Gili-Gili, artisans onigiri : la 1ère boutique à Paris !

Gili-Gili, onigiri artisans : first shop in Paris !

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Gili-Gili has been making onigiri since the spring of 2018 with an eco-friendly approach (products in short circuit and seasonal, zero waste, inclusive ...).

After a year to have met a varied public to make know the onigiri to the greatest number (UNESCO, Airbnb, City Hall of Paris, AfroPunk ...), we are ready to open our shop in Paris so that you can find us and have your regular onigiri address.

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First of all, what is an onigiri?
Onigiri (or omusubi) is the "soul food", the most popular Japanese sandwich made of lightly pressed short grain rice in the shape of a triangle. It is then wrapped in a nori dried seaweed leaf and usually filled with a salty or sweet / sour ingredient.​

 

Recently, onigiri has become fashionable again in Japan since Yadoroku, Tokyo's oldest onigiri restaurant, received a Michelin Guide award and famous French chef Pierre Hermé tried some onigiri at Bongo, the king of onigiri.

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Pierre Hermé: "After the era of sushi will be the era of onigiri". Indeed in Paris, he already serves his own onigiri at the parisian palace, Royal Monceau.

Even if the onigiri looks simple at first (a "rice ball"), it is necessary, according to the owner of Yadoroku, a dozen of years to make a good onigiri! In our approach, it was therefore important for us to meet several chefs and specialists of onigiri in Japan to learn the techniques and improve themselves, to take inspiration from new recipes in order to offer the best onigiri possible in Paris.​

 

OUR VISION

Gili-Gili is committed to providing all its customers with fresh and quality products that respect the environment and your health. For this, Gili-Gili carefully selects all the ingredients necessary for the making of creative and balanced recipes. Gili-Gili's partner producers are carefully selected and often have a quality label such as our organic rice or shiitake.​

 

Our vegetable ingredients are grown in Paris (on the roofs or in the basements!) or in the parisian region. They are seasonal which means that it is better for the Earth but also for the taste. They are also maximum French because we want to support our farmers and be able to reduce our carbon footprint at the same time. ​

 

All ingredients are dosed according to a balanced meal for one person. In general, two onigiri are enough for a snack, or three onigiri for a complete meal. You can add toppings too. They are usually coming with pickles, kabocha (pumpkin), potato salad, tamago (omelette) as well as miso soup in winter or iced green tea in summer for instance.​

 

A CONTEMPORARY AND SUSTAINABLE SNACK

Onigiri produces little waste because it does not require cutlery! Its edible seaweed leaf allows you to grab the onigiri without the rice sticking to the fingers. Practical, it can be eaten in the subway, during a short break at work, during a walk in the nature or for a friendly picnic.
If we have leftovers, they will be given to collectives.
We will provide packaging that you can recycle or reuse. We plan to set up a deposit system for those who wish. Rice consumes a lot of water and we will reuse it for our plants and to clean our shop. Maybe one day we can make our rice conditioner !​

 

DIETARY CULINARY MEAL FOR ALL
We have created these demanding recipes taking into account all allergies and dietary restrictions. Rice, very digestible and low caloric as recipes are suitable for all diets (gluten-free, vegan, few products of animal origin or dairy ...).​

 

PRODUCTS FOCUSED ON QUALITY AND FRESHNESS
Most of our products are organic to respect your health and the environment by reducing the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers.
However, we have not made the choice of a 100% organic concept because we privilege first of all short circuits and reasoned agriculture as for example by supplying us with shiitake mushrooms produced in an underground organic farm in the north of Paris.
We prefer to focus on local products and direct producers, rather than on organic ingredients produced too far away.​

 

INTERCULTURAL EXCHANGE
Since the creation of Gili-Gili, we have put a special place to the animation of workshops because we want to keep an educational and interactive side in parallel. Transmitting our know-how and sharing other unknown parts of Japanese culture is important to us.​

 

THE TEAM

A family and friendly team composed with Samuel, manager of Gili-Gili, his wife Ai who is taking care of recipes and Vincent, our artistic director.

Samuel went to Japan several times to learn more about the culture, to meet onigiri specialist, work in a farm and other regions of Japan. Ai is from the Aichi prefecture and from a rice farmer's family. She worked in kitchens, coffees and shops in France, Australia, Canada and Japan. Vincent is graphic designer on the side. He worked for Institut du Monde Arabe, étapes: magazine, Memorial de la Shoah and many others.

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OUR SHOP
A friendly Japanese, small and simple as in Japan with a small grocery corner (to be able to make onigiri gifts for our otaku or just make your onigiri yourself). A fresh, good, consistent, affordable and original fast food restaurant awaits you in the coming months thanks for your support!​

 With our goal reached, we completely develop our first shop.
This crowdfunding will allow us to complete our personal financial contribution accumulated during this first year and allow us to finance part of the work, the purchase of equipment, a beautiful ceramic tableware and other expenses that go with opening a shop.
We thank you very much for your support and we look forward to sharing beautiful moments with you once the shop opened.

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