Think of Manteca as the love child of St John and Bocca di Lupo. Take Fergus Henderson’s nose-to-tail approach, apply it to Italian cuisine and you have Manteca. After the success of its pop-up ventures, Manteca has moved on to bigger and better, opening a permanent venue in Shoreditch earlier this year. Such has been its success that diners are packed in almost cheek by jowl, but they come for a clear reason: the whole experience is very good.
Few places manage to execute the panache and verve of bold cooking with a venue that speaks cool. Begin with the latter and Manteca would not feel out of place in New York. There’s something edgy yet energetic about how the restaurant does things, a constant hustle and bustle of movement. After the somewhat inexplicable failure of the server to find our reservation, we were given seats at the counter as opposed to a table. This turned out not to be a bad outcome at all, since from our perch we could observe both the chefs in action as well as the broader vibe of the restaurant. Everyone on the kitchen side of the counter seemed to know exactly what they were doing – and having fun at the same time.
Of course, why would you not have fun when there are diners coming to lap up what you do? Every space in Manteca was occupied on the recent weeknight when my dining comrade and I visited. In addition to the main space, there is also a large basement, which although lacking the buzz of upstairs, does provide the opportunity for guests to marvel at Manteca’s on-site smoking room. This treatment of meat is just one part of the action at the restaurant. Beyond the principle of making use of every part of the animal possible, the kitchen serves up a range of homemade pasta options.
Everything is intended for sharing with the menu spread across around ten starters followed by half-a-dozen of both pasta and main options, all priced generally reasonably (at least by 2022 London inflation standards). Our mostly indifferent server – and this was the one let down of the evening – suggested we opt for three smaller dishes followed by one each of a pasta and main option. For two, this was comfortably sufficient. We veered strongly towards the carnivorous options on show (although five of the starters were vegetarian as well as one of the pasta dishes). A pig’s head croquette with chilli jam was the first of our dishes to arrive. It was a punchy offering and highly satisfying, even if the spice hit lingered so much so that our second starter (a pollock crudo) was rendered almost irrelevant from a taste perspective. With a venue so busy, it’s understandable that dishes arrive when they’re ready, but a bit of pre-planning on the part of Manteca might have been preferable here. After pollock came duck paté and then a pork ragu pasta dish before the piece-de-resistance duck (again) main. As pictured, it was a joyous combination of grilled breast, sausage and cherries. Few venues do duck well, but Manteca definitely ticked all the boxes here (La Petite Maison is another). There was no room for dessert, but we finished with a pleasing glass of red and a cheeky square of pork fat fudge. Yes, you did read that correctly, It was delicious. You have to taste it to believe it.