some of the accommodations... or omissions, rather. For example, one member of our party is gluten free, and there was no bread option for her. There are plenty of gluten free individuals out there, so the lacking options in this area were unexpected. The service was pleasant: attentive but not too aggressive. The management was careful to check about allergies, as well, which I appreciated. The food was all enjoyable, but the portions were incredibly small. I left the table feeling quite hungry still. I would have opted to fill up on bread; however, the bread was one of the more disappointing parts of the meal. Perhaps Tartine sourdough has spoiled me, but the Manresa bread had a store bought quality. A buttery roll would have been more welcome than the dry, flavor-lacking whole wheat and sourdough slices they offered. The quality was undoubtedly very high, and I could only imagine the amount of effort and technique that went into each element of every dish--from the way the vegetables were cut in the vegetable garden salad to the way the delicate slices of horse mackerel were laid atop a bed of spinach. One of my favorite items/courses was the granola crisp with goat cheese. The textures and flavors danced across my palette, making me eager for the rest of the meal. The petit fours--both savory, to start, and sweet, to end--were delicious bites as well. I also greatly enjoyed the preparation of the beets with the Kinki fish; I didn't know beets could have that texture! It is always exciting to have familiar ingredients prepared in unexpected ways. On many occasions, we commented about how we usually don't like an ingredient but enjoyed the way it was prepared by the chefs at Manresa. My favorite "main" course was the Amadai with asparagus, onion, and shiso. The flavors were harmonious and left me wanting a larger portion! I didn't care for the pink lemon panna cotta; however, the chocolate, malt, and coffee dessert made up for it. The flavors were rather complex for a dessert, and the variety of textures made it fun to eat. They were also kind enough to add in an olive oil cake with gold leaf since it was a birthday celebration. While Manresa is certainly a pleasurable and interesting dining experience that I would recommend to any gourmand, I do think that my experience fell just short of the expectations I had.
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Dining at Manresa was an absolutely incredible experience
Dining at Manresa was an absolutely incredible experience that left me with delightful memories and brought up pleasant nostalgia. I enjoyed the Spring Tasting Menu as my first return in 10 years, for it had been far too long. I grew up in the Santa Cruz mountains, and Chef Kinch's Art reminds me of the flavors I experienced as I explored the forests and backyard gardens of my youth. The Sorrel cocktail basically made me weep with joy, and I swear I could taste the freshwater in the Duck, an aroma and flavor I haven't experienced in almost 20 years. The staff is also on the very highest pinnacle of excellence and no review would be just without mention of their performance. I remember the perfectly choreographed dance of their service from my first visit as well as the food, and it has remained at that same tier since. A special Thank You to their Sommelier for almost stealing the show last night with his impeccable recommendations for our group. A visit to Manresa is simply mandatory for any Bay Area native, and any serious gourmand.
The wine "pairing" was good wine but it never paired great with the dish. The presentation was the best part the experience, the plating paired better with the food than the wine. The experience was good, not great, there was an immediate upsell attempt when we first sat down which took away.
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We were excited that we managed to snag a cancellation
We were excited that we managed to snag a cancellation during a last minute trip to the area. So, here's the thing, if I'm at a Michelin 3* I'm looking for next level, something outstandingly memorable. The first couple of times we visited Manresa there was "the egg", later I discovered it to be an Arpege egg and I had the recipe in my own collection. It was amazing, it's a tricky sucker to make but well worth the effort. Then there was the green tea (? I think it was green tea) panna cotta with abalone which was divine. This time the food was absolutely delicious and worth every penny but there was nothing particularly creative or "different". Overall the flavour profile was bitter.The cocktails were delicious, my husband had The Garden, which was a thing of beauty, I had the Black Sesame which was interesting. My husband did the wine pairing. The sommeliers were very friendly, attentive, and obviously knowledgable, they were happy to answer questions. *Petit fours were good, particularly the granola crisp with goat cheese. *A single, delicious Shigoku oyster with radish, leek, and marigold, a nice earthy combination that I will add to our repertoire. *Bonito and spinach in veal consommé, interesting and delicious.*The "garden" was seasonal veggies with aioli, (think tossed salad with thousand island) it looked pretty and was tasty enough but it was probably my least favourite course. *Spot prawn, cuttlefish & clam in broth. Okay, I can do that. *Duck, so perfectly cooked you could have cut it with a spoon, served with a dehydrated beet. This seems to be the "new thing", we had dehydrated beets at Muse by Tom Aiken in London back in December (I hate to say it but Tom's were significantly better). *The most delicious item on the whole menu was the A5 wagyu. Undeniably the best piece of steak I have ever tasted. I have been slowly but surely removing red meat from my diet, I'm glad I hadn't cut it completely before I had a chance to taste this particular cut. Disappointingly the accompanying cabbage and black trumpet mushrooms were unpleasantly bitter. *Desserts- 2 different types of ice cream, pomelo sorbet and vanilla, then a chocolate/coffee/malt plate which was pleasant enough. My husband was underwhelmed by dessert.*By this point we were filled to the brim so we took our petit fours with us and enjoyed them on our flight back to the east coast yesterday. We'd probably go back to Manresa if we have the opportunity but it may be time to broaden our horizons and look further afield when we're in the area.
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My wife and I have been here twice.
Both times have been awesome. Definitely 3 stars. Also, easier to get reservations than at the other local 3 star restaurants. We'll be back again.
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Really good and tasty place I surprised the high quality
Really good and tasty place I surprised the high quality of the food. I am not selected 5 stars due to limited elections But not get me wrong, is really good experienceThe cleanses, attention and environment is really good. I solely recommend this place for fans gourmets.
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Update to add photos for my two visits.
Also want to mention that the bread on my first visit was outstanding too. The bread on my second visit was ok but not as outstanding. It is worth mentioning that the bread sold by Manresa Bread is not as good as the one served in the restaurant.
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I really enjoyed my experience at Manresa! The tasting menu
I really enjoyed my experience at Manresa! The tasting menu was interesting and full of different flavors and textures from the very first bite all the way to dessert. Definitely not a boring or safe menu which I appreciated a lot - I think there was only 1 or maybe 2 courses that wasn't exactly my cup of tea. Service was great! Plus, portion sizes are good here. I was super stuffed and had to enlist some help for the last couple of courses ;) Something about this place made it feel more casual despite the fact it's a 3 Michelin star restaurant. Maybe it's the cute mini Vespa that's on display in the dining room (I think our server said it was a gift for the chef after he was a guest chef somewhere). Or maybe it's because I saw a couple of families dining there which was super awesome but surprising. (I wish my parents took me to these types of restaurants when I was younger!) Or maybe it's because one of the stalls in the women's bathrooms was broken when I went and was making the scariest noise haha... whatever the reason, I would be interested in returning to Manresa.
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