Mano is permanently closed!
It is always fun to experience the opening of new restaurants in Stavanger and this week the new Mano Pizza opened in Pedersgata in downtown Stavanger. The house has been under reconstruction for quite some time and the upper floor will house Hekkan Burger. But this week Mano Pizza opened on the lower level and we checked it out on a Friday afternoon. The entrance is anonymous but once you get in, it is easy to see that it is a pizza place as the space is dominated by a large pizza oven (gas powered by the way). The place is not large and there is only about 10-15 seats at the tables and 5 at the counter – so I think the main goal is to provide takeaway pizza.
The theme at Mano Pizza is pink: the menu is pink, floor is pink, the receipt was pink etc. We decided to share a starter and as they didn’t have any burrata, they could not serve the Burrata Pugliese dish and we went for parma ham and buffalo mozzarella instead. When it comes to the pizza you have to order it by length (0,25 meter to 1 meter) and we ordered a 0,5-meter pizza with half Nduja and half capricciosa. The service is the restaurant was good but there was a bit of confusion as we didn’t get the water and wine that we ordered but I assume this is just startup issues – and we did get it when we asked for it. It is great to see that they have a license to serve alcohol and they have beer from a local brewery called Rygr and they also have a partnership with Moo Goo Ice cream house for desserts.
The starter that we got was simple and straight up: parma ham, buffalo mozzarella and rocket. I would have liked to see a softer mozzarella but apart from that you can’t go wrong with ingredients like this. We also got some homemade bread and olive oil and balsamic vinegar was available to spice things up.
The pizza didn’t take long to be served either and the square pizza was served in a rustic style on a simple square board. The base was thin and maybe a bit on the soft side but the crust on the side was excellent – as a bread lover I love to munch away on that even if I know that I should focus on the best parts in the middle. And the middle part of the pizza was great! The nduja side was dominated by nduja splashes, melted mozzarella and the tomato sauce. The spicy nduja can get overwhelming and it was good to see that they had used it in moderation. The tomato sauce was very good and the main focus seemed to be on getting a great tomato taste. And the other side of the pizza was equally good with topping like ham, artichoke, olives etc.
Conclusion: a great option if you are in the mood for a real pizza!! They seem to have options on the menu that is not that common at other places (like pancetta/squash and burrata/eggplant and even a porcini pizza) and they have good dough and good tomato sauce. They have also done a great job before the opening to get everything ready including a homepage, an app both for iOS and Android and license to serve beer/wine. I had a brief chat with the manager Stian Sonerud and they aim to make this into a chain of pizza restaurants so there is no doubt about the ambitions.
If you want a good handmade pizza with good toppings, Mano Pizza is absolutely worth a visit!
Facts:
Homepage: https://mano.pizza/
Location: Corner Pedersgata/Langgata - see this Google map
Price of food: 0,25 meter for 125 kroner (14 USD)
Comments