A lacquered Peking duck, glistening straight from a custom-built oven. Fresh mud crab wok-tossed in black pepper sauce. A glass of Champagne beside the water. Stanley has brought a new kind of long lunch, and a seriously good dinner, to Manly Wharf.

Stanley is the newest arrival at Manly Wharf, joining Artemus Group's growing hospitality offering as the team continues its revitalisation of the precinct. Set on the harbourfront, Stanley spans 248 seats across indoor and outdoor dining, a private dining room and a dedicated bar, bringing a lively new gathering place to the Northern Beaches with Cantonese cooking centred on Australian produce, seafood and dishes made for sharing.

The menu begins with the things you want to pass around. White-cut kingfish with aromatic soy and green chilli. Oysters with finger lime, ginger and rice wine vinegar. Moreton Bay bug spring rolls, prawn toast with truffle mayo, and dumplings filled with prawn and coriander or lobster and truffle.

Then come the crisp, moreish dishes: salt-and-pepper squid, chicken wings with fragrant salt and chilli, and cumin-spiced lamb ribs with sesame. Free-range crispy pork belly, honey-glazed char siu and Wagyu Dan Dan noodles bring depth and comfort.

At the centre of it all is the duck. Order it Imperial style and half is carved tableside for pancakes with cucumber, leek and hoisin, while the rest returns as san choy bao. It is theatrical, and it gives everyone at the table a reason to pause. The pancakes also come on their own, for a smaller table with no intention of sharing.

Seafood is another strong thread, and much of it is still swimming when you walk in. The live tanks hold Northern Territory mud crab, Southern Rock Lobster and North Queensland coral trout, priced at market and cooked to order. Ask for the crab wok-tossed in black pepper sauce, or the lobster steamed with white soy, ginger and shallot. Elsewhere on the menu, Yamba pipis arrive with fried bread and XO sauce, QLD coral trout is steamed whole and dressed with soy, ginger and braised mushrooms, and painted tropical crayfish comes as lo mein with garlic butter and roe.

For chef Louis Tikaram, who grew up on the NSW North Coast, Manly is a natural fit.

"Surfing, fishing and being around the ocean have always been a big part of my life," he says. "Being back in a location so closely connected to the ocean is inspiring both personally and professionally."

The drinks list keeps pace. Champagne runs from growers Agrapart and Egly-Ouriet to Dom Pérignon. Rieslings travel from Clare Valley and Tasmania to Mosel and Alsace. A Coravin program makes special bottles, including Ruinart Blanc de Blancs and Arnaud Baillot Pernand-Vergelesses Blanc, available by the glass.

Stanley is made for a group booking, a celebratory dinner, events, or simply a late lunch that is not in a hurry to end.

Stanley is now open at Manly Wharf, with a complimentary wine or beer for locals with their meal all September. For the Beaches, it is another good reason to head to the wharf.

The Chef

Louis Tikaram grew up on a farm at Mullumbimby, cooking beside his grandmother, then trained at Longrain, Bentley Restaurant + Bar and Tetsuya's. In 2014 he took the Good Food Guide's Josephine Pignolet Young Chef of the Year, then spent six years running E.P. & L.P. in Los Angeles. He opened the first Stanley in Brisbane in 2019. Manly is his return to Sydney.

Stanley | Manly Wharf, East Esplanade, Manly | (02) 8201 5066 | stanleyrestaurant.com.au/manly-wharf

Photography: Stanley Manly Wharf