TV food presenter Manu Feildel is jumping back on the horse that has thrown him more than once, opening a Sydney restaurant on Friday, July 12. The veteran chef says his new Rozelle eatery will profit from his previous ventures.

“I’m not doing it for the accolades or [chasing] hats any more,” he says. “I’m definitely more mature, I just want to cook good food, not push to reinvent the wheel. I’m happy in my own skin.”

In November, Good Food revealed Feildel was tipped to take the first-floor restaurant space at the 196-year-old Red Lion Hotel, near the former site of Tetsuya’s on Darling Street. The chef says Bistro Red Lion by Manu is a collaboration with the pub’s owner, the deep-pocketed Laundy Hotels.

In 2021, Feildel said a lot of things would need to change in Australia to get him back in the business, following a string of closures. Aperitif in Kings Cross shut in 2011, Paddington bistro L’etoile followed in 2014, and Duck In Duck Out, at World Square, closed in 2018.

The veteran chef concedes trading conditions have worsened since 2021, but was lured to the project by his long-standing friendship with Jamie Gannon, Laundy Hotel’s group executive chef, with whom he’ll co-steer the bistro.

Feildel maintains Sydney diners are more focused on good food and service and “people don’t care so much about the surrounds”, (although the Red Lion has had a snazzy revamp).

With his long-standing role as presenter on My Kitchen Rules, it’s easy to forget Feildel ran one of Sydney best brigades at high-end Sydney restaurant of the day, Bilson’s. At Bistro Red Lion by Manu, he says he’ll skip high-wire dining for “delicious, approachable food”.

The sixth-generation chef will use his father’s recipe for French country-style pâté served with prune and Armagnac jam, and deliver a menu that hops from scallop gratinee to a fish stew of Murray cod and mussels, double-baked cheese souffle and a chargrilled pork tomahawk with braised fennel and mustard sauce.

Feildel might be playing it a little safer, but there’s still room for a little showtime. He’s fine-tuning a flambe dessert that combines crepes Suzette with affogato. “We’ll serve it in a Marie Antoinette champagne glass,” he says.

Open Thu dinner; Fri-Sun lunch and dinner from Friday, July 12

726 Darling Street, Rozelle, redlionrozelle.com.au