|
|
 |
Christine Manfield
|
| |
Christine Manfield's cookbook Stir marks just the latest chapter in a remarkably diverse career as a highly acclaimed chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, newspaper columnist, food manufacturer, cooking teacher, and tour guide to exotic gastronomic centers worldwide. Her culinary work draws on the exciting tastes and flavors of many cultures, and her passion and skills have gained a steadily growing following among food professionals around the world.
A native of Australia, Manfield left her earlier career as a teacher in the mid-1980s to begin the swift climb over the following decade to recognition as an iconoclastic pioneer in the culinary world. Her ceaseless experimentation and natural skills have produced a highly personal cuisine that seamlessly marries traditional European technique with a diversity of Asian influences.
Manfield swiftly established her reputation on the Australian gastronomic scene with stints as chef at top restaurants such as Petaluma in Adelaide and Oasis Seros in Sydney. With longtime "front of house" partner Margie Harris, she then embarked on a new career as chef-restaurateur at Paragon, Phoenix and, in 1993, the legendary Paramount Restaurant in Sydney.
Manfield's seven-year run at the Paramount secured her reputation as one of the most exciting new chefs on the international scene, with foodies from the culinary capitals of Europe, North America and Asia making Paramount a mandatory stop on any trip to Australia. Her tenure at Paramount also inspired the first in her series of award-winning cookbooks published in Australia, including Paramount Cooking, Paramount Desserts, and Spice.
Closing of the Paramount at the end of 2000 opened a new chapter in Manfield's career. Her lively appreciation of spices and their essential role in home cooking led her to develop her own specialty line of prepared spices, including a variety of Asian and Mediterranean pastes and condiments featured prominently in her culinary creations. Her frequent cooking classes and demonstrations show her considerable talent for teaching and inspiring young chefs, and her "Spice" gastronomic tours have taken culinary travelers to such exotic destinations as Morocco, India and Turkey.
The latest chapter in Manfield's unique professional journey started in October 2003 with opening of her first restaurant outside Australia--this time in the heart of London's Soho and theater districts. In embarking on this eagerly anticipated new venture, appropriately named East@West, Manfield said that "it is my intention to introduce Londoners to a unique kaleidoscope of Asian flavors and refined textures that has become my benchmark and signature. The aesthetic will be inspired by the traditions and flavors of Vietnam, China and Japan, which I will meld together to create new, distinctive and definitive combinations consistent with my desire for inventiveness and the need to challenge."
Manfield's flair for culinary exploration and adventure has won over the sophisticated diners of London, garnering East&West the coveted "Best New Restaurant" award in the prestigious Tatler magazine 2004 survey of UK restaurants. London restaurant critic Matthew Fort writes in The Guardian, "Not only do I find the dishes themselves brilliant..., but the contrast between them also sets up a kind of rhythm between the sets of flavors."
The launch of Manfield's new London restaurant coincided with the Ici La Press release in autumn 2003 of Stir, Manfield's fourth cookbook but the first to be published in the United States. David Meagher, in his recent profile of Manfield in The Australian Financial Review Magazine, observed that the Ici La Press publication of Stir "not only puts Manfield in good company--it sets her on the path to cracking the US market."
On the eve of her restaurant opening, Manfield explained that her decision to "surrender to the demands of the kitchen again" is quite in keeping with the course of her professional life. "My 18-year food career which started in Adelaide has evolved in ways I never expected, and this latest opportunity adds a global dimension that on reflection seems inevitable," she said. "It certainly offers a fabulous challenge."
The common theme that brings together the many threads of Manfield's culinary career is her passion for good food. "My philosophy of life and work," she wrote, "is based on the premise that life is too short to eat bad food. I am motivated by passion, care and integrity.... My ambition has always been the pursuit of excellence, and that is what guides me in my work and my life."
|
| |
| |
London's "Best New Restaurant" - Christine Manfield's new restaurant East@West has made quite a stir on the sophisticated London culinary scene, capturing the coveted "Best New Restaurant" award in Tatler magazine's 2004 survey. The critics agree that Manfield's innovative interpretations and style are once again breaking down cultural barriers in world cuisine. |
| |
The world of Chris Manfield - A guide to Manfield's latest ventures in the UK and Australia |
|
