A high-level fencer who has become a committed star chef, Manon Fleury now sees her journey told to children in the album. From the sword to the stove, its history shakes up the well-established codes of French gastronomy.
Born in Dijon in 1991 and raised in Yonne, she has already lived several lives: sportswoman, literature student, culinary apprentice then owner of her Parisian restaurant Datil, starred by the Michelin Guide. Through this book and her favorite addresses in Paris, she shows a very personal way of experiencing cuisine today.
Manon Fleury, from the sword to the kitchen
As a child, Manon Fleury discovered fencing and progressed quickly to the high level. She became French junior saber champion in 2008, then joined the French junior team. Discipline, precision, pressure management: these sporting reflexes followed her when, after a Parisian hypokhâgne, she branched off at the age of 19 towards a BEP in cooking, the CFA Médéric then Ferrandi.
She trained with William Ledeuil at Ze Kitchen Galerie, with Alexandre Couillon at La Marine, with Pascal Barbot at L’Astrance, and in the United States with Dan Barber at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, where she discovered cuisine linked to agriculture and the environment. Head of Mermoz at the age of 27 in 2018, then passing through Elsa in Monaco and Le Perchoir Ménilmontant, she opened Datil in September 2023, rue des Gravilliers in Paris. , tells Manon Fleury to Challenges magazine. Mainly plant-based, her table also fights against waste: , she explains.
A committed chef who also speaks to children
The Michelin Guide awarded Datil a first star in spring 2024, then a green star the following year for its sustainable approach, supported by a brigade of around twenty people and a profitable model. At the same time, Manon Fleury co-founded the Bondir.e association in 2021, which intervenes in hotel schools to prevent sexist, sexual, physical and psychological violence, “so that young people always want to do this job and stay there”, she explains.
Her story becomes a 48-page children’s album, published on September 10, 2026 by Sens sous sous, in the collection “Great! Heroines of today”. Co-written with author Anne-Fleur Multon and illustrated by Lola Penicaud, follows a little girl passionate about sport who makes her way in a world that has long been masculine. , she explains, quoted by Food & Sens.
Manon Fleury’s good Parisian addresses
At 35, Manon Fleury embodies a generation of chefs who choose their favorite places like their producers: for the product, attention to the seasons and respect for the teams. She recently shared her favorite places in the press, sketching a gourmet Paris made of committed tables, lively wine cellars and cafés where you take your time.
- Its own restaurant Datil, for plant-based, anti-waste cuisine that has won over the Michelin Guide.
- Contemporary bistros focused on vegetables and just-cooked foods.
- Wine bars where we talk as much about the winegrowers as about the bottles.
- Neighborhood markets to choose seasonal fruits, vegetables and cereals.
This network of addresses draws a very clear common thread: a gastronomy of commitment, where the plate, the teams and the working environment count as much as the decor. A coherent way of extending, in the city, the story started in his children’s book as well as in his cooking.
Who is Manon Fleury?
Manon Fleury is a French chef born in 1991, former French junior saber champion, today at the head of the Michelin-starred and sustainable restaurant Datil in Paris.
What is the children’s book “Manon Fleury, a chef like no other” about?
The album tells, for children from primary school, the journey of an athlete who became a committed star chef, between perseverance, ecology, feminism and sorority.
Where is the Datil de Manon Fleury restaurant in Paris?
The Datil restaurant is located on rue des Gravilliers in Paris, and offers predominantly plant-based, seasonal and anti-waste cuisine.
