Mimi cave a manger gluten free restaurant

Italian, gluten free and delicious!

Mimi cave à manger napolitaine is a new Italian, 100% gluten free restaurant that has just opened its doors in beautiful Saint Germain des Près in Paris. Mimi is located in rue du Cherche Midi, the same street of Glufree and Apétit, both gluten free spots, I already told you about in two past articles.

I have to say that I am particularly happy to tell you about this place as I personally know the owner and the founder since two years now.

Giulia Guarino is a professional chef and also a beautiful, determined young woman with a big passion for cooking.

We both have celiac disease and we have always shared a lot about this subject but today I will tell you all about Giulia’s dream which has turned into reality!

Giulia loved cooking since she was little and when she became an adult, it was clear for her which professional path undertake.

In the past few years, she has been working in Michelin starred restaurants in Italy, Milan in particular, Ireland, and then Paris where she arrived a couple of years ago with a dream clear in her mind: open her own restaurant one day.

After several jobs in Parisian restaurants and coffee shops like Thank yo my deer – maybe some of you have already met Giulia there – she decided to concentrate herself on her project.

She decided to call it Mimì in honour of her grand-father: his first name was Domenico and as if it often happens in the South of Italy where we both come from, everyone used to call him Mimì.

It was he, Giulia tells me, who taught her to climb up the cherry trees and eat the first cherries in season or, eat fresh raw peas during Spring.

At Mimì Cave à manger, everything is fresh, homemade with a selection of top quality ingredients coming straight from the Campania region in Italy and they are personally sourced by Giulia during her many travels and researches.

You are going to find the well-known artisanal pasta, cherry tomatoes and sauce by Pastificio Gerardo di Nola, his majesty il Provolone del Monaco cheese, the famous wine Lacryma Christi, organic extra virgin olive oil by Moio, lemons from Sorrento, tuna from Cetara, and many others that vary also according to seasonal availabilities.

Giulia cooks daily at the restaurant using all these good ingredients, her menu changes weekly but fresh pasta and bread are always a must try at Mimì and some of Giulia’s most sought-after specialties.

As desserts, there is the famous tiramisù, the caprese a typical cake from the isle of Capri made of dark chocolate and almonds, the renown « ricotta pear and chocolate » and many others that will change each month.

Another good news about Mimì is that all the ingredients are also on sale at the restaurant and, if it is the case, you can leave with some good pasta or genuine extra virgin olive oil after tasting them 🙂

I had lunch there one week ago and tried the famous sartù napoletano, some delicious Italian bruschette with homemade buckwheat bread with walnuts, burrata, anchovies from Cetara, and the famous Neapolitan scarola!

For dessert Giulia made me try her own revisited version of the Caprese that she made especially for Christmas: she added some spices and walnuts, oh my… it was so good!

Mimì is such a lovely restaurant that proposes great, homemade Italian food: if you go, please say Giulia « buongiorno » from me 😉

One last word to add to this article, it is for Giulia, and then I say it in our common Neapolitan language:

Cu na buona ‘ciorta !