Manfred does great coffees. Excellent.
We decided to see how their food stood up so we visited mid week for lunch. We felt like it was a private dining room as we were the only ones present.
I ordered the pulled pork panini and side or fries. The 'panini' came out as a brioche. I am not sure if I would ordered the dish if I had of known it was going to be a brioche- sweet and sweet?!
The chips were freshly made and crunchy. The pulled pork brioche was ok. Nothing special but ok.
I would go back and try lunch again as the staff and owner are so lovely.
I hope it works for them.

Manfred is a relatively new restaurant/bar along High Street. This place used to be a great restaurant called Lil Boy Blue and was up there in my top 5 places to eat. It must have changed hands because it's been a dead spot for a while.

I was only there for a catch up coffee, but was a little peckish so I ordered the eggplant parmigiana (I think it was the cheapest thing on the lunch menu & I was being a tight!). When it came out, it's hard to say it looked pretty. The salad on the side could do with something to gloss it up; it looked rocket straight from the bag. Even a wedge of lemon on the plate may have distracted me from how matte the rocket looked.

I was also expecting something different looking. Maybe I read it wrong but I saw parmigiana and assumed something would be crumbed, like a chicken parma. In saying that, it actually was really nice. The sauce on it was delicious and for something as simple as eggplant, was a pleasant afternoon snack and could have eaten more. So nice that I'd be easily convinced to go back there & try other things on the menu.

UPDATE:
After a previous brunch attempt, I returned for dinner on a Sunday. The food was ok. We shared two different pasta dishes. I felt like they both didn't have enough depth of flavor.
We got dessert as well and I was hoping it would pull this place over the line. However they fell short. The meringue of the pavlova was rock hard. The crash-your-spoon-on-the-plate-and-meringue-goes-flying sorta hard. It also came with summer fruits that were either stewed or not so fresh. I think I was more disappointed with their tiramisu. I was lured in by the idea it was house-made, but like the pasta dishes, felt like it lacked depth. There was no coffee flavour & didn't have enough mascarpone.

I'm really wanting this place to do well. The staff are so so lovely, the restaurant is beautiful & it's got so much potential. I'd come back again in a month or two, to see if they've found their mojo. Like I said, this place could be great & if the food matched the service it would be amazing.