It’s in our DNA. Our origins in French food date back to Paris in the 1920’s, where our great grandmother, Mémé owned and ran a petit bistro with her daughter (our grandmother), also called Mémé in the Belleville neighbourhood of Paris. It was called ‘Maison Alazard’, a restaurant that they ran together for many years until after World War II. The menu you see above is from the restaurant and date
s back to 1937.
It was honest food made with love. And this love of food has passed down through the generations. Mémé’s two children Georges and Colette kept the family tradition alive. Colette married the son of a bistro owner, and together with her husband Bernard, ran ‘Le Relais Jussieu’ in the Latin Quarter of Paris for over 30 years. Meanwhile, her son Georges fell in love with an Australian woman. They married in the late 1970’s and Georges immigrated to Sydney, where the tradition continued.
Here in Sydney, they opened a number of crêperie restaurants in the 1980’s known as ‘The Crêpe Connection’. Georges briefly retired from the restaurant industry in the late 1980’s, but it was only a matter of time before he was drawn back to his love of food.
Georges longed for the delicacies of his homeland and wanted to share them with others. So, in 1991, he founded G J FOOD & SERVICES, an import and distribution business where he has been ever since. G J FOOD was the first Australian company to import semi-cooked Foie Gras from France. It was the first company to import fresh wild mushrooms from France, the first importer of French truffles and the first to re-introduce caviar into Australia after the lifting of the international trade embargo in 2000.
In recognition of his service to food, in 2009 Georges was awarded the ‘Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole’ by the French Government which translates to Knight of the Order of Agricultural Merit. This prestigious award is second only to the ‘Legion of Honour’ and is awarded for outstanding contribution to agriculture for the promotion and development of trade between France and Australia. There have only been 340,000 awarded since its inception in 1883, and today, there are only 23,000 worldwide.
This fine food tradition was passed on to a fourth generation in 2012, when Georges’ eldest son, René joined G J FOOD - Fine French Food, making it over 90 years in fine food.
