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Julie Laurent
Food
D'ICI ET D'AILLEURS
Nino & Nona : La Maison Géorgienne
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Susie Waroude
For Nino and Nona, creators of La Maison Géorgienne, working as a family, with fresh herbs and lots of spices, is the recipe for happiness.
Nino (on the left) and Nona (on the right), are sisters from Georgia, and the town of Dusheti to be precise, located 40 km from the capital city, Tbilisi. Nona arrived in France first, in the late 1990s. She was looking to work in catering, with some experience under her belt and a desire to learn French. She moved to Lyon soon after, where she was joined by her sister, Nino, who was looking for a city with an open outlook on food, to indulge her passion for Georgian cuisine. Luck was on their side.
In 2019, the theme of the world hospitality and food service event Sirha* was Georgia and its traditional dishes. This provided a platform for the two sisters, who forged ahead and enrolled in a business creation and catering course, run by the association ‘Entrepreneurs du Monde’ in Villeurbanne. This offered an opportunity for them to serve their dishes in the school’s food truck ‘Des Saveurs et des Ailes’, which was a springboard for them to start their first catering business. They have held a stall at the food court La Commune since April 2021 and would now like to open their own restaurant: “A childhood dream. In Lyon, we are pioneers.”
It’s all about the spices
Nino and Nona’s menu gives vegetables pride of place, as well as sweet and savoury flavours. Their dishes are created with pleasure, love and recipes handed down through the generations, with a few adjustments that give them a local twist. This is because it is not always easy to source authentic Georgian ingredients from local suppliers. For example, unable to find Sulguni (a Georgian cow's milk cheese) they opted for a subtle blend of feta and mozzarella to fill their Khachapuri, cheese-filled bread that is very popular throughout the Caucasus. However, the sisters remain adamant: “Khachapuri is Georgian!” For the spices, it is impossible to find alternatives. Nino and Nona therefore buy their Svanetian salt, Imereti saffron, Greek fennel and purple-leaved basil (not to be confused with its Italian cousin) directly in Georgia. On the other hand, they love Grenoble walnuts which they discovered here when looking for something to make their famous walnut paste: “They’re to die for! They are the only kind we will buy now.”
"A mainly vegetarian menu"
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Julie Laurent
BRIEF BIO:
1999 : Nona arrives in Verdun, France
2006 : Nino joins her sister, who now lives in Lyon
2020 : The Entrepreneurs du Monde school food truck
2022 : Move to La Commune (Lyon 69007)
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