manouche st julian’s.

Manouche is a craft bakery and bistro that takes its cue from the old bakeries and bistros of Paris. The brief was to bring back the feel of a classic French bistro, with some of the finesse of the menu. The brand promises food that “is hand-crafted from the highest quality ingredients and mastery of French and European techniques”, so the room had to be made with the same care: rustic and art deco together, carried by the materials, the details and the finish.

The bakery and the bistro keep different hours, so each had to work on its own, without a wall between them. The site didn’t make that easy. The room was skewed, an irregular grid of columns limited the layout, and three entrances decided where people would walk. We layered those constraints with the brief, one at a time, until the plan settled.

We split the kitchen in two, with one shared service pass in the middle so the staff can work both sides. Between the columns we made small nested spaces, and fixed banquettes give people a comfortable seat while quietly dividing the bakery from the bistro.

The banquettes carry on upwards as bulkheads, weaving between the columns and hiding the ventilation. The ceiling drops over the booths, which makes them feel close — good for eating together. We finished those bulkheads in gold leaf or curved timber, so the thing hiding the ducts became a feature.

The headroom was low, but there was still room for a shallow ceiling of treated walnut panels, with acoustic treatment and lighting built in. The dark timber is a nod to the Paris bistros of the early 1900s.

American walnut runs through the whole joinery package, for its shimmering grain and its dark, chocolate-like warmth. Maroon leather, brass, marble and beige tiles sit alongside it and keep the room warm and intimate.

The rest of the seating is classic French bistro chairs, with tables in timber, or in marble and brass. Table sizes and chair comfort change from one side to the other: slower meals in the bistro, quicker visits to the bakery. And the furniture moves, so tables can be grouped in different ways.

Outside, the main entrance stands apart from its neighbours, with timber cornices and panelling taken from the traditional bistros and bakeries of Paris. The window displays hold Manouche’s seasonal chocolate and cakes, in front of solid American walnut panels milled, carved, sanded and varnished to look like melted chocolate — the craft of the kitchen, in timber.

The rest of the façade is glass, floor to ceiling, to let in as much daylight as possible. Inside, the lighting balances the practical, the quiet and the decorative, for the food, the room and the bistro feel.

Everything in the room — the furniture, the light, the materials — points back to the classic French bistro, and to the handmade, inventive work of the chefs. Manouche treats food as something close to art. We tried to do the same with the room, and take the food as our material.