A Grand Environment – Manon Brasserie by H&E Architects

Street-corner establishments have a particular influence over the vitality of their surroundings – a welcoming business with a ceaseless clientele can inspire the kind of civic life that cities are slowly starting to regain. The Manon Brasserie, a handsome all-day French eatery designed by Chris Grinham of H&E Architects, has already brought new life into Sydney’s historic Queen Victoria Building. Marrying elements of the QVB’s historic architecture with details that evoke Parisian brasseries of years past, Manon is poised to revitalise an intersection with the allure of good food in a grand environment.

Simultaneously relaxed and upscale, Manon’s interiors reflect the cuisine that is served. White-coated waiters carry plates of steak frites and niçoise salad against a backdrop of aged red leather booths, timber and brass accents, an eye-catching arched back bar and a high ceiling accentuated by subtle plaster detailing. As the menu changes from breakfast to lunch and then dinner, the atmosphere of the brasserie shifts to suit each mealtime, with sunlight streaming in through large windows during the day and three grandiose chandeliers illuminating the interior in the evenings.

Marrying elements of the QVB’s historic architecture with details that evoke Parisian brasseries of years past, Manon is poised to revitalise an intersection with the allure of good food in a grand environment.

Situated on a busy street corner in Sydney’s CBD, Manon is intentionally designed to encourage a favourite Parisian pastime – people watching. A large glass façade crowned with colourful glass panels runs the length of the brasserie, casting both diners and passers-by as epicurean extras in each other’s lives. Whether they are experiencing the brasserie from the inside or the outside, all of Manon’s visitors may be momentarily transported to Place de la Bastille, or perhaps Canal Saint-Martin in Paris.

The sumptuous Manon Brasserie is a testament to H&E Architects’s protean nature and ability to create spaces, whether residential or commercial, that enliven and inspire. In a site with enormous potential that has stood empty for over two years, Manon has emerged as a vibrant reinvigoration of a historic location and stands to become the neighbourhood’s new gathering place of choice.