Mild Mannered Megan at Jimmy Fox
From a five-star restaurant to catering for global companies and now serving up homemade goodness to hungry locals, Deb Caruso meets a local chef who takes it all in her stride and finds appreciation in the simple things.
Meet Megan Manners – a self-confessed fitness fanatic, business owner, chef, mother to two young men – and champion of clean eating.
After finishing year twelve and deferring university, the owner of Jimmy Fox admits she ‘fell into cheffing’ after starting an apprenticeship at 19.
“I had started studying for a degree in Medical Nutrition, which is my passion, however my father passed away and I fell pregnant with my first son so life just took over,” she says.
“I was always interested in clean eating and the relationship between food and health so I when I was offered an apprenticeship at a five-star restaurant in Berowra Waters, Sydney I took it.”
Megan finished her apprenticeship as the Head Chef at Customs House in Newcastle where there were six function rooms and a lot of corporate functions for global organisations such as BHP.
“After a few years there, I needed a break so I left and travelled up the East Coast of Australia, landing in Noosa in the year 2000,” Megan recalls, adding that she chose to settle in Noosa after Sydney because she thought it was the next best place for restaurant per capita to get a decent job.
Stints followed at Café Le Monde, Noosa Nosherie and helping Mia at Spoonfed Catering during which time she welcomed another baby boy, who is now 16 and works at Produce Wholesalers, one of Megan’s local suppliers.
“I ended up cooking breakfasts at Café Le Monde which I had never done before,” she said. “From fine dining and five-star catering at Customs House I suddenly had to learn how to cook a breakfast menu.
“It was a fun time, I met some amazing people and I learnt a lot.”
Coming back to her interest in medical nutrition, she took a role as Features Coordinator for Oxygen magazine sourcing content and diving deeper into health and fitness, particularly with regards to clean eating.
“It’s easy to eat clean, it doesn’t have to be tasteless,” she says. “And you don’t have to be a saint about it. I think as long as it’s not all out of a packet and heavily processed, then it’s ok.
“For example, when I use sugar I use raw sugar, not refined sugars and I just adapt my recipes to use unrefined products.”
Returning to the kitchen, Megan worked at Jimmy Fox for three years before buying it from the owner in 2019.
Among the changes she implemented was making everything inhouse as much as possible.
“The previous owners made some ingredients on site but the menu was very small,” she says. “I‘ve broadened it and refined our ingredients like the beef patties are straight from Cooroy Butcher and they’re 100% ground beef – no fillers no mixes.”
Even the buns for the burgers are made onsite, which seems like a lot of work, particularly when the restaurant is open seven days from 7am until 2pm.
“I’m fine with it until I voice it, then I feel tired,” Megan laughs.
She has built a strong and loyal following with the locals and has a number of regulars who make Jimmy Fox part of the daily or weekly routine.
And with Megan’s mild manner and friendly disposition as well as her passion for top-quality ingredients prepared fresh every day, it’s no wonder.
For breakfast, the Brekky Roll with homemade bun, bacon, egg, cheese, and housemade aioli and barbecue sauce is a firm favourite; as are the Pancake Stacks in either a full or half serving – but be warned that you need a hearty appetite to finish the full stack!
“You need to be really hungry or hungover to finish a full stack,” Megan laughs. “Most people end up taking the leftovers home.
“Our menu is based around street food so we have dishes like Nasi Goreng and Savoury Mince which is quite a nostalgic dish. Smashed Avocado is our most popular breakfast dish and we do it with fetta, onion, tomato, coriander with toasted seeds to give it a crunch.”
For lunch, try the New York Burger with beef pattie, locally-smoked bacon, homemade pickles and smoky barbecue sauce, house aioli, salad and your choice of cheese plus handcut chips – which are all made in-house and fried in a dedicated gluten free fryer.
The Bahn Mi with crispy bbq pork belly, Asian slaw, coriander and Thai basil and the Spicy BBQ Pork Belly with spicy bbq sauce on coconut rice are other standout dishes that the locals just love.
The menu is stacked with flavour with many dishes so popular with Megan’s regular customers that she dares not to change it too much. A range of salads are made fresh daily which Megan says allows her to be creative.
All meals are available dine-in or takeaway; there is also a range of frozen meals on offer; and Megan can prepare private catering to suit any dietary needs.
Smoothies and Juices are popular all day, particularly the Number Two which is number one for customers with beetroot, carrot, celery ginger and apple.
For Megan, it’s all about the simple things.
“Noosa is a beautiful place to live and a nice place to bring up the kids,” she says.
“It’s the best of both worlds being close to the city but far enough away with a beautiful hinterland and stunning beaches.
“I love the community, my locals and regulars, and my team – we always have fun; and I love having a place that allows me to be a mum and to be there for my boys to get them to and from where they need to be.”
For Megan, Jimmy Fox is all about being clean, simple and fun.
“It doesn’t have to be hard to be amazing,” she says. “It just has to be simple. Same in life, people need to get back to simplicity and appreciate what they’ve got.” Amen.
