In spite of a history of professional chefs in his family, including his father and a grandfather, Feildel decided to join a circus school at age 13 and learnt juggling, unicycling, clowning and some acrobatics.

Feidel relocated to Australia in 1999,[3] he worked at a number of restaurants for several years before opening the kitchen as head chef at Bilson's on invitation of its owner, offering contemporary French cuisine.

[4][5] However, the restaurant closed in March 2014, with Feildel citing a "nightmare year" with too much happening including his My Kitchen Rules commitments and increased competition that had hurt his business, meaning he could no longer afford to stay open.

It was announced on 23 October 2019 that Feildel would join former MasterChef judges Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston in 2020 on a new cooking competition show called Plate of Origin.

[14] In March 2013, Feildel trekked the Kokoda Track to raise money for CanTeen, the Australian organisation for young people living with cancer.

Manu prepared a selection of "rude" looking dishes to raise awareness for "below the belt" (penile, prostate, testicular, bladder and kidney) cancers.

Manu participated in the 2020 Below the Belt #YourWay Challenge in September 2020, completing 854 kilometres on his bicycle and raising $987 for cancer research.