Manuel Monade

Manuel Monade moved to the UK in 1987, from Paris, where he was studying archaeology and art history at La Sorbonne. In London, he first qualified as a chef before baking in various West End restaurants in the 1980s and 1990s. He joined the original team at St John Restaurant in Smithfield, where head chef and owner Fergus Henderson insisted on having real artisan bread freshly baked in-house for each service. Dan Lepard, the main baker, introduced Manuel to breadmaking. When Dan left, Manuel...See more

Manuel Monade moved to the UK in 1987, from Paris, where he was studying archaeology and art history at La Sorbonne. In London, he first qualified as a chef before baking in various West End restaurants in the 1980s and 1990s. He joined the original team at St John Restaurant in Smithfield, where head chef and owner Fergus Henderson insisted on having real artisan bread freshly baked in-house for each service. Dan Lepard, the main baker, introduced Manuel to breadmaking. When Dan left, Manuel took over the small bakery and never returned to working as a chef again. Manuel returned to France to train at l'Institut National de la Boulangerie Pâtisserie in Rouen before returning to work in London. For many years he worked with Matt Jones at Flourpower City Bakery, before becoming a teacher at Bread Ahead baking school. See less