Name: Manx Restaurant

Location: Portside Warf, Brisbane, Qld

Website: http://www.restaurantmanx.com/

Date visited: 11 May 2008 (and previously)

Cost: Worth it!

Our Rating: 5cracked peppers

Ms OE says:

Lunch at Manx yesterday proved to be an excellent choice. Not only were all the other Portside eateries either closed or packed with cruise-departing diners but for a surprisingly reasonable price we were treated to five star cuisine. The lunch menu prices are approximately $20 (some lower) and all three of us enjoyed the food immensely – OEbrother raved about the pizza, I enjoyed the steak and Mr OE had a lentil salad. All very filling despite the five star size serves and our plan to finish off with an icecream from next door were thwarted by our full bellies. For a while we were the only customers but the service was still impeccable and even though it was lunch still of a fine dining standard. Next time rather than saving a few dollars each for a $13-17 ok meal at a crowded and not so excellent restaurant we’ll try some more fine dining lunches.

Of course we should have known that lunch at Manx would be good. This is my third visit to the restaurant, the previous two encounters were for dinner – once with Mr OE and once for my sister’s birthday. Both times the service and food were excellent. A word of advice – the first time we ordered sides – they were completely unecessary as our meals were filling enough. The dinner menu is slightly more expensive than lunch ($34 for the main) but not ridiculous and with some rather good wines, dessert and perhaps an entre, it could add up, but for a special evening (or even just an excuse for some superb cusine), it is well worth it.

Mr OE says:

There is a way to get five-star dining at cut-prices, without having to resort to copying Jamie et al at home. Lunch. Its also good test to see whether a place is truly somewhere Gordon Ramsey won’t be featuring. We pleasantly re-discovered this little snippet of foodie wisdom at Manx recently, where the service, food and presentation for a lazy weekend lunch was as good as their dinners – and yet three people dined for under $70 – plus coffees!