Former junior National Fencing Champion – and former member of the French National Fencing Team – Manon Fleury studied classical cooking at Ferrandi before honing her skills with the likes of Alexandre Couillon (La Marine), Pascal Barbot (Astrance) and Dan Barber (Blue Hill at Stone Barns). The career of this bright young chef then took off in 2018 when she became the Chef of Mermoz at just 27. At this point, she was already becoming convinced of the importance of social responsibility and the future of plant-based cuisine.
Datil is the name of a heritage plum that would have been extinct if it hadn’t been saved by the Regional Plant Conservatory of Aquitaine. It’s also the common name of a pepper from South America and means 'dates' (the food) in Spanish. Crucially, it is also the name of a ground-breaking collective project that is Manon's brainchild.
It had no sooner opened than it had been vetted and approved by The MICHELIN Guide Inspectors. The fledgling restaurant – run by Manon and four co-chefs – was born in September 23 and almost overnight became something of a UFO in Paris’s traditional restaurant solar system. We met the dream team and chatted about feminism, wellbeing in the kitchen, creating an inclusive workplace and sustainable gastronomy. In short, the future of restaurants.
All For Five and Five For All!
In terms of management, it’s a revolution. There are no Chefs or Sous Chefs, but a high-flying quintet of cooks who contribute equally. Manon joined forces with Laurène Barjhoux, whose CV boasts stints at Mandarin Oriental with Thierry Marx and Three MICHELIN Star and Green Star Arpège with Alain Passard. “We met when Manon was at Mermoz in Paris, and then worked together at Elsa in Monaco, which strengthened our ties and taught us how to work as a team,” recalls Laurène.The Datil team also includes: Juliette Barry, a former member of the teams of Guy Martin (Cristal Room Baccarat), Michel Guérard (Three MICHELIN Star Les Prés d’Eugénie) and Adeline Grattard (One MICHELIN Star Yam’tcha and Bib Gourmand Lai’Tcha); Céline Canivez, the daughter of farmers who spent over two years at Two MICHELIN Star and Green Star L’Air du Temps in Belgium; and finally Manon Grados, former Sous Chef at One MICHELIN Star Violon d’Ingres with Christian Constant, whp also spent periods at the One MICHELIN Star restaurants Tour d’Argent and Neige d’Eté.
“We ended up with a shortlist of three chefs, all with excellent profiles, and finally decided to hire them all – offering them the same salary,” Manon explains. The thinking behind this decision was that they would be interchangeable. “We’ve only been open for four months, but every chef has changed position at least once. We endeavour to ensure that everyone is highly versatile and as at home with desserts as with fish.”
'Faiminisme' and Sisterhood
A Head Sommelier (Valentine Roustit), a Head Waitress (Frederikke Lau) and a Front of House Manager (Adèle Nogues) complete Datil's mightily impressive ensemble. Noticing a trend, we wonder whether you have to be a woman to work at Datil? “We didn’t set out to hire only women chefs,” laughs Manon. “It just turned out that the best resumés were those from women.” In fact, the restaurant does also employ a male Kitchen Porter and a male Head Waiter within the team.Naturally enough, this matriarchy champions a 'faiministe' outlook, echoing the neologism playing on 'feminist' and 'faim' (the French word for hunger) coined by Nora Bouazzouni – whose brilliant essay, subtitled 'When sexism sits down to eat', was published by Nouriturfu in 2017. “We wanted to implement a horizontal structure with more room for dialogue,” says Laurène. “Manon is the majority shareholder and she’s the one with the bank loan. We’re otherwise pretty free, because we don’t have investors breathing down our necks.”
Ending to Violence in Kitchens
"We don’t live in a Teletubbies world" declares Manon. "But, at a time when so few people are interested in working in restaurants, perhaps we should ask ourselves why. As it’s almost impossible to reduce the number of working hours, we operate a rota which means that we work rotating shifts and we’re also closed at the weekend. We endeavour to ensure that each chef gets several days or evenings off a week."In May 2021, Manon and 20 or so other chefs, including Laurène, co-founded the association Bondir.e, which aims to prevent violence in kitchens, with a particular focus on catering school students.
"The association helped us immensely when we were planning Datil," agrees Laurène. "We developed a charter of good behaviour for the restaurant: no racism, no lack of respect, no homophobia. Of course, everyone says the wrong thing sometimes; but what matters is that we know how to act when things go haywire and how to defuse delicate situations."
Putting Vegetables in the Limelight
At Datil, the cooking revolves around plants. "This doesn’t necessarily mean vegetarian," Manon points out. "We didn’t want to restrict ourselves and wanted to ensure that we could still cook the ingredients we loved. Even if plants remain central to our culinary DNA, at the moment, for example, we work with sea urchin, monkfish and scallops as well."Before Datil opened, the entire team went round and each visited one of our artisan suppliers. This raised our awareness about the issue of respect for animal welfare – in relation to how the animal is raised and slaughtered – and it felt as if it was our duty to support these producers. Because, at the end of the day, if we don’t support the work of small fishing boats who fish respectfully and carefully, who will?"
Food is Political
“Datil is firmly anchored in the zeitgeist and today’s world, and we endeavour to remain in touch with reality," suggests Manon. "We are acutely aware of the issue of climate change and are determined to feed people whilst ensuring that we protect the living world and nature in all its diversity.”Most of the restaurant’s produce comes from two market gardeners who are located less than 100km from the restaurant: Erwan Humbert of Ferme des Prés Neufs (Longpont-sur-Orge) and Xavier Fender of Ferme des Limons de Toulotte (Sancy-lès-Provins). The latter has managed to become self-sufficient in his water usage by collecting rainwater in a pond dug for the purpose.
"When we get out and meet them, we gain a better understanding of the issues facing our fishermen, market gardeners and breeders," contends Manon. "We get a better grasp of how they operate and work. As a result, we adapt to them rather than vice versa."
Objective: Zero Waste
"We have been given this label because of our committed approach and because we work with short supply chains. But for us this ethos is genuine and deep-rooted – it is the antithesis of greenwashing," Manon asserts.It entails countless tiny eco-responsible gestures – day in, day out. "The first thing we serve is a stock made from vegetable peelings – at the moment, potato peelings. The meal ends with a herbal tea made from plum stones, in tribute to our name. With dishes like this, we are trying to use every part of each ingredient: cream of vanilla pods, cakes made out of carrot tops, oil from whole carcasses.” she concludes.
Hero Image: Datil’s Chefs © Pauline Gouablin
