MANTRA

[Rich Pawlak]

Chef Al Paris is finally hitting his stride at his newest endeavor, MANTRA, at 18th and Sansom. And he's finally open for lunch, too, so I took advantage of that by stopping in yesterday.

The place looks great, a pan-Asian vibe, a dazzling wavy metallic back bar, clever woodwork (done mainly by wood hobbyist Paris himself) and a calming, sexy orangey-ruby red color scheme.

The food was fabulous. We ordered a lot of things, as I had the twins in tow, and needed to find things that they would enjoy, but everyone nibbled something from every dish, and it was damn impressive.

Warm scallion Roti bread were nice oniony crepes with a chunky cashew sauce alongside, great quick finger food. Followed with a bamboo steamer-full of light chicken dumplings, with sheer wrappers around really tasty ground chicken and a tangy rice wine dip. We, and the twins, devoured them, and we almost ordered another serving, they were that good. Then came a deep earthenware bowl of chicken soup, with maybe the richest, tastiest chicken broth I've had since my grandmother made soup in my childhood, filled with carrots, onions and celery, as well as a bunch more of those tasty dumplings. This soup would make for a damn fine lunch with a plate of that roti.

But onward we plunged, ordering two of the eight Vietnamese sandwiches (banh mi)on the menu., choosing one filled with roast chicken, another filled with BBQ pork. Both were much larger than a typical banh mi, but the larger bread was excellent, the chicken banh mi was topped with cucumbers, pickled carrots and jalapenos. I don't know where Paris gets his chicken, but it is some tasty chicken. The pork filled banh mi was also superb, a bit sweeter glaze on the pork, for a slightly different flavor.

We ordered 2 noodle dishes, Buddha vegetarian noodles, a holdover from Paris' late-lamented Guru restaurant on South St, as nicely spicy as I remembered it, with big cubes of grilled tofu. The other noodle dish was Mongolian meatballs and lo mein, with terrific sirloin meatballs, nice Chinese brocoli and shiitakes, and a zingy chili sauce tossed throughout. Great noodles. My daughter Sophie is already developing a palate for heat, and she really liked both spicy noodle dishes, not much to my surprise.

Dessert was a grilled poundcake with orangey creme anglaise and honeyed ice cream, a huge dessert, much too much for lunchtime, and a vanilla-rum raisin creme brulee. Both were quite nice, but we were stuffed. Kids LOVED the desserts, even though they had quite a lot to eat at that point. Desserts were on the house, owing to the fact that Paris, an old friend, cruised the dining room and spotted us.

Place was maybe half filled for lunch. Mantra has a nice friendly lunch staff, a welcome relief from the typically indifferent lunchtime wait staffs around town.

Still and all, lunch for 4 was just under 50 bucks, not only a steal, but some damn fine food. I've always admired Al Paris' culinary style, and it's in full bloom at Mantra. I hope he can make it at this seemingly cursed location, which has seen its share of restaurants come and go. Mantra, in my opinion, is a keeper.

[Vadouvan]

Hey didnt Laban throw it under the bus a few months ago ?

Not that I am a Laban follower but prior to that review, the food seemed a mish man of asian fusion, has the menu changed ?

Sandwich sounds good......

They should name that street sandwich alley....

[Rich Pawlak]

Hey didnt Laban throw it under the bus a few months ago ?

Not that I am a Laban follower but prior to that review, the food seemed a mish man of asian fusion, has the menu changed ?

Sandwich sounds good......

They should name that street sandwich alley....

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I dont recall a Laban review, but Catherine Lucey at the Daily News didnt give it a great review. The lunch menu has a lot of different stuff from the dinner menu (I snuck a peek), but I will say that the quality was evident, and the food was overall very satisfying.

[Vadouvan]

Laban gave it 1 bell, hit or miss-ish.

The daily news reviews laughable and second worst to the south philly review since Sono Motoyama left.

That being said, AParis is a good chef but that location is indeed challenging.

[Rich Pawlak]

Visually, the place looks better than in any previous incarnation, including the 2nd version of FishMarket. And the food really was exceptional.

[JasonZ]

Sounds like it's worth a visit. Will be out of town this weekend, but will go next week ... used to be my old haunt ... lived at 15th/Locust, worked at 15th/Sansom, ate everywhere in between.

[Bluehensfan]

Sounds like it's worth a visit. Will be out of town this weekend, but will go next week ... used to be my old haunt ... lived at 15th/Locust, worked at 15th/Sansom, ate everywhere in between.

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Anyone know if they do lunch at Mantra on Saturdays as well?

Thanks a lot!

[Lisa1349]

Slightly off topic, but I saw Paninoteca that was next door has a different name. New owners or a revamp of style? Mantra looks very seductive from the sidewalk.

[Diann]

Slightly off topic, but I saw Paninoteca that was next door has a different name. New owners or a revamp of style? Mantra looks very seductive from the sidewalk.

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heard somewhere (Michael Klein?) that the owner of Paninoteca sold the place, so yeah, it's new owners. what's it called now?

[Rich Pawlak]

I noticed that it was turning into a wraps and salad place. Looks promising, but it's sad to see Paninoteca go. That was a great place.