Chef and Co-owner, Pharaoh| Athens, Greece

Manolis Papoutsakis is chef and co-owner of Haroupi and Ten Tables restaurants in Thessaloniki, and the Michelin Bib Gourmand Pharaoh in Athens. He was born and raised in Crete and graduated from the University of Crete where he received his bachelor’s and master’s degree in philosophy. It was during army basic training as a chef that he realized that cooking would become his profession and philosophy his hobby. He then began work on his doctoral thesis on Plato, in Thessaloniki, while simultaneously building his culinary career and honing his skills as a chef. In 2017, Manolis decided to open his own restaurant, Haroupi, an award-winning restaurant that is a dynamic renewal of traditional Cretan cuisine. He is also the chef and co-owner of the esteemed Ten Tables restaurant in Thessaloniki, and the talk of the town with the Michelin Bib Gourmand bar and restaurant, Pharaoh, in Athens. He teaches cooking and has taken part as a judge in several cooking competitions, as well as the Master Chef Junior television competition, while he also had his own cooking show on state television about Public Designation of Origin (PDO) and Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) Greek products. He writes a lot as a guest editor about gastronomy and taste. He travels frequently and loves good food and wine. (Athens, Greece)