Louis Tikaram will return to Sydney in September to open Stanley, a 212-seat Cantonese restaurant at Manly Wharf
The restaurant will join Artemus Group’s growing hospitality portfolio at the wharf and follows the original Stanley, which opened at Brisbane’s Howard Smith Wharves in 2019.
A Sydney homecoming
Louis grew up on a 110-acre farm near Mullumbimby on the NSW North Coast, with his approach to food shaped in part by his Fijian-Chinese grandmother.
One of the dishes he has spoken about most often is freshly caught rock cod, steamed simply with ginger, shallots and soy sauce at her home in Lami, north-west of Suva.
He spent a decade working in Sydney kitchens, beginning as an apprentice at Longrain before moving through Bentley Restaurant + Bar and Tetsuya’s.
He later returned to Longrain as head chef in 2011 and was named the 2014 Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year.
Louis left Australia to lead EP & LP in West Hollywood, where he spent five years before returning in 2019 to head the opening kitchen at Stanley in Brisbane.
The restaurant gave him the opportunity to build a menu around Cantonese cooking, Australian produce and the food he grew up eating. The Sydney venue will carry that approach forward rather than replicate the Brisbane restaurant exactly.
Built around live seafood
Stanley will span 212 seats across indoor and outdoor dining areas, a private dining room and a dedicated bar.
The kitchen and dining room have been designed around the style of cooking. Plans include live seafood tanks, a custom-built woodfired duck oven and tableside Peking duck service, with live mud crab also expected to feature.
At least three seafood tanks will separate the kitchen from the dining room, compared with the single back-of-house tank used in Brisbane.
The tanks are designed to hold produce including pippies, lobster, abalone and blue swimmer crabs.
The woodfired oven will also bring more of the duck program into view. Louis has said the ducks take five days to prepare before being roasted and carved tableside.
The name is drawn from Hong Kong’s Stanley Bay, with the waterfront setting central to the concept.
Louis grew up surfing and fishing on the North Coast and has described returning to a location closely connected to the water as important both personally and professionally.
The group behind the opening
Artemus Group operates across property development and hospitality.
It developed Howard Smith Wharves into a precinct incorporating restaurants, bars, a brewery and accommodation, and is now progressing its wider plans for Manly Wharf.
Stanley will become part of that broader hospitality precinct rather than opening as a standalone venue.
It joins the group’s expanding Manly portfolio as Artemus continues to develop the waterfront destination.
The cooking
The menu will focus on Australian seafood, meat and seasonal produce prepared through Cantonese flavours and techniques.
Louis describes the restaurant’s philosophy as “great food, friends, fishermen and farmers”.
In Brisbane, that approach has been built around close relationships with growers, fishermen and specialist suppliers, while the Sydney opening gives him an opportunity to work again with NSW produce and seafood.
The menu structure is expected to remain close to Brisbane, with roasted meats, stir-fries, dumplings, noodles and live seafood, alongside new dishes developed for Manly.
Louis has already pointed to South Coast oysters, tuna from Ulladulla and other NSW-specific seafood as produce he is looking forward to working with again.
Why it matters
Stanley is a significant kitchen opening for Sydney, both in scale and in the specialist skills the operation will require.
A 212-seat Cantonese restaurant built around live seafood, a dedicated duck program, dim sum and wok cooking will need depth across the brigade.
Recruiting chefs with experience in Cantonese kitchens, seafood handling, roasting and high-volume service will be central to the opening.
It also brings a large, technique-led Cantonese restaurant to the Northern Beaches, backed by an operator continuing to invest across the wider wharf precinct.
For chefs and suppliers, the opening is worth watching not only because of Louis’s return to Sydney, but because of the size of the kitchen, its focus on live seafood and the team required to deliver the concept from September.
