Bring on the baos! The new Jukebox Brunch at Manly’s hawker-style bar and restaurant, Little Pearl, features unlimited drinks and Asian fusion food that’s a fantasy of flavour and fun. We greatly enjoyed mixing and matching the different fillings and fixings to stuff our baos, with oceanfront views and the DJ playing everyone’s faves.
Drinks were a delight, with a range of wines, beer and cocktails as well as non-alcoholic options. The Spicy Watermelon Virgin Margarita was a revelation, dancing around the tastebuds with a wicked sparkle and the perfect refreshing accompaniment to the sweet, sticky, crunchy delights we were cramming in.
Those delights then: succulent tempura prawns, crispy Korean fried chicken, and the star of the show: pulled mushroom. This was a crispy, chewy umami wonder, satisfying and even steaky. The staff shared their own surprise at just how amazing the mushrooms turned out to be. But the most fun aspect was the “saucery” – figuring out which combinations went best with each filling. Dark savoury caramel, coriander sambal, chilli XO, kewpie mayonnaise and gochujang – all delicious in their own right, but transcendent when all mixed together.
It’s a good thing that humans have a separate “dessert belly” as we were too stuffed from the bao to ever eat ever again… until the apple spring rolls with yuzu coconut arrived. All in all we had a glorious time at Little Pearl, getting in several song dedications. Perhaps not surprisingly no one ended up singing along, because we were all too busy feasting.
Jukebox Brunch is at Little Pearl, 8/13 S Steyne, Manly
When: Sundays 2.30pm-4pm, featuring live DJ requests, a shared menu of Asian-inspired dishes and bottomless cocktails, beers, and wine (including frozen margaritas and mocktails) for $85 per person. Little Pearl also runs a bottomless brunch every Saturday.
