Sydney Chefs

Christine Manfield

In 2000 the Paramount closed its doors. It was the successor to the Paragon Cafe which opened in 1991 and was run by Chris Manfield in the kitchen with Margie Harris on the floor.

A review by Michael Dowe for the Sydney Morning Herald awarded it a score of 14 out of 20 and described it as being "the Sydney Asian scene" and as a "welcome addition to city dining ... [with] relaxed service ... [and] scrumptious food". It was also highly recommended by Terry Durack in the Age for food which is "honest and gutsy". It was clearly the new kid on the block.

"I trained as a primary teacher in Adelaide", said Christine, "and also ran a catering business for about three years with a friend. We did small dinner parties, catered for rock bands, did some weddings and big things but mainly went into people's homes and cooked dinners for ten to fifteen people. What we cooked depended on what they wanted which was fairly mixed.

"I am a self taught cook and have always had a lot of friends in the restaurant business so by hanging round with them have picked up a lot; people like Janet Jeffs, the original chef at Possums, and Kath Kerry

"I first started up a restaurant in a guest house in Robe with Margie's sister which ran for about six months in 1986 and then went from there to work at Petaluma with Kath Kerry for 15 months. I had previously given up teaching and spent six months in Paris deciding what I wanted to do. I did not try to work there because of the attitude to women. Working for one of the good restaurants in France would be good but I'm not too entranced about the idea of working for nothing which seems to be the way it's done.

"I first met Phillip [Searle] years ago when he had Possums; the restaurant was started by his partner Barry [Ross], and Janet Jeffs was the first chef in the early stages then Philip was there from 1983-85. They left the restaurant in July 1985 and came to Sydney."

"Adelaide is a really hard market, hard to crack and Possums was too contemporary to crack it. It was very hard to get custom on a regular basis; the population is small and the market can be a bit fickle. Sydney is fickle too but on a bigger scale.

"I had made contact with Phillip and really wanted to work with him and when I first came to Sydney I was head chef at a place called The Wharf for two and a half months until I could get into Oasis Seros where I started in May 1988 and worked there for two years until we started Paragon in June 1990."

"Probably", was the answer with a laugh; but then corrected herself and thought maybe another five years -- "prepared to slog it out for another five years and then would re-evaluate". She finds that she "needs regular short holidays to get away from routine and to work out what is happening in the world and to maintain some sort of sanity in it all".

"I am not interested in 'bistro' food -- that is a straightforward list of standards -- the food is not worked, not cared for enough. The food is simple and there is a place for that; we came in at that level but trying different things; we have a similar price structure but offering an entirely different product; showing that you don't have to look at food like that; you don't have to have the french fries with the steak; there is all this other stuff, there are more exciting flavours about; there is nothing wrong with a bit of garlic, I am interested in Asian flavours -- Phillip has been a mentor and guru but I don't like to think that I am as prescriptive as that, there are other things; to me as long as its fairly gutsy and full on I'm interested in it; for example, I love Italian and Mediterranean flavours and I don't see myself as limiting my style and what I do to any one kitchen and I think that's very important and is starting to develop elsewhere. Hard to categorise, hard to label ourselves, it's not right to say local or Australian; when you say eclectic it seems more superficial but it's something that is also happening on the west coast of America but you don't have to call it Californian. It's a movement which is getting to the root of things, to the guts of the issue. There is a definite trend developing -- we don't have to copy straight down the line what other people are doing; we don't have to label ourselves Californian but there's always been that thing with Australians that they are too frightened to promote ourselves and our ideas. But it's difficult because we don't have that historical background; we've always cooked sort of bits and pieces from here and there. We don't have a sense of history."

Christine talked admiringly about the diversity and about how much you can learn from different cuisines and all the fantastic things waiting to try -- "there are some fantastic ideas wherever you look; you can always pick up any sort of book and find some idea that you can take and work on it -- I guess that's the real issue -- in not limiting yourself in what you do and what you're prepared to do. I guess until we can come up with some sort of label that's acceptable that its going to be difficult. I always experiment with dishes I never go cold."

"We are very happy here now and plan to stay for some time; We had no idea what it would be like working here in the CBD; it's quite a different clientele and lunchtime is really busy ; it's really encouraging that in six months that we can convince these people; the business sector is really conservative; we were told that you don't feed business people garlic and chilli at lunchtime but in fact they ask for it; they seem to want those tastes; the things that sell most on my menu are the spiced things, what I would call the more outrageous things."

"Gay [Bilson] is important and has had a lot to do with the way people respond to the modern interpretation of food. Her style has changed and developed over the years but Berowra is now an institution and runs on a formula.

"Damien [Pignolet] sets a style for the classic French. He is a yard stick for others."

Tony Bilson, she thought that his current restaurant [Fine Bouche] was working well but that Bilsons never worked, that "it tried to use the stunning view with all the classic European trappings and that was not comfortable for Sydney. They want a more casual approach and were a bit freaked out by the formality -- also it was continually compared unfavourably with Berowra which was not fair, especially in its early days -- people are so unforgiving".

"Mogens [Bay Esbensen] was known years ago at Butlers as being in the French style. He cooked more Thai food at Port Douglas and became known for that, particularly with the release of his book. But when he came back to Butlers a couple of years ago -- it never really worked; it was a strange mixture; the mixture was not within one dish -- he would have two soups -- a classic French and a Thai one. It was never a fusion but some ideas from this country and some ideas from another.

"Phillip [Searle] -- when you work with Phillip, its unlike any other chef -- with him we know no bounds; there are no rules -- "let's see how far we can go with this". His experiments sometimes work, sometimes don't. It's a style which is hard to come to terms with and that's the problem for Australia now -- what is modern Australian cuisine -- what is the terminology. It is the responsibility of the press to continually explain what's happening here because people need to be told. The Australian character thinks that getting value for money is more likely if the place is defined -- if it's French or Italian -- if it's a mixture then they're not sure what you'll get and what it should cost.

There should be room for all styles, for everyone; people should accept the whole range but they only want what's fashionable at the time and they only want what they read about and what the press tell them. Unless you're written about it's hard to convince people what you're doing is valid.

Christine and Margie left the Paragon Cafe to open the Paramount at 75 Macleay Street, Potts Point. They are are now part of the Sydney food establishment as Christine's recently published book "Paramount Food" demonstrates. The restaurant was awarded two hats in the 1995 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide.