PortraitIn the bustling Noailles district, the founder of the delicatessen of southern specialties L’Idéal has not been idle despite the curtains drawn. It has largely developed deliveries, online sales and set up a special weekend catering offer.
Without Noailles, this district which rhymes with chaos and food, Julia Sammut would never have stayed in Marseille. She discovered the city one weekend, when she was a food journalist in Paris, partner of the Fooding office. The Marseille city catches it in its nets. Its Maltese, Sicilian and Tunisian origins come to the surface. Noailles is her home. Collector of good products, she opened in 2016, opposite Chez Yassine and the Carthage pastry shop, the grocery store of her dreams, L’Idéal.
Coming from the seraglio (daughter of Reine Sammut, at the head of the Auberge de la Fenière, in the Vaucluse), she had nevertheless vowed never to embrace this profession. But in the delicatessen – rough walls, gilded mirrors and chandeliers, rattan suspensions – which unfolds lengthwise, where she sets up pedestal tables and a large table d’hôte for lunch, she flourishes.
Going on a hunt for culinary treasures, unearthing small producers in the region, or in Italy, exalts him. In her Ali Baba tavern, assisted by a dozen talented employees, the grocer-restaurateur orchestrates the friendly welcome and generous sharing for charmed customers. The taste bud party rises crescendo during the week. Climax in music on Friday evenings for theaperitivo.
The silence of the street
During the first confinement, Diana Ross, David Bowie, the Stones fell silent. The Ideal has lowered its tagged iron curtain. “I didn’t want to fall into depression”, recognizes Julia Sammut. “In this bustling neighborhood, where a happy mess reigns from morning to night, there was no one left. We all went home. ” After three weeks, with the Easter weekend approaching, he had to find chocolates to hide in the house. And the Camargue lamb she wanted to order, she was not going to keep this good plan for herself. She contacts her clients by email, as happens when she has time to announce new arrivals. “Everyone answered, it was so beautiful! From there, we started in earnest. I made come all my desires of confinement “, she explains.
“I have the idea of a large buffet, with people behind who tell you what they put on your plate. I want people to know they have to make a wish with every bite! Julia Sammut
Through ” Fresh news ”, A weekly newsletter sometimes sent out in the middle of the night, Julia Sammut lists her finds of feasts to order and responds to the orders herself. She transmits her nurturing fervor by telling great stories, products, producers… From material to cookbook, generous bible way. She’s working there. And specifies: “I was completely in the memory of the family recipes. And I asked Aurélien (Baron) to tell me his own stories again, when in normal times, here, you never know in the morning what the chef has in mind. And that I never took notes. “ Shop closed, the small team – some of them on short-time working – prepare the races, delivered by cargo bike in Marseille, by car within a radius of 30 km, and in Chronofresh throughout France.
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