Review: Manteca, Shoreditch

We dropped into Manteca for a pre-theatre bite and it turned out pretty perfect; good food and brisk service, we told them we only had just under an hour and they looked after us.

Manteca is another modern no-fuss Britalian restaurant along the lines of Padella or Bancone. Yes, I’m coining a new word! This latest (and magical) trend in Italian cuisine is certainly bringing a much wider range of authentic Italian recipes and ingredients to Britain from the mother country… but with such a sharp twist of modern UK small-plate kitchen-counter styling that I think if you dropped one of them in the middle of Rome it might look a little out of place!

So: Britalian.

Yes, I hate it too. I’m just being an ass! Let’s get back to Manteca. Bonus points for being a really elegant space, comfy seating, soothing wood and mustard colours. Though it was also very buzzy when busy. “Very buzzy” is my understated English way of saying WE HAD TO SHOUT AT EACH OTHER OVER THE TABLE. So bear that in mind.

We started with a fritter of pigs head, fried lovely and crispy without being oily, served with a dollop of good spicy quince goop. The other starter made a great contrast: creamy ricotta on toast with chicory, mint and citrus. Ricotta can be a bit meh, but this one was more luscious than I’m used to while still being fresh. Big hit of mint and orange went really well.

The main action was pasta. Spaghetti cacio e pepe with brown crab meat stirred into it, silky and pungent at the same time. Brown crab is a more than acceptable addition to cacio e pepe. Mmmmmm. My pasta was one for the real pasta connoisseurs; wafer thin sheets of fazzoletti with perfect bite and just enough texture to have the duck ragu clinging to them, with little bits of duck getting tangled up between the sheets.

This was great stuff, and I’m looking forward to going back and exploring a lot more of the terribly appealing menu. This admittedly quick meal was £22 each before wine, maybe you’d go around £36 for more of a feast. Good value.