Bar-Restaurant Manigua, Cuban-style bistronomy in the 9th arrondissement of Paris

A taste of the Cuban spirit awaits us in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Just a stone's throw from the Saint-Georges metro station, the Manigua restaurant surprises gourmets with its creative cuisine. This spacious addressboasts a long terrace, a restaurant area and a mysterious bar with a vintage smokery feel, all at the back. Three rooms, three atmospheres, so to speak, with a common thread running through all of them: the exotic inventiveness that is the address's signature.

If we had to describe the menu in a few words, we'd say it's world gastronomy through the prism of Cuban flavors, twisted with ingenuity. For example, there's paella with a daily change of garnish, including duck confit, lamb mouse confit in red wine with corn polenta, and cold octopus brandade with sweet potato chips.

The place is open all day long, from the morning with a hearty breakfast menu at 10€, to the evening with creative cocktails and tapas. All in all, we can vouch for the good value for money, with starters at 12€, main courses at 24€, desserts at 10€ and lunchtime formulas at 21€ for a starter/main course or main course/dessert and 29€ for the whole meal.

For starters (please note that the photos show a reduced format for tasting), we loved the crispy chicken gyozas with bell pepper and ginger coulis for a sweet-savory combo, the zucchini ravioli surrounding melting shredded beef, all resting on a peppy green chili coulis, as well as the unmissable malanga fritters, a tuber similar to manioc with nutty notes, with cod and accompanied by their shrimp coulis, a reinvented version of accras that's not short on spice! Special mention must also go to the refreshing ceviche of sea bream in coconut milk, with its red onions, corn kernels, creamy avocado and green banana chips, making this dish as gourmet as it is enticing.

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This inventiveness also extends to the dishes. On the one hand, we have the duck leg confit with guava, whose fruit manages to soften the strong taste of the meat, balancing the dish while offering us an unusual tasting experience that ends in a pleasant surprise. A comforting baked sweet potato gratin completes the picture.

With your sea legs, you might be tempted by the cod fillet, and you'd be right! You'll discover a masterfully-cooked fish, accompanied by a lime béarnaise that in turn adds pep to the plate, a malanga purée (very interesting if you really want to discover its flavor) and oysters in beer tempura that, to our great surprise, won't have distorted the taste of the seafood, which still remains juicy. For purists of the oyster as it is, this is a tasting that deserves a forkful: some might then send certain preconceptions flying.

If you still have room for dessert (and if you do, hats off to you), this is another opportunity to find sweet twists, including a tarte tatin that swaps apples for papaya, with a caramel coulis and vanilla ice cream for a combination that will soon melt sweet tooths.

For a "lighter" end to the tasting experience, the plantain fried with vanilla & brown sugar and flambéed in rum will provide the gourmet finishing touch to this astonishing meal. This is a tasteful address for those who are ready to let themselves be carried away by discovery and discover daring pairings.