Manteiga, Darlinghurst review Portuguese cafe fine dining

Manteiga is a brand new Darlinghurst cafe with a Portuguese flavours and fine dining touches. There are fluffy ricotta pancakes, crispy zucchini fritters and creative signature drinks. And a must order is their signature Manteiga muffin with a fluffy omelette on a house made muffin.

Manteiga is Portuguese for butter and this Portuguese themed cafe takes up the space formerly held by Tomislav restaurant on the corners of Darlinghurst Road and William Street in Darlinghurst. The chef and owner of Manteiga is Justin Martins, formerly of Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Bentley and Kepos Kitchen. His background in fine dining gives the cafe dishes a fine dining spin. Also both of Justin's parents are from Portugal with some family recipes featuring on the menu.

It's an overcast Tuesday lunchtime when Mr NQN and I arrive at Manteiga with Teddy and Milo in tow. Manteiga's space includes a good-sized outdoor area that looks out onto the iconic Coca Cola sign as well as an inside seating area.

Service is friendly and prompt. We are told that most people order mostly from the all day breakfast menu with pancakes, zucchini fritters and avocado toast although there is also a lunch selection available with Caesar salad, roasted snapper, burgers, steak and seafood pasta.

We start with some of their signature drinks. The iced tea is chilled oolong tea with elderflower mixed with either strawberry or blueberry jam. We try the strawberry version which has little pieces of strawberries at the bottom. The Madeirense Oasis is a Madeira maple drink made with oat milk and cold brew. The Madeira maple is a house made syrup made with a Madeira port wine reduction which is mixed with maple syrup to give it more fruity, complex flavour profile.

The signature dish is the Manteiga muffin with a choice of double smoked bacon or beef sausage patty and American cheese, Manteiga burger sauce and fluffy eggs baked on a house-baked Bolos Lêvedos or Portuguese muffin. We add two hash browns that come with a pot of extra burger sauce. You can see why this is their signature - it's gooey, luscious and a textural sensation with the fluffy egg omelette, the beef patty and the crispy hash browns. Add a hash brown into the muffin (if you can fit it into your mouth!), or have them separately dipped in the sauce.

Zucchini fritters are hand-rolled mint and pea balls served on a bed of smashed avocado with green goddess dressing, sumac and yuzu dressed herb salad. The zucchini fritters are crisp and while they are deep-fried, this is offset by the freshness from the green goddess dressing, the creamy smashed avocado and yuzu dressed herb salad. Mr NQN is a massive fan of these. We also add a poached egg and some Portuguese chorizo, a slightly milder version of Spanish chorizo, with less paprika (the chorizo is actually delicious with the hash browns above).

For dessert we have the ricotta pancakes and a Vietnamese iced coffee. The Vietnamese iced coffee is made with soy milk and dulce de leche that gives the coffee an extra hint of caramel that is strong in coffee but less sweet than Vietnamese iced coffee often is.

The fluffy ricotta pancakes have a native Australian flavour to them with a strawberry gum compote made with cranberries, tonka bean and a touch of rosewater with house made puffed grains and pink peppercorns. It comes with a little pot of house-made Madeira maple syrup and a whipped cream topping. The pancakes are thick and fluffy and cake-like - ideally you want a little bit of maple, whipped cream and strawberry in every bite.

So tell me Dear Reader, are you a sweet or savoury breakfast eater? Do you ever get a breakfast dessert to share?