Manchester Press struck me as your typical trendy Melbourne laneway brunch spot. I thought it was…read morenice, but I wasn't blown away by it. I felt it was awfully overpriced.
The cafe itself is tucked away in a laneway off Little Bourke, and it's cute in a hipster sort of way, with big distressed-wood slabs acting as shared tables, low-slung industrial lamps, big windows/sliding glass doors, and peculiar art on the back wall.
I liked the atmosphere but I'm not a big fan of shared tables. We shared ours with a couple whose relationship seemed very new, and the girl's parents were there too. Seemed like the boy was meeting the girl's parents for the first time and their conversation was SO PAINFULLY AWKWARD.
Aside from not being wild about the shared table, I also wasn't a huge fan of the long wait. Melbourne seems to fall victim to "trendiness" all too often. Whenever a restaurant is deemed trendy, the wait goes out the door. Chinchin, Hardware Société, you name it. And if I have to wait any longer than 30 minutes for food that ultimately is just kinda nice but not amazing, it makes me a bit grumpy. That's how I felt about this place -- like it was fine, but it definitely wasn't worth the 40 minute wait on a Saturday morning.
Food-wise, I enjoyed mine but thought it was way overpriced. I had the vegan chia seed pudding with passionfruit. It was pleasant-tasting and BEAUTIFULLY presented, with cute little edible flowers sticking out on top, but it was not at all worth $13.40. I could run to the nearest 7-11 and pick up a Chia Pod for less than $4. And I could make a chia pudding myself for $2. You see what I mean.
My friends (who are not vegan like me) had bagels. They came with a small scattering of pretzels, which just struck me as kind of a cheapskate move on the restaurant's part. The bagels are all in the $13-15 range, and again, for a bagel with maybe 8-9 tiny little pretzels and a pickle on the side, just seems way overpriced.
I *do* like that this place has some clearly-marked vegan options on the menu. In addition to the chia seed pudding, they have a bagel named "Go Vegan!" with eggplant, tomato, pesto, and capsicum. They also do a basic toasted bagel with PB, jam, vegemite (boring) that's vegan and cheaper than their fancy-pants bagels. They have Bonsoy for coffee, and a couple of teas.
Overall, not a bad place, and it's great they have clearly-marked vegan options. But while I enjoyed my food, my wallet and I are not in any major hurry to go back.