Manly Eat Well, Pittwater Rd, Manly

Manly Eat Well, Pittwater Rd, Manly

Sunday 2 July, 2007

The invitation was too good to refuse - takeaway Chinese from one of Manly's best offerings at a friends place. Earlier in the week I had stumbled across a menu for Manly Eat Well left in a book so had already glanced through the food to give me a taste of what was coming.....and it looked great.

The restaurant blurb states,

Manly Eat-Well is a regular favourite among locals in an area where good restaurants are treasured for their scarcity. As well as the small restaurant, they do a roaring trade in takeaway food, but an effort has been made to make the space look better than the average corner takeaway joint. White linen covers the tables (not a plastic tablecloth in sight), and efficient staff bustle around making sure everyone is happy. A large part of Priscilla and Henry Siu's popularity has to be that they listen to their customers. The dishes are adapted to a Western palate, and options such as the popular lamb pancakes are a succulent alternative to Peking duck. Another crowd-pleasing favourite is the Siu's signature dish of deep fried calamari with spicy salt and chilli. On top of all this, Eat-Well is surprisingly good value, making it well worth a look, if you can wrestle a table from a local, that is.

After deciding how hungry we were we ordered up a feast and it was promised in 15 mins:

- San Chow Boy - came with 5 lettuce cups and a wonderful pork mince mixture

- Chicken & sweet corn soup x 2 plus Chinese short soup x 1 (I learnt something tonight - before serving soup pour boiling water into the bowls to warm them up - it's simple and very effective)

- Grandmothers beancurd (fabulous, mildly spicy with plenty of silken tofu)

- Mongolian lamb (thin slices of lamb coated in sliced onion and very good soy, hoisin and oyster sauce mixture)

- Lemon chicken (this was a highlight - the sauce came in a separate container and the chicken was cut in thick slices - being able to serve your own sauce was sensational as usually the Chinese restaurants over do it)

- Steamed rice

It was ready before we knew it and we served it up in stages. First up San choy bow which is a great dish to get your hands dirty. This was followed by the soup in our heated bowls. Lastly the beancurd, lamb, chicken and rice. We enjoyed every mouthful and I am now a fan of Manly Eat Well.

Manly Eat Well - 153 Pittwater Rd, Manly - (02) 9977 1757