Man on Marrickville is a new bar on Marrickville Road with live music on Wednesdays to Sundays, a menu of tasty food and an unpretentious and welcoming vibe.
It was Queen Viv (who lives right near Marrickville) that suggested that we go to Man on Marrickville for dinner one night. She had driven past it and seen it lit up from the street. It's called Man on Marrickville as Man stands for Matt and Nick the two owners and it is located on Marrickville Road. Matt works front of house and Nick works in the kitchen. Matt was a submarine diesel mechanic and this is his first foray into hospitality. Nick was responsible for outfitting the former Thai and Chinese restaurant. The upstairs bar area is lit in warm tones and downstairs there are banquettes and movie memorabilia right near where the band plays.
The menu has a slightly retro feel and a welcoming vibe. It's really like the inner west vibe before hipsters got involved. There are dishes like crumbed king prawns and surf and turf pasta and Shirley Temples. Prices are excellent and pours are generous - our mocktails are a mere $8 each. Queen Viv is having a moment with the staff as she appreciates a piece of jewellery he is wearing. A love fest ensues and Queen Viv is immeasurably pleased with her choice of venue.
I like my Sleeping Spindle with apple juice, syrup, ginger ale and mint although next time I'd ask for no sugar added as it's very sweet. Mr NQN has a Harlot in Training with raspberry, cranberry, grenadine, lemon and lemonade while Queen Viv and Miss America enjoy very generous pours of the prosecco.
The food starts arriving quickly as we are dining relatively early and it's a quiet public holiday evening. While the tempura zucchini isn't what we expect (it's very lightly crumbed and fried rather than battered) it is a delicious snack to get us started.
Matt had warned us that the Greek salad was enormous and indeed it is. It could conceivably feed 4 and even with the rest of our meal we can't finish it. It's a very good version with tomato, cucumber, iceberg lettuce, olives, feta , pickled chillies and green capsicum. It just need a bit of extra salt but we all enjoy the freshness of this salad.
The sliders come three to a serve and with either chicken or lamb. Queen Viv and Miss America are big fans of lamb so we always tend to order lamb. The lamb souvlaki pieces are wonderfully tender and served on small, fluffy pita rounds with tomato, red onion and tzatziki with hot chips on the side.
I usually like my pizzas Napoletana style with very thin, wet bases and an obscenely puffy edges. These are more crispy based with crispy edges. We ordered two, the first is the Italian with Italian pork sausage, olives, mushrooms and marinated capsicum.
Out of the two I gravitated more towards the Mexican because I love hot salami and the heat from the jalapenos. It also has red peppers, onion, olives and jalapeno.
This is a blast from the past. The man pasta is a classic dish with garlicky prawns in a creamy sauce with parmesan on the side. It comes with either penne or spaghetti and we opt for spaghetti. It's creamy, delicious and nostaglic.
There is dessert but it is bought in so we decide not to have it. Then a sudden Southerly blast of wind and rain blows in and scuppers any plans to go for a walk to get bubble tea or gelato. We hustle to our cars and drive home in the rain.
So tell me Dear Reader, what do you like in a local restaurant? How often are you pleasantly surprised about the price at a restaurant?
This meal was independently paid for.
Man On Marrickville
185 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville NSW 2204
Wednesday 5–10 pm
Thursday to Saturday 5 pm–12 am
Sunday 2–10 pm
Closed Monday and Tuesday
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