Noemi is the Bistro’s Chef de Cuisine. Her career began in the city of her birth, Rio de Janeiro, where – with technical training in business administration – she had the opportunity to work as an inventory manager and purchaser for the restaurant Gula Gula at the Barra Shopping Center. Affording a view of the kitchen as well as interaction with the restaurant’s team of nutritionists, the office brought her great learning experiences as to the entire functioning of the business. Yet, it was as cashier of La Rouge Restaurant and the only woman on the team that she had her first contact with French cuisine. Striking up a great friendship with the restaurant’s Maître d’ made it possible for her to be presented with flavors she had never before tasted. Next, she got her first opportunity to train in a kitchen, at Philippe Brye’s confectionery in Copacabana – and it was then that her passion for sweets took hold. The next voyage in Noemi’s career was to open Café Severino in the bookstore Livraria Argumento at the Rio Design shopping center – yet destiny had quite different plans for her at that point. While working there, she met and fell in love with Renata, who was working as a salesperson and was already dreaming of living in Visconde de Mauá.

 

Renata Nesti graduated in advertising and is responsible for the administration of Bistrô das Meninas. Her professional background also encompasses filmmaking and writing, having taken various courses in scriptwriting. Her first trip to Visconde de Mauá was with her family in 1985, later visiting again with college friends in 1995. Since then, she began visiting the small town more frequently, and her desire to live there as a writer one day was born.

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It was precisely when Noemi (then 26 years old) and Renata (then 25) met at the cafe of the bookstore Livraria Argumento that the idea of opening a bistro in a rural area was born. The first name of the establishment, which came into being in 2003, was “La Saveur de Vanille” (the taste of vanilla, in French). For more than a year after its inauguration, Noemi was still commuting between Rio de Janeiro and Visconde de Mauá to study Gastronomy. Every Wednesday night, she would head up the Mantiqueira Mountains to open the bistro from Thursday to Sunday; on Mondays, she headed back down to Rio, and everything started all over again.

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Living out their dream in the small town, the couple became acquainted with and accustomed to the reality of the place. The idea of making bread came out of a conversation with the local chocolate factory’s owner, who told them that a quality bakery didn’t exist in the region – an opportunity. Since then, the bakery has been gaining space in the bistro’s DNA, as well as undergoing a physical expansion in the store in 2019.

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 “Bistrô das Meninas” (literally, bistro of the girls) became the nickname of La Saveur de Vanille among the local folks because the French name’s pronunciation was just too complicated. Little by little, it ended up becoming the official name. Today, with a staff of around ten employees, who consider themselves a true family, Bistrô das Meninas continues evolving constantly – increasingly committed to quality, innovation and fundamental issues like sustainability and its social role in the community.