Man Mo, Docklands by Bureaucrat

Yikes, given the recent article in The Age about the many restaurants in Docklands that have closed, I thought I had better get on to blogging my visit to Man Mo before it succumbs to the fate of its neighbours. I had picked Man Mo for a family dinner because most of us happened to be near Docklands (where we all happened to be near) and that it was in the Entertainment Book.

With views of the New Quay wharf, Man Mo is situated among the many newish high-rise apartments. Our dinner booking was for 5.30pm on a Friday night and, as expected, we were the only ones there. I know we had an early booking, but by the time we left (around 7pm) there were only a few more tables of diners. Tis a shame, given that the food and service is pretty good. Inside, it's decked out in a lot of auspicious colours - lots of gold and red, and warm mood lighting.

Alrighty now - the food! The menu is quite varied, with several more interesting fusion dishes.


Sizzling beef eye fillet. Impressive smoke coming from the dish! I had to take a few photos before you could see the beef. Tender beef with a proper beefy flavour.


Crispy calamari. A lovely golden colour and the batter was crispy and light. The batter was so thin that it was like tempura. The calamari was fresh and not frozen. Good stuff - Bubba Chuck certainly loved this dish. When one piece fell onto the floor, you should have seen her face.... a picture of such regret and anguish.


Garlic king prawns on a sizzling plate. King prawns these were! Big, succulent prawns, with a simple and tasty Shaoxing wine sauce.


Belanchan spinach. Perfectly stir fried mountain of spinach. As with the king prawns, this was a simple dish but it was simple done very, very well. Great wok hei.


Blood orange duck. This is one of the fusion dishes. I've never got what the appeal was for duck a l'orange. I've always felt that the Chinese were the only ones that knew how to cook duck (I mean, what can top a Peking duck?). However, Man Mo proved me wrong. Tender duck, with great flavour and not overly fatty. The blood orange sauce went well with the duck. Personally, I prefer the idea of blood orange instead of your regular orange... it makes the dish a bit more exotic. The sauce wasn't overly sweet or overly orangey - a perfect balance. It came served with al dente baby bok choy and corn.


Last but not least, this dish. I can't remember what this was called or what it tasted like. Whatever it was, it was good. I base this on the fact that we ate every piece of it!





Overall
If you want a quality dinner experience but without having to pay too much, I'd recommend Man Mo. We all left the dinner feeling full and content, and couldn't find anything to fault about the place.

Definitely great value and its offerings is quite competitive to its more expensive peers (eg Silks, Flower Drum). For five adults and one hungry child, the bill was about $160 (including a tip for the great service and the Entertainment Book discount). Even without the discount, I was surprised that the meal wasn't as expensive as I was anticipated! It's a shame that the whole Docklands area isn't as popular as it wants to be. Do try this out and help keep Man Mo around!

Verdict
Food - 10
Service - 8.5
Ambience - 8
Price - 9

Address
Man Mo
42 New Quay Prom
Docklands 3008 Vic
Telephone: 9642 1997