Blue Manna Bistro

1/16 Cyrillean Way, Dunsborough
Ph: (08) 9786 5051
www.bluemannabistro.com.au
Manna from Heaven 
Although Blue Manna only opened in December 2017, it’s already so popular, you need to book at least a week in advance. Just walking into Blue Manna off the street, I was pleasantly surprised to find such a picturesque and tranquil setting. The kitchen is awesome and completely visible as you walk into the bright airy restaurant set among the trees. With a real outdoors feel the alfresco area, surrounded by trees, has a delightful ambience.
Chef Coby Cockburn is very pleased with the kitchen and rightfully proud of it. He happily showed me around and said he and his co-owner worked in conjunction with KBR Commercial to install the state of the art kitchen equipment, using the Moffat Waldorf Bold cooking range. He proudly pointed out the ten tray Convotherm oven, six burner stove, under bench oven and high performance fryers. There is even a Japanese Habachi grill and Washtech dishwashers. The kitchen is not only functional, but aesthetically sleek and easy on the eye.
Originally from Queensland with a vast array of experience behind him, Coby said he loves the lifestyle in the south west corner of Western Australia and had wanted to run his own restaurant for a while, so is thrilled with the opening of Blue Manna. He says the restaurant is classified casual family dining, modern Australian with an Asian twist.
Coby said customers love the openness of the kitchen and that they can sit up at the kitchen counter, watch the chef at work and interact with him while he’s cooking. “There’s nowhere to hide, it’s all out in the open and people love that,” he said.
We were delighted with the menu too. Singapore crabs are a specialty here and a popular choice. While they can be messy, don’t worry – you will be provided with very practical bibs so you can really get stuck into your feast.
With their own fishing boats in Exmouth, Coby explained the seafood is local and super fresh with squid caught locally around Dunsborough, marron is sourced from Manjimup, while the oysters come from Albany, Sydney and Tasmania. The whole fish (1-1.2kg) on the menu is line caught in Exmouth and straight to the restaurant within 24 hours.
For starters we had Chilled Yellowfin Tuna Poke, a flavoursome tuna sashimi salad, with soya beans, seaweed and sweet onion, and Steamed Scallop Potstickers with mango & Chinese red vinegar dressing – both delicious entrées.
Another special dish – chicken wings stuffed with King Prawns and seven Asian flavours – was poached and crispy fried, thus retaining all its succulent moisture.
Staff are happy to match wines with the dishes and we had a 2017 Reserve Chardonnay and Castle Rock Estate 2017 Riesling (Porongorup, WA) which complemented the seafood beautifully.
Fresh is Coby’s motto – if it’s not fresh it doesn’t go on the menu. He said the menu will change every few weeks to keep it interesting and seasonal, while the staple dishes will remain. While the crabs are a favourite choice, they are seasonal and Coby said they would be off the menu through the winter months and back on by November. But there is plenty to choose from, including one of my favourites, the stuffed chicken wings.
Blue Manna is open daily for lunch and dinner and, with its great vibe, great food, wine and great service, it’s a very welcome addition to Dunsborough.
By Ingrid Rickersey
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