Spirit of place

Restaurante Manu | A Culinary Journey Through Brazil’s Immigrant Heritage

Chef Manoella Buffara, or Manu as she is known, has become a bastion of Brazil’s dining scene — she was awarded the title of Best Female Chef 2022 in Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards.

The powerhouse of a chef has not only shone a spotlight on the city of Curitiba and the greater Paraná region, celebrating the ingredients, produce and people which make it what it is through her restaurant, Restaurante Manu, but through her efforts which extend beyond her restaurant.

Her initiatives in the creation of urban gardens help provide fresh produce to underprivileged communities, while teaching them about sustainable farming and encouraging the fostering of connections to the land. In addition, she has also been instrumental in the running of the city’s soup kitchens — feeding countless people a day for both lunch and dinner.

This ethos, grounded in sustainability and community, sees her sourcing 80% of what she uses in her kitchen from local small-scale suppliers, supporting local communities, championing endemic and indigenous ingredients and drawing attention to biodiversity under threat, such as Brazil’s stingless bees, from which she sources honey — is naturally a thread that runs through the restaurant.

At Restaurante Manu she showcases not only the abundance of Paraná but also supports local farmers, fishermen, producers and artisans while doing so. It is perhaps this genuine commitment to the local communities — her work on the ground with people of all classes, creeds and cultures, and her ability to forge genuine connections with everyone she comes across — that has inspired her current menu: one which pays homage to the immigrant spirit which has, over time, shaped the region.

It is in many ways a love letter to these immigrants’ journeys. Buffara celebrates the ingredients, techniques and tastes which have over time been brought to Brazil’s shores from distant lands, passed down through generations, and which have become inextricably intertwined with Brazil’s culinary culture.

Italian, Lebanese, Spanish, Japanese, West African and other influences are reinterpreted through Manu’s fine technique and contemporary cooking, brought to life by the fruits of Paraná’s forests, rivers, land and sea. Each dish’s elegant flavours are woven with beautiful storytelling.

The 11-course tasting menu — at once a spectacular demonstration of the chef’s impressive cooking as well as being a narrative arc — honours how immigrants have not only contributed to but transformed both Paraná’s and the country’s food culture.

The menu tells the story of how food is one of a few things that truly connect us to our roots, no matter where we may land up in the world, or under what circumstances.

Manu, through the creation of these dishes, explores how culinary cultures have over time overlapped, discovering how local ingredients were used by immigrants to create dishes from their homelands — dishes which have now become inextricably linked to Brazil’s gastronomic identity.

Naturally, the restaurant has a strong plant-based focus with the addition of ethically sourced meat and seafood obtained from fishermen who have for generations worked the surrounding seas. Both feature harmoniously through the well-considered experience.

A dish of leek and pasta pays homage to the Italian immigrants, and how when they arrived they used maniocs — cassava flour, another ingredient which arrived with immigrants from Africa — to make their pasta. It’s a dish of beautiful layers of powerful tastes and textures. The delicate pasta offset by the boldness of the elements of leek, a touch of caramelisation adding the perfect amount of sweetness.

Then there is the winter pumpkin, which is served using textures of the skin flesh and seed — using the whole vegetable in various forms from oils to purées. It’s topped with a delicate, perfectly cooked langoustine and finished with bitter horse radish for contrast. A wonderful contrast of the tender crustacean and the warm, smooth pumpkin.

Her iconic carrot dish is another which champions vegetables. Deliberately served at the end of the menu, this is a message from Manu to guests that you don’t need luxurious meat or rare seafood, and that something as simple as a carrot can be equally delicious. It features a carrot with toppings of levain and fermented cassava flour — and delivers a dish brimming with umami. You won’t miss the meat at all.

Course after beautiful course, each dish is an invitation to explore the origins of the country’s food, the unexpected stories of how they arrived in Brazil and the people who brought them to its shores.

Dining at Manu is not merely dinner but rather a homage and exploration to our shared humanity, the beauty of diversity, and the generations of immigrants from around the world who have not only contributed to but enriched Brazilian cuisine.

It is a tribute to the sacrifices and dreams of those who left their homes, carrying with them the flavours of their homelands. It’s a journey through history and a celebration of the bold spirit that shaped Paraná and Brazil.

From the 2024 / 25 edition of Wanted Watches, Jewellery and Luxury.