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About The Chefs
An interview with Chef Manu & Chef Jamie
What drew you two together to do this? What is your relationship like?
Manu: Jamie and I have known each other for close to 10 years. Doing some work together, a lot of charity work. And then suddenly there was a little space available at the Red Lion and Jamie said...
Jamie: We discussed it for like three years nearly...
Manu: We did say over a whiskey, maybe a few too many, “if there’s ever an opportunity, I’d like to join".
Jamie: This place was getting a renovation, so we decided to chat with Shane & Dan. And we’ve probably done every seasonal menu right up until winter. And we finally got there.
What are some of your favourite items off the menu?
Manu: I hope it's going to become the signature of the Red Lion. As a dessert, it's the canelé. It’s a little French pastry from Bordeaux that's come out in Australia, the last couple of years trending. And the Terrain, which is my Dad’s recipe. So a little homage to my Dad I suppose.
It’s about yummy food. I’m not trying to reach the stars, I’m just trying to please people. I want people to come here and enjoy themselves and forget the rest of the world for a couple of hours.
Jamie: Like they’re coming to your house for dinner.
What’s it like being back in the kitchen for you, Manu?
Manu: I've been doing this for last 35 years. I'm sixth generation chef. So I'm born in it. But it's true that I've had a good break for years. I've branched out to do other things in my life, which I also enjoy. But I said you know this opportunity came in and I thought "I just missed it." I missed it. I missed the bus and I missed the banter. I miss communicating with the customer, sitting down with a glass of champagne and having laughs and yeah, for me it's like it's like a piece of theater.
I'm my harshest critic that don't need food critics to come and tell me if I'm doing done right or wrong. I know if it's done right or wrong, but and obviously I'm not gonna be here every single day, unfortunately, but I want to make sure that it's easier for my team to be able to recreate my food and it's consistency every day.
How did you come up with the menu?
Manu: I think they're somewhat classic French dishes with a modern twist you know, that's what it is and I think French food is often seen as rich and expensive and over the top and I want to bring that down a bit. It's a little Paris bistro in Rozelle you know. It's a bistro in Paris with really good food on a cheaper side of the fine dining.
Manu: There's things that I've that I've cooked in my life, there's things that I've eaten when I was a kid that were going to be on there. You know I have this little egg Mimosa, we call it which is the hard boiled eggs. It's going to be dipped in vitro reducer, it's going to beautiful pink on the outside and the yolk is mixed with mayonnaise and piping it again and it's just a one bite and that takes you back to my childhood.