Manzo Italian Steakhouse: A culinary roller-coaster ride

Shop Info:
Manzo Italian Steakhouse
Shop 1104, 11/F, Times Square,1 Matheson Street, Causeway Bay
http://www.diningconcepts.com.hk/manzo/index.php

26 February 2012, Lunch (Restaurant Week HK)
$390 per head

This dinner at Manzo was the last of our Restaurant Week meals, and we were hoping that this would be a good one.  Of course, knowing that this is a Dining Concepts really didn't help since our previous experience with Dining Concepts restaurants have been mixed.  There were some that we really liked (i.e. Bouchon) and one that I absolutely hated (i.e. Craftsteak).  The atmosphere, the sausage ageing room, the towel with a diagram of how beef cuts are named as well as the claim on the paper that they have a "Spiritview Ranch" where they raise their own cattle to high specifications gave us hope that this might actually be a decent steakhouse.

The Manzo Restaurant Week set dinner was actually a very interesting one.  Unlike other restaurants, their set actually did not give any choices -- the only choices available were red or white for the welcome glass of wine and how you would like the Sirloin cooked.

The bread was actually OK -- not as hot as I would have liked but at least warm.  Butter was piped (?) and there was this nice grilled garlic which the cloves were cooked so tender that it spread like butter.  Combining the butter and the garlic made up for the less than optimal bread (which was actually a bit dry).

We both went for the red wine, given we will be having steak and don't really know anything about wines except that red stuff goes with red wine (anybody better versed in the lore of wines care to enlighten us here?  Thanks!).  In the back is the Aqua Panna water which they almost double charged us for (OK, compensation for The Pawn who forgot to charge for the water?  Why do these restaurants always make a mess of charging for water?).  Lucky that we spotted it before paying...

That aside, we didn't like the wine at all...

Bolito Misto, Caramalized Onions, Beef Shank

We actually had no idea before the meal what Bolito Misto actually means, but a search on Google showed that it might be a dish that's "boiled together".  That's a wide definition!  It turned out that this bolito misto was a clear(ish) soup of beef shank and onions -- a bit like the soup part of the French onion soup but quite a bit richer (and a bit too salty IMHO) due to the beef shank.  Locust Tunghok thought it was a bad idea to actually have strands of the beef shank in the soup, since it was quite cooked and rather tough.  However, I did like it since its presence greatly enhanced the flavour of the soup (yes I mean chewing that tough bit of meat with the soup).  Guess it's difficult to have both then!

12oz USDA Sirloin with Barolo Reduction Steak Sauce

The steak was a bit of a disappointment.  Given that we both asked for it to be cooked medium rare, it was probably reasonable to arrive cooked the same.  And they weren't.  Mine was closer to medium rare than Locust Tunghok's, which was somewhat overcooked.  Whilst the photo might look attractive, the steak itself was actually somewhat lacking in flavour (that I had to further season it with salt...) and somewhat dry inside.  So... not that good quality a steak, as Ms. M commented?  The fact that this Sirloin is equivalent to the cheapest cut on their menu proper probably didn't help...

The barolo reduction was a joke to us.  Didn't really work with the steak, made things sticky and I don't think its flavour complemented that of the steak at all.  Luckily we didn't pour it on!

Torta with Mandarin Orange Sorbet

The "torta" was actually a slice of cheesecake, with my favourite biscuit base.  Rather fortunately / unfortunately, the flavour of the cheese was rather weak (albeit light) and as a result the thing was quite bland, especially after the steak.  The sour compote drizzled on top didn't help much either.  Why fortunate?  Because we were really really full by then... The mandarin orange sorbet was rather decent though.

Nonetheless, I'd very much prefer a decent "pick me up" then this cheesecake thing...

Latte

The latte was the real disappointment though.  It was thin, sour, bitter and with a layer of oversized bubble foam on top.  It was on the verge of being an awful cup of coffee.  One sip each and we left it there.  That we just went to Rabbithole for their latte and had that fresh in our memory certainly didn't help!

In all, the meal seemed to have gone downhill from the soup, which was rather nice, to the awful coffee.  I guess we really couldn't ask much of the restaurant though, as $390 for dinner at a steakhouse was not very pricey and we might be asking too much if we wanted a superb cut of steak.  That said, I would at least expect better execution!  The conclusion?  I wouldn't regret trying this restaurant, but given the quality of food and the not-really-that-cheap price, I wouldn't be going again either!

P.S.  The steak really made me wonder what's the point of Dining Concepts' restaurants participating in restaurant week.  Normally I would think it is to promote is restaurants to the foodies who manage to book tables via the system to enjoy these supposedly attractively priced sets.  If that's the case, what's the point of participating then giving the restaurant's worst shot to the cause?  The cheapest cut cooked to show inconsistencies?  The frankly rubbish steak at Craftsteak?  The rather unattractive menu for Bouchon?  That will ruin their reputation!  Do they ever realise that some of these people might well be coming back if they're impressed, or that some of these people might write to bitch about their unsatisfactory experiences?  Really... If you're gonna do it, please do it properly (read:  feel free to charge more but don't be such a cheapskate!)


Summary (rated 1-5):
Food:  (3/5)  Decent.  Acceptable given the price.
Service:  (3/5)  Not bad.  Kind of friendly.  Need to wave around to attract attention at times.
Environment:  (3.5/5)  Reasonably comfy.  A bit too dark though (see the photos!)
Big Locust's Recommendation:  (3/5)  Maybe worth visiting.  If you're curious.