In Jardim Paulistano, a pretty suburb of São Paulo, there is a house with wooden doors and trees in the front yard. The day we arrived, I thought we had stumbled into a private party, as there were lots of people outside on the front lawn. A private party, no. Everyone was waiting patiently for Manì to open. What is Manì? Manì is Helena Rizzo’s stunning indoor/outdoor restaurant which has been serving beautiful Brazilian food since 2006. I strongly suggest that if you find that you will be in São Paulo, you book a table without delay.
A little background. Helena Rizzo is no stranger to honours. She moved to Brazil at age 18 for a modeling career and, while waitressing, realized that she had a love of food and its creation. At 21, she found herself in Europe, interning at kitchens in Italy. It was at El Celler de Can Roca ( the World’s Number One restaurant, 2014) where two significant things happened in her life. She had an “A-ha” moment with love. Not only did she fall in love with food, she met future husband Daniel Redondo, chef de cuisine at the time (they got married, but separated in 2014).
In 2006, Helena and Daniel returned to Brazil to open Manì. Fast forward to 2014, when she was named The Veuve Clicquot World’s Best Female Chef. This award was a follow-up to her win the previous year for Latin American’s Best Female Chef. Manì has been named the number 9 restaurant on the Pellegrino Latin American 50 Best restaurants list and number 81 on the World’s Top 100 restaurants list.
We were lucky enough to get a table in the outside courtyard on a beautiful Friday night.
Joan Roca of El Celler de Can Roca said of Helena, “Helena has talent, sensibility and passion. She is authentic and faithful to her roots.”
We opt for the twelve-course tasting meal with wine pairing. Warning! Serious food porn ahead
First up is the beautiful bread bag filled with tapioca starch “chips”, cassata bread, Globo-like corn bread and yogurt cheese curd, goats cheese and butter.
Course 1a) Cashew fruit ceviche with cachaça and a slush made from cajuína (a traditional Brazilian non-alcoholic beverage made from cashew juice). [WINE PAIRING: Veuve Cliquot – now that’s a start!]
Course 1b) Cashew balls filled with caipirinhas – these were like fun one-bite party poppers!
Course 2) Crunchy flatbread with hearts of palm, slightly charred, with finely shredded cheese. A combination of salty, crunchy and creamy (I could have eaten eight of these) [WINE PAIRING: Blanc du Blanc Brut]
Course 3.1) Pete gets a very refined fish dish. An oyster with sweet fennel, dill, and lemon puree floating in a lemon butter gelato; and fish with lemon sauce on thin melba-like crips. The sauce is designed to complement and smooth out the fish flavours. (Don’t eat the twig ball.) [WINE PAIRING: an Italian orange wine]
Course 3.2) Since I couldn’t have the fish, I received a “bonbon” trio of (on right) goats cheese and cupuacu (a Brazilian fruit related to cacao), (centre) guacamole, (on left) foie gras covered in a port wine jelly. Isn’t this so pretty?
Course 4.1) Grilled crayfish with cacao, honey nibs and pickled chayote for Pete [WINE PAIRING: Cote Du Provence orange wine]
Course 4.2) Jabuticaba soup with pickled squash, beetroot and cauliflower – this was a cold, elegant soup, a mix of tart from the pickled vegetables and sweet. The squash gave it creaminess. It was a textural playground.
Course 5)[COCKTAIL PAIRING: A Hendrick’s Gin Fizz with lemon, ginger, egg white foam and Angostura bitters.]
Course 5.1) Tortellini made from palm heart pasta stuffed with squash, melon and almond with finely shredded cheese
Course 5.2) A fresh tomato fish stock with fried banana and edamame beans
Course 6.1) Dorata white fish wrapped in a Taioba leaf with Brazilian nut, jackfruit, veal [WINE PAIRING: Burgundy Pinot]
Course 6.2) A play on marrow. A palm heart filled with bone marrow and açaí fruit
Course 7) Roast potatoes with coconut milk, pepper, Brazilian crumble made from Farofa crumbs (Yuca/manioc flour), Couve Rabano (kohlrabi), chicory (Pete’s with shrimp crumbs) [WINE PAIRING: Burgundy Pinot (same as the previous course]. The crunchy texture paired well with the softer potato.
Course 8) Fried egg with green onion, rice and bean sauce – this was a riff on the traditional rice, beans and sausage [WINE PAIRING: French Bordeaux, Cab/Merlot blend]
Course 9) Duck breast with roast acorn squash, prunes, jicama with duck reduction sauce. This duck was amazing, maybe the best duck I have ever had! [WINE PAIRING: Argentina Mendoza Luisa Bosce]
And now we start dessert!
Course 10) Rice roll cake with wild Japanese puffed rice, matcha ice cream [WINE PAIRING: Sauterne]
Course 11) Tangerine jelly, tea, sugarcane sweet crackle, brown sugar ice cream – almost a molasses taste from the brown sugar bottom – with crispy straws. The dish is supposed to resemble a jellyfish in a brown oyster.
Course 12) Cardamom, cafe and cacao gelato served with chocolate crumble and coffee merengue [WINE PAIRING: Sambucca spiked caffe with lemon zest]
The twelves courses we had were exquisite. You could tell that the wine pairings had been carefully chosen to compliment the dishes (shout out to Julius Cesare, the sommelier), and a big thank you to Vanessa for the wonderful service, helping with translation and in some cases writing down the ingredients for me.
While I had mixed feelings on São Paulo (I’ll save that for a future post), I would return in two seconds to have another magnificent meal at Mani. Thank you! It was magnífico!!!
