I adore Manly, I often catch myself day dreaming of what it would be like to live there. There's heaps of great restaurants but parking is always a nightmare. Tonight I went with my family to check out Manly Phoenix as a potential Wedding Reception location.
The decor here is modern and comfortable and the view of the water is extremely calming. By about 7:00pm the restaurant which seats about 180 people was packed out. We found it quite amusing that throughout the whole night we were the only 4 Asians at the restaurant, aside from the people that actually worked there.
Beef eye fillet with a honey and pepper sauce $21.80
The beef eye fillet was clearly the best dish of the night, the beef was tender and the sauce was done well (not overly salty or peppery). The eggplant hot pot was a huge disappointment, this is a dish we order and cook regularly as it goes so well with rice, but on this occasion the sauce was drenched in oil and tasted like tomato sauce without any hint of the usual spice.
Deep fried salt, pepper and chilli calamari and prawn $26.80
Pork ribs in a vinegar sauce $17.80
I would say that overall the food here is pretty good - different but good. The dishes are generally a lot sweeter than usual and you can tell that most of the traditional Asian dishes have been altered a little to suit the western tastes (which in fairness is their customer base).
Tsing Tao beer ($6.50) seemed to be the beverage of choice here, so I hopped on the band wagon. I liked it, it was easy to drink and I would describe it as a light beer with a slightly fruity flavour to it.
Dessert - Chinese 'Garden' brand fortune cookies. Here they do not serve the complimentary fruit or Chinese dessert common at most restaurants. The bill came to a total of $115.15 there was an extra $10% surcharge because it was a Sunday.
As for this place being a possible reception venue? I'll post details up on my wedding blog so I don't clog this blog with too much wedding talk.
Manly PhoenixShops 22-23 Manly Wharf
East Esplanade
Manly NSW 2095
T: (02) 9977 2988
3 comments:
hi Emily!! haha, it sounds like you've been enjoying your holidays! all the yummy food posts must make you hungry when you look at them.. i know i do!
so what do you think you'd give pheonix manly out of 10?? 8?? 7?? 9??
oh btw, i've nominated your blog for a few sections in the The Bloggie Awards for 2007. hope you win! =]
wedding blog? hehe! jc and i contemplated that :P! email me the link if you don't mind :)
(and yeh...i didn't like manly phoenix)
Bonnie: Well at least being back to work means I can stop eating at crazy hours (rather unhealthy). Manyly Phoenix was ok but it wouldn't score very high with me as i forgot to mention that the servings were tiny for what you paid for them.
Thanks for the nomination though i really don't think that I am deserving of any award!
Trish: sent to your email, we created it as a space to dump all the ideas that we have (it's so easy to lose track and the net is such a good resource). We've also allowed multiple contributors so that the bridesmaids and friends can feel part of the process as well.
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