The guest chef for this month is Stefano Manfredi. I first met Stefano (Steve) in October 2000 when he was a guest judge at the cooking competition at the Oven Valley International Festival. I remember the date as I entered the “Best Traditional Sweet Dish” with my Monte Bianco and I still have the ribbon on the wall in my office.
Over the years Steve has been wonderfully supportive and encouraging and he recently put us in contact with a friend of his, Pino, who produces the most wonderful prosciutto and salami’s. Now it looks like we will be working with local North East pig farmers to produce chestnut fed pork a specialty of Northern Italy and Corsica for Pino. Steve loves helping producers to get the very best from their products and shares his knowledge freely and openly.
Like all professionals he makes the difficult things look simple and is always understating his abilities. His recipe of Roast Turkey Breast and Chestnut Stuffing is Stefano Manfredi’s style – simple and delicious.
Stefano Manfredi is one of Australia’s most celebrated chefs. He has influenced the way we eat since first opening The Restaurant Manfredi in 1983, which won the coveted Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Food Guide’s three hats in 1994- the only Italian restaurant to do so. With the opening of bel mondo in 1996 he stepped firmly on to the international main stage and bel mondo was immediately showered with awards including the Insegna del Ristorante from the Italian Government.
With business partner Julie Manfredi-Hughes, Stefano formed Manfredi Enterprises to design and develop new products, design restaurants and to provide consultative services to the food sector, predominantly restaurants. Espresso di Manfredi by Piazza d’Oro is a successful collaboration with one of the world’s biggest coffee companies, Douwe Egberts, resulting in a national coffee brand and now being exported to 14 countries in Asia.
Manfredi Enterprises has also built a porcelain business using Australian designers and manufacturing abroad. This porcelain is sold in Australia, Europe and the United States.
Stefano is often invited to cook, teach and speak on food in Sydney, interstate and overseas. 2000-2002 saw Steve in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Newcastle, Mudgee within Australia, New Zealand and as a key speaker at The International Olive Oil Council’s Mediterranean Gastronomy Conference in Stresa, Italy. Steve has previously cooked in Jakarta, Hong Kong, Singapore and Rome. In January 2002, Steve presented The Taste of Australia in New York with Neil Perry and Kylie Kwong, appearing on the Today Show and Martha Stewart. In October 2002 Steve was winner of the inaugural International ICIF award presented in Italy.
In 2003/4 Stefano had the great honour of opening The Welcome Wall at Sydney’s Maritime Museum and was guest chef at a number of Sydney and regional events, including: the Proud to be a Chef Scholarship, where he was a judge as well as presenter; the 75th Anniversary Celebration Dinner for the De Bortoli family winery, The Starlight Foundation Dinner, Zonta Cooking for a Cause and the Maestro Gelmetti Welcome Sydney Gala Italian Feast for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
As a regular guest speaker and chef, Stefano speaks on topics ranging from his culinary life and times and Italian food, to the history of modern Australian cuisine and the migrant experience. Stefano is regularly asked to present olive oil, coffee and wine tasting events and holds active, hands-on cooking demonstrations throughout Australia.
Stefano enjoys success as a food writer with his best selling book published in 1993, “Fresh from Italy, Italian cooking for the Australian kitchen”, and a second book “bel mondo beautiful world”. He has written the Italian module for NSW Tafe’s postgraduate course in Contemporary Australian Cuisine. He has been a columnist for the Australian Financial Review and a contributor to The Sydney Morning Herald’s Good Living section.
Currently he has a monthly food column in Australian Doctor Magazine as well as a weekly food column for The Sydney Morning Herald’s Saturday Spectrum section. He also appears online each week in a video on the SMH website, demonstrating a dish from his Spectrum column. He also writes for Voi Tutti, the new magazine of the Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
At the start of February 2005, Stefano launched Manta, a 150 seat Italian seafood restaurant on Wooloomooloo Wharf, with owner Tim Connell. Currently he is executive chef at Balla at Star City Casino complex in Sydney as well as Bells at Killare on the north coast of New South Wales. He is the chestnut industry ambassador and a wonderful supporter of all things chestnut….Back to Blog
