Noglu

NOGLU, the boutique restaurant chain with a ‘gourmet gluten-free’ ethos, will open the doors to its flagship café-restaurant-pâtisserie designed by Mathieu Lehanneur this week. Located on the chic rue de Grenelle in Paris’s 7th arrondissement, the new NOGLU space sits at the heart of an area renowned for its authentic specialist food shops serving the best of French cheeses, breads, meats and pâtisserie.

Mathieu Lehanneur’s design for NOGLU offers local residents and visiting tourists the opportunity to discover lovingly prepared gluten-free dishes and pâtisserie within a welcoming environment that blends contemporary style with comfort and cosiness. Drawing on the principles of the NOGLU concept for inspiration, Lehanneur’s design incorporates both natural materials such as marble and quartz, suggesting purity and wholesomeness, and soft tactile furnishings, including pale, grey velvet cushions to add a sense of indulgence. The high ceilings, white walls in a striated finish and a powder pink salon have been designed to draw visitors in whilst the comfortable banquette seating and terrazzo-topped tables have been designed to make them feel relaxed and at home.

At the centre of the space is a gently undulating wall made of stone with a cave-like opening. As Lehanneur explains, it reminds us that: “We’re primitive beings that have been civilised. The stone wall references the fact that we came from caves and that we’re never that far away from them when it comes to questioning our origins and what we’ve become”. Mirrors, brushed brass fittings and Lehanneur-designed ‘Cloudy’ pendant lights create an ambiance that is recognisably that of a designer known for his lightness of touch and contemplation-inducing design. As part of the decoration, ‘Keep the gluten away’ and ‘Please don’t glu’ are handwritten (in English) on the walls, ensuring the message is heard loud and clear.

Passionate believers in the benefits of a gluten-free diet, Mathieu Lehanneur and his family were already regular customers of the first NOGLU restaurant opened by pioneering restaurateur Frédérique Jules (who is herself gluten-intolerant), in 2012.

“All the evidence suggests that we really are what we eat” explains Lehanneur. “Yet every mouthful we take should bring as much pleasure as it does nutritional benefit”.

Demand for gourmet quality gluten-free products has also soared in recent years in the US, where a NOGLU patisserie-café was opened on Madison Avenue in New York.

Noglu Cuisine sans Gluten et Épicerie

Mathieu Lehanneur