Manu Feidel

It seems that Manu Feildel was destined to become a great chef from the moment he was born – his great grandfather was a pastry chef, his grandfather and father were chefs!

But, as a child, he saw his future on the stage rather than in the kitchen, and at 13 years old he joined an amateur circus school.
By the time he turned 15, Manu Feildel had decided that the road to becoming a professional clown was a very long process, so he started as an apprentice in his father’s restaurant. After a year, he progressed to a fine dining restaurant where he finished his apprenticeship. Shortly after, Manu was bitten by the travel bug and he packed his knives and headed for London.
His first job at The Cafe Royal was hard, to say the least, as Manu didn’t speak any English. But his perseverance paid off and, after working at restaurants such as Les Associes and Café des Amis du Vin, he took up a position as Chef de Partie at the seafood restaurant Livebait and that's when he says he really began to understand and love the career he had chosen. Manu Feildel stayed with Livebait for couple of years, progressing to Sous-Chef and then Head Chef with the nomination of best seafood restaurant in the UK in 1998.
In 1999 Manu flew to Melbourne where he worked at Toofeys for about 6 months before heading north to Sydney. After 6 months with Hugo’s at Sydney’s famous Bondi Beach, he opened the kitchen at the new Hugo’s Lounge in Kings Cross. Manu ran the kitchen for about 18 months before he moved to Restaurant VII with its exciting fusion of French and Japanese cuisine (2 Chef’s Hats from Sydney Morning Herald).
In 2004, Tony Bilson approached Manu to open his new venture Bilsons at the Radisson Hotel. In its second year of opening, the restaurant won 2 Chef’s Hats, and in its third year, this accolade had increased to 3 Chef’s Hats. In 2008 Bilson’s won three chefs hats for the third year running.
It seems Manu’s career has turned full circle, as he returns to his roots cooking contemporary French cuisine. And in March 2009 Manu has taken over his first restaurant in Paddington, Sydney, where he will get to share his passion for modern French Bistro food.
Manu has had a successful first year at Le’Toile with his first Chef’s Hat awarded in August, and winning the “Shoot the Chef” competition for the Sydney Good Food Month.
Manu will co-host Seven’s My Kitchen Rules in 2010, which is a huge role on prime time television, and he is excited about the challenge. He will continue alongside friends Gary Mehigan, Adrian Richardson and Miguel Maestres in a second series of Boys Weekend. The series was sold to over 100 countries worldwide. Boys Weekend is a 13 part series which first aired in Australia in early 2009 on the Lifestyle Food Channel. Network Ten will air it over the Summer series on Sunday nights from December 2009.