Manzé

May 21, 2026

 

   

 

This year we celebrated Michael's birthday early, with dinner at Manzé. This Mauritian restaurant is best known for its seafood, but it's actually got a seasonal vegan set menu ($105 per person) on offer too. (Another bonus - they have a bar called Boire across the street, where we met up first and I had a stunning plum daiquiri.) Contrary to the end-of-evening photo above, Manzé was crowded with furniture, people and music, with most dining couples seated at a central communal table.

   

 

The first wave of our set menu was served across three plates: vegetable fritters were served with hot sauce, cabbage was pickled vindaye-style (a technique usually applied to fish), and pickled fruits were teamed with a blob of salted feijoa chutney - the bright and hot pickley flavours lifted any heaviness from the fried batter.

 

   

 

The second wave was my favourite. It centred around cari gros pois, a rich and savoury butter bean curry encircled with sorrel chutney and topped with fioretto (cauli blossom). There was a gorgeous, soft dal puri (lentil flatbread) to scoop it up, interspersed with side dishes of bredes songes (sour winter greens and ginger) and achard piment (green apple and chilli pickle).

 

   

 

The staff accidentally had us waiting a while for our main, having mistakenly served it to another couple at the table. We weren't fazed, and Michael was comped a lovely dessert wine later by way of apology. We worked through the meaty, well-marinated oyster mushrooms slowly, and I especially enjoyed the accompanying roasted persimmon chutney. Rice and a modest green salad rounded this out to a full meal of its own.

 

   

 

The vegan set menu had us anticipating salted coconut sorbet and plum but, since we self-reported as vegetarians, I think they lined us up with the standard dessert. This was more of a panna cotta - though it's not my favourite kind of dessert this one was special, and beautifully set off with the scaled arrangement of plum slices on top.

 

We were unsure whether a seafood-free meal at Manzé would measure up but it really did! This menu was unlike anything we've been served before, and it's designed to cycle with the seasons, so Manzé will be well worth a revisit.

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Manzé has also received a positive review from Kulture Kween. 

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Manzé
Shop 2/1/5 Errol St, North Melbourne 

0401 749 051 

vegan set menu for Waring/Wombat season  

https://www.manze.com.au/

 

Accessibility: Manzé has a step up on entry. The interior is crowded and loud, mostly densely packed regular height tables and backed chairs, plus one high table with backless stools. We ordered and paid at our table. We didn't visit the toilets.

Sleepys II

May 15, 2026 

 

   

 

After first visiting Sleepys for brunch, we returned for Michael's (unblogged, weeknight, pre-netball) birthday dinner a month later. It took nearly a year for us to return for dinner again, ready to spontaneously treat ourselves on a Friday night. Naturally the menu changed a little in the meantime, though the theme is consistent - contemporary Chinese flavours in a wine bar setting, consistently staffed with the most friendly folk.

 

   

 

We were both in the mood for a cocktail, ordering an old-fashioned and a negroni between us ($22). 

 

   

 

We ordered most of the vegetarian options, with the help of our waiter. The teeny little spring rolls ($8) were piping hot and glistened with house-made sweet chilli sauce. Fried chive dumplings ($14) were hardier, with the chives filling the centre, and their chilli vinegar served more typically on the side.

 

   

 

The liang fen ($14) were very special, translucent handmade mung bean jelly noodles, naturally slippery, lightly dressed in soy, with roasted sesame seeds and Sichuan pepper.

 

   

 

The Hokkien noodles ($22) were less delicate and very satisfying, very salty, singing with soy and ginger and scattered with big chunks of spring onion. 

 

   

 

XO tofu ($30) was teamed with shiitakes on a gorgeous vintage fish plate and piled with sliced youtiao (savoury doughnut), which I loved dredging through the sauce. Some steamed rice ($5) seemed prudent.

 

   

The one dessert on offer was a star anise parfait ($15) served with plums, and it was a singular pleasure.

This was a special meal for no special occasion at all, a perhaps that made us feel all the more grateful for it. 

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 You can read about our first visit to Sleepys here.

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Sleepys 

787 Nicholson St, Carlton North 

food, drinks 

https://www.sleepyscafeandwinebar.com.au/ 

 

Accessibility: Sleepys has a step up on entry and clear pathway through the middle. Inside there are densely arranged regular and high tables with backed chairs; the backless benches outside look a little unstable. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets but it looks like there's a tight turn on the way out. (When this spot previously housed A Fan's Notes, we described the toilet as "a single, unisex toilet cubicle, which is a step up off an uneven path".)

Cherry almond bars

May 9, 2026 

 

   

 

I've broken the habit and pulled out The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits for the second time in a year (after several years of choosing it only in my summer holiday). I don't recall ever eating these cherry almond bars before (dried fruit and nuts were divisive in my family of origin) but glace cherries feel nostalgic for me, nevertheless.

 

This recipe is a mash-up of things I love - cherries, chocolate, almonds, shortbread. I omitted the lemon rind, because I made these rapidly on a whim, but I'd welcome that element too. The biscuits are formed by slicing pieces from a dense, buttery log of dough. I clearly didn't get the dimensions as intended because I made 15 biscuit slices, and the recipe estimated a batch to be 35. Yet my chunky biscuits still overcooked during the recommended baking time! They weren't burnt but they were much more golden, occasionally even brown, compared to a conventional shortbread. Fewer biscuits also meant less chocolate needed, and I've adjusted the quantity down to match my batch.

These biscuits were delicious, but less than the sum of their parts. The toastiness of the biscuits crowded out the almonds, mouthfuls of the chocolate half tasted of little else, and the cherries were rare, separate experiences. Every bite was a pleasure tinged with a search for something else. 

   

 

Cherry almond bars

(slightly adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits, also published online here) 

 

90g butter, at room temperature 

1 teaspoon grated lemon rind 

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 egg yolk

1 cup plain flour

1/3 cup blanched almonds

1/3 cup glace cherries

125g dark chocolate

2 teaspoons vegetable oil 

 

In a bowl, use an electric mixer to beat together the butter, lemon rind, sugar and egg yolk. Sift in the flour, partially mix, add the almonds and cherries, and mix to fully combine.

 

Unroll a large sheet of plastic wrap and transfer the biscuit mixture onto it. Manoeuvre the plastic wrap to compact the mixture into a big log, with a cross-section of about 4 cm x 5 cm. Refrigerate the biscuit log until firm, at least an hour.

 

When the dough is ready, preheat an oven to 180°C and line 1-2 baking trays with paper. Use a sharp knife to slice the log into 5-8 mm thick slices and lay them out on the baking trays. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until just beginning to go golden around the edges.

 

Melt the chocolate using your preferred method and stir in the vegetable oil. Dip half of each biscuit in the chocolate and return them to the trays; refrigerate briefly to set. Store at room temperature.  

Babka III

May 9, 2026 

   

 

Babka is still open on Brunswick St for twenty-years-on coverage, though we've missed the cafe's founder by about 3 years. It seems to have lost most of the Eastern European features it was once known for:  borscht, potato dumplings, and - most devastatingly for me - the blintzes. Instead there's the more predictable Aussie cafe run of chilli scrambled eggs, smashed avo, chicken and avocado toasties, and egg and bacon rolls. (There are no markings for vegans or gluten-free folks, and I wouldn't especially recommend the menu to either.)

   

 

The overflowing sweets cabinet still reigns, and there were plenty of customers queuing for takeaway coffee, bread and baked sweets, rather than the sit-down menu.

 

   

 

Michael ordered the aforementioned chilli scramble ($21.50), a likeable, decently proportioned plate with a choice of bread (sourdough here), fresh herbs, chilli slices, grated cheese and a house-made chilli sauce from yesteryear.

 

   

 

Blintzless, I pivoted to French toast ($21.50). I was perfectly happy with one slice - it was nicely battered without being too eggy. The accompanying 'fresh fruits' were mostly tasteless strawberries, and the scoop of mascarpone was great. I didn't need any of the maple syrup on offer. 

 

   

 

We picked out a lil' something from the dessert case to take home for later. Michael rated his plum frangipane tart ($9) highly. I was even happier with the lemon tart ($9) - while I though the pastry was average, the lemon filling was exceptional, with a gorgeous wafer-thin crust of burnt sugar.

 

   

 

The Babka menu clearly isn't what it once was, but there's still a comfort to the place. The classic cafe fit-out feels just right. We were perched near the coffee machine and noticed the manager cheerfully chatting with everyone, with many clearly being regulars. The customers spanned generations and Brunswick St subcultures. I'm glad Babka has found a form it can sustain. 

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You can read about one, two of our previous visits to Babka. Since then, it's received generally positive reviews on Multicultural Melbourne, Almost Always Ravenous, Spoonful of Sugar, and Vanilla Slice (Snot) Blog.

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Babka

358 Brunswick St, Fitzroy 

9416 0091 

menu: one, two 

instagram page 

 

Accessibility: There is a step up on entry and a crowded interior. Furniture is densely arranged regular height small tables and backed chairs. We ordered and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets. 

Fitz Curry Cafe III

May 8, 2026 

 

   

 

The next stop in our 20 year anniversary tour of the 2006 Cheap Eats guide is the 25-year-old Fitz Curry Cafe. It's well over a decade (perhaps nearing two!) since we last visited, but Fitz Curry was an early front-runner in Michael's search for a favourite Melbourne Indian restaurant. The Cheap Eats review highlighted their organic ingredients; these seem to be less of a selling point in 2026, although the cafe's website mentions organic flour roti.

 

   

 

Eating in at Fitz Curry includes that touch of Indian restaurant hospitality we love: a basket of papadams with a light yoghurt-based mint chutney. Having had one cocktail and little food in the preceding hours, I fell upon these enthusiastically.

 

   

 

We ordered as we did so many years ago: navaratan korma ($8-10 in 2006, $23.99 in 2026), malai kofta ($8-10 in 2007, $24.99 in 2026), garlic naan ($4.99), and steamed basmati rice ($4.99). The curries were quite mild and sweet (we requested medium heat), the kind we've known and enjoyed many times from family Indian restaurants. We're more excited about the likes of Horn Please, Bhang and Masti these days, but Fitz Curry Cafe hit the mark for a nostalgia tour such as this.

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You can read about one, two of our previous Fitz Curry experiences. 

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Fitz Curry Cafe

44 Johnston St, Fitzroy

9495 6119 

banquets, mains page 1, mains page 2, sides & desserts 

https://fitzcurrycafe.com.au/

 

Accessibility: There are two shallow steps up on entry and a clear, flat corridor through the middle of the restaurant. Furniture is densely packed, consisting of regular height tables and backed chairs. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.