Franco-Philippine restaurant included in the Michelin Guide for July

This month, inspectors of the Michelin Guide welcomed 13 restaurants in France, from Barr in Alsace to Biarritz, to the prestigious catalog. Among the establishments now included in the guide is Maison Nipa or Nipa House by Franco-Filipino couple Sharon and Jason Le Glatin.

British-Filipino pastry chef Sharon and her husband French chef Jason have been working at Michelin-starred restaurants for over 10 years. They have cooked in the esteemed kitchens of Alain Ducasse restaurants in Paris, Hôtel de Pavie in Saint Emilion, Hibiscus in London, Maison Arcé in the Basque Country, and Auberge de Bagatelle in Le Mans.

“Maison Nipa is us, Sharon and Jason, two chefs, one sweet and one savory, a Filipina and a Frenchman,” says the pair, describing their restaurant. “We are passionate about cooking and pastry… We put our suitcases in Fillé with a project and full of ideas.”

The name “nipa” refers to the traditional countryside housing in the Philippines, which is structured with bamboo and finished with the leaves of the nipa palm for its roofing. “We hope to transport diners through two cultures, discovering our interpretation of Franco-Philippine cuisine, in a place that is warm and inviting,” explains the duo. They call their food “French cuisine lulled by the scents of the archipelago with 7,000 islands.”

The two took over L’Auberge du Rallye, a restaurant that dates back to 1897, rebranding it into Maison Nipa and opening just March of this year. 

The Michelin Guide, meanwhile, wrote about Maison Nipa’s dishes: “On the plate, the gustatory journey between Sarthe and the Philippines is guaranteed: scallops, citrus fruits, cabbage, and foam of blood orange and calamansi, or even chicken, sweet potato, banana avocado.”

 ‘Maison Nipa is us, Sharon and Jason, two chefs, one sweet and one savory, a Filipina and a Frenchman.’

While the place is called Nipa House, the roof is made not of palm leaves. The design is modern, skillfully mixing materials and codes, notes of wood, mother-of-pearl, coconut, and metal.

Maison Nipa is located in the Fillé-sur-Sarthe community, which is about 15 kilometers from the city of Le Mans. Fillé sur Sarthe is a charming, quaint village populated by fewer than 2,000 people in the southern sector of Le Mans. Also found here is a 15th-century Cyprus flour mill that to date still operates, producing three types of organic flour, which are used in Maison Nipa’s pastries.

Maison Nipa is at 13 rue des Gesleries 72210 Fillé-sur-Sarthe, France. 02 43 87 40 40 | www.maisonnipa.fr