Manresa is a three-star Michelin awarded restaurant located in Los Gatos, California. Found by chef David Kinch in 2002, Manresa held two Michelin stars for 9 consecutive years, earning their third star for 2016. It has also been named one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants by Restaurant Magazine. Manresa offers contemporary American seasonal cuisines with strong French, Catalan and Japanese influences.
We visited Manresa on a Sunday evening to celebrate my sister’s birthday. The restaurant is tucked away in a charming Village House on a Los Gatos side street. We walked along a small winding path leads from the quiet side street to the restaurant’s reception area.
After passing the reception area, the main dining room is on the right of the bar/lounge area with a small, secondary dining room on the left. The interior is modern yet warm and inviting.
Our table was in the main dining room.
Like most of the Michelin three-starred restaurant, Manresa offers only a nightly Chef’s tasting menu features the finest of each season’s products, priced at $255, with optional beverage pairings for an additional $198 per person.
We didn’t ended up with the beverage pairings. Instead, we ordered a half-bottle of Champagne, a half-bottle of white, and a full bottle of red for the night.
We started with the MARC HÉBRART Champagne Brut, “Cuvee de Reserve”, 1er Cru from France, and the 2013 BRÜNDLMAYER Grüner Veltliner, “Berg Vogelsang” from Kamptal, Austria to go with the seafood courses.
The meal opened with the Petit fours – black olive madeleines and red-pepper pâtes de fruits, a classic amuse-bouche at Manresa.
And the granola crisp top with a variety of seeks and grains.
Continued with a bite-size appetizer – ceviche with chili and lime.
The oyster with bonito butter and caviar was one of my favorite dish of the night. The creamy bonito butter and caviar played well with the oyster.
A different varieties of breads were served after the appetizers. The brioche was my favorite – not overly sweet, buttery, fluffy and perfect.
Next came my favorite course of the night – lightly smoked striped jack and brassicas. The Shima-Aji (striped jack) were lightly seasoned allowing the natural flavor of the fish to stand out. The crispy kale chip and brassicas salad (hidden under the kale chip) added another layers of flavors to the simplicity.
Into the garden is Manresa’s signature dish. This delicately complex salad dish showcased a selection of picked leaves, flowers and herbs with flavors ranging from semi-sweet to bitter. It was almost too beautiful to eat!
Continued with another seafood course – truffle royale and scallop with radish. This was my less favorite dish of the night, though the pan-seared scallops were fresh and juicy. This course came with a small side dish – the custard with chestnut. The custard was rich and creamy.
The last seafood course of the night – buckwheat noodles topped with shellfish, another one of my favorite dishes. It was a Zaru Soba inspired dish (Japanese cold soba with dipping sauce). We very appreciated the freshness of the Hokkaido uni (sea urchin). It tasted incredibly delicious. The soba (buckwheat noodles) underneath absorbed all the great flavors of the shellfish and played well with the cold broth.
We chose the 2011 LUCIA Pinot Noir Soberanes from local Santa Cruz Mountains to go with the meat courses.
The first meat course was wood pigeon, squash and walnut. The meat was super tender and juicy. The taste was simple but delicious.
Next came the morels stuffed with Poularde (young fatty hen) and foie gras. The meaty texture of the morel mushrooms well blended with the Poularde.
Beef in onion boullion, sprouted grains was the final meat course of the night. Thinly sliced A5 wagyu served raw in a bowl, and then hot broth was poured over. This was a dish inspired by Shabu Shabu (a Japanese hotpot dish of thinly sliced meat briefly swirled in hot broth). It was a simple dish with little cooking to drawn out the natural flavors of the ingredients.
A series of dessert courses served. Started with the paris-brest filled with hazelnut praline cream. A hint of citrus flavors made it even more terrific.
The frozen coconut cream with matcha layer, topped with grapefruit sorbet. Very interesting combination.
Next came a slightly heavier dessert, the milk chocolate and meyer lemon feuilleté.
At last we were served with chocolate, caramel bites, macaroons, and the Petit fours “strawberry-chocolate” – we finished our meal the same way as we started.
We really enjoyed our meal at Manresa. The service was good and the food was absolutely wonderful. We were surprised by the amount of Japanese ingredients showcased throughout the tasting menu. It felt like the menu of the night was heavily inspired by Japanese cuisine and its simplicity. It was an incredible tasting and definitely by far one of my favorites among all the Michelin-starred restaurants.
Visited: Dinner | Feb 26, 2017
Manresa
320 Village Lane Los Gatos, CA 95030
Phone: (408) 354-4330
Hours: Web-Sun Open at 5:30pm; Lounge Open at 5:15pm
http://www.manresarestaurant.com/
Price: Chef’s Tasting Menu $255- Beverage Pairing $198- (as of Feb 2017)
