Montreal in light | The chef who revisits the Lyonnais cork

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!

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. »

Although her mother was terrified at the idea of ​​her heading into the kitchen, the strong-headed student enrolled at the Bocuse Institute.

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

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 10^e season of the show Top chefin 2019. Strangely, perhaps, it was during COVID-19 that she was spotted.

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.

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!

Visit the Montréal en Lumière website

From father to daughter… in Montreal in the spotlight

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.

“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.