The expression “Everything in the pig is good” has never been more true than during the meal orchestrated by Marie-Victorine Manoa and the team at the Mon Lapin restaurant for Montreal in Lights. Protein immersion in the gourmet world of a young French chef to follow.
Head, foot, blood, fat, rind, loin, bones and offal were all there in a way that was as original as it was delicious and accessible during this meal held on Monday, February 26. Originally from Lyon, where her father has been running a cork for over 45 years, Marie-Victorine has pork products deeply rooted in her DNA. This mastery is necessary to dip puffed rind in chocolate… and make it a treat!
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PHOTO VICTOR DIAZ LAMICH, PROVIDED BY MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE
Everything from the pork was cooked. In the center, the superb brioche pudding.
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PHOTO VICTOR DIAZ LAMICH, PROVIDED BY MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE
Slices of brioche pudding were served with apple, sorrel cream and horseradish.
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PHOTO VICTOR DIAZ LAMICH, PROVIDED BY MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE
On the right, curds of very herbal offal topped with thin slices of ear. On the left, endives with marrow and crispy star potatoes.
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PHOTO VICTOR DIAZ LAMICH, PROVIDED BY MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE
This crispy foot pancake, whose collagen stuck to the teeth, hid Jerusalem artichokes.
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Like any restaurateur’s child, she spent late evenings sleeping on the rattan chairs in the dining room, while the adults feasted with cannons of Beaujolais. Without her really realizing it, this typical cuisine of the “city of gastronomy” has infused itself into her.
At first, Marie-Victorine did not accept it. “When we grow up in a certain environment, we wonder if it really suits us. I didn’t really have any regard for this popular cuisine, because it was so much a part of me. »
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PHOTO VICTOR DIAZ LAMICH, PROVIDED BY MONTRÉAL EN LUMIÈRE
Wines from Domaine Lapierre, in Beaujolais, accompanied the meal. They were served by Mathieu Lapierre himself.
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PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Marie-Victorine Manoa and Mathieu Lapierre have known each other forever.
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Although her mother was terrified at the idea of her heading into the kitchen, the strong-headed student enrolled at the Bocuse Institute.
Today, it is no longer the restoration of 10 years ago. Things have changed a lot. And even though, yes, it is a very difficult job, it is also a life of celebration. We are here to bring joy and to create happy ecosystems. I wouldn’t want to do anything else.
Marie-Victorine Manoa
After her years in Lyon, the graduate exiled herself from the cooking of her childhood and explored other ways of doing things – quite diametrically opposed, thank you! – at René Redzepi’s Noma, in Copenhagen, at Alex Atala (DOM), in São Paulo, then at Daniel Humm, in New York, at Eleven Madison Park.
It was upon learning that her father, Jean-Louis Manoa, wanted to sell the family cork that she returned home. “There, I fell in love with this cuisine, for these meals that make noise, that last a long time, with lots of wine. Le Mercière is a very small kitchen where you can make 150 covers in one evening with just three people. During the year I was there, we revised the menu a bit and it went so well that my father decided not to sell the restaurant. »
Out of the shadows
PHOTO @SARAHJOCTEUR, TAKEN FROM THE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT @MARIEVICTORINEMANOA
In 2023, Marie-Victorine Manoa created an event menu for Hermès.
The handover was not necessarily in Jean-Louis Manoa’s plans, his daughter headed to Paris to start making a name for herself. She was (briefly) a candidate for the 10e season of the show Top chefin 2019. Strangely, perhaps, it was during COVID-19 that she was spotted.
I cooked clandestine meals at home. They were great evenings with lots of cool wine references that restaurateur friends passed on to me. Then, one evening, Alain Ducasse came to eat!
Marie-Victorine Manoa
The great chef then spoke to him about his restaurant Aux Lyonnais, a rare stopover in the City of Lights, the only one to hold the official label. He offered the position of chef to Marie-Victorine, who was not yet 30 years old.
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PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT @MARIEVICTORINEMANOA
Aspic revisited by Marie-Victorine Manoa
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PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT @MARIEVICTORINEMANOA
Small raw fish (jols) in a quick marinade, with fennel, kiwi and sorrel, which was on the menu at Aux Lyonnais.
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PHOTO @SARAHJOCTEUR, TAKEN FROM THE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT @MARIEVICTORINEMANOA
Another dish that Aux Lyonnais customers were able to taste: Argenteuil asparagus, small fermented fish (jols), morels.
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PHOTO TAKEN FROM THE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT @MARIEVICTORINEMANOA
Pork rind soaked in cocoa, with dried berries, hyssop and fleur de sel
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It’s a refreshed Lyonnais cork cuisine that the hard worker put on the menu for two years. “I am very instinctive. I have a phobia of scales. I can be obsessive when looking for a particular taste, but otherwise my approach is freestyle. I also prefer to train my colleagues by instinct rather than by recipe. “Season to taste,” said Alain Chapel. You have to learn to observe, to taste, to trust your senses. »
This approach also applies to choosing your next home, the project of the moment. If the most recent months have been occupied by more event-type meals, with hand-picked clients like Hermès, Marie-Victorine is looking for a place to settle down, in Paris.
Her visit to Montreal – the second since October, when she participated in the filming of an episode of the French show Very very good, where she has been chronicling for two years – came at the right time. She discovered work environments here that were much more balanced and happy than those she was used to in Europe. This is a model that we can be proud to export!
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From father to daughter… in Montreal in the spotlight
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Jean-Louis Manoa (center), surrounded by Yves Rivoiron (left) and Gilles Maysonnave (right), exactly 20 years ago, in Montréal en Lumière
20 years ago, Jean-Louis Manoa had to cook at Pied de Cochon. The wines served must have been those of his good friend Marcel Lapierre (died in 2010), godfather of Marie-Victorine. But after an argument with Martin Picard, the chef and his assistant never showed up for the meal!
A sign that times and temperaments are changing, the days spent by the young French chef at the Mon Lapin restaurant seem to have been pure happiness.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Jessica Noël, co-chef and co-owner of Mon Lapin, talks with Marie-Victorine Manoa during the set-up of the two Montreal Highlights meals.
“It was a great experience working with Marie-Victorine,” Jessica Noël, co-chef and co-owner of the restaurant voted “Best in Canada” in 2023, wrote to us, the day after the last meal served during Montreal in Lights. She has a very sharp vision and points of view. She works so hard! His cuisine is very beautiful, but above all very tasty, and his style harmonizes well with what we already do at Mon Lapin. We learned lots of techniques. All the cooks loved working with her. »
To complete the circle, Mathieu Lapierre, son of Marcel and regular in Quebec, came from Beaujolais to serve the estate’s wines during the two Montreal Highlights meals held on February 25 and 26.