
SYDNEY -- "Just two people found us on the first night," says Italian chef Stefano Manfredi of his first restaurant, which opened 32 years ago on Harris Street in Sydney's Ultimo neighborhood. "But they were an elegant couple."

Manfredi opened his eponymous venture at the age of 28 and was in a small group of chefs working to introduce their beloved northern-Italian cuisine to Sydney. With then-wife and current business partner Julie Manfredi-Hughes, the Italian chef 's reputation has quietly grown allowing him to build a low-key but respected series of restaurants that currently numbers five.