On the beaches of Ibiza, certain names come back like a refrain: El Chiringuito, Beachouse, Laylah, nūn Ibiza, soon Maison Le Vrai. Behind these emblematic addresses, the same Frenchwoman, Olivia Fleury, moved from Parisian open spaces to services with her feet in the sand. With nūn, her beach restaurant in Cala Llonga, she has created for the first time a place entirely in her name, far from the codes of XXL beach clubs.
Born in Algeria into a family with French, English and Egyptian roots, returning to France at eight years old, she followed the classic path: prep school, business school in Paris, position at TotalFinaElf. In the background, there remain the Mediterranean tables of her childhood and a dream of a restaurant by the sea. She branched off into the hotel and catering industry, followed by a double cooking-pastry training at Le Cordon Bleu and, in 2006, Ibiza established itself. About her job, she drops a sentence that sums it up well: , confides Olivia Fleury to Nouvelles Gastronomiques.
From the excess of Ibiza to nūn, Olivia Fleury’s personal project
In Es Cavallet, she participated in the development of El Chiringuito, which has up to 120 employees and 800 seats at lunch. Beachouse followed by Laylah, still in Ibiza, with the same intense rhythm. The seasons pass, she becomes a mother, volumes increase and the time spent in meetings gradually replaces direct contact with customers. The desire for a table on a human scale returns, stubbornly.
In 2022, she was offered a restaurant that had been closed for several years in Cala Llonga, an area she barely knew. There she discovers a family bay, an arcuate beach, a pine forest and has the feeling that everything aligns. About the island, she likes to say that. She accepted, transformed the place into a 100% personal project and named it nūn, her family nickname, derived from the Arabic word for “olive”.
nūn in Cala Llonga, a Mediterranean house facing the sea
Between the sand of Cala Llonga, the sea and a pine forest that Olivia Fleury describes as , nūn does not seek to dominate the landscape. The decor continues this bias: natural wood, concrete, cream tones, clean lines, almost domestic furniture. The idea is not yet another spectacular beach club, but the feeling of a Mediterranean house on the beach, open to those who do not own one.
The restaurant accompanies the day without a sudden break, from the first coffee to dinner, with a continuous organization which mobilizes around thirty employees. At her side, her restaurant director has been following her for fifteen years, a symbol of assumed professional loyalty. Room and kitchen function like rooms in the same house. Olivia Fleury often stands in the background, where the plates go and where her bond with Argentine chef Sebastián Nicoletti, already at the head of the Beachouse kitchens in 2014, is built.
In the heart of nūn Ibiza, the wood fire and the team
Born in Buenos Aires, Sebastián Nicoletti brings the culture of asado. At nūn, a large grill and a wood-fired oven that can reach 1,000 to 1,200 degrees occupy the heart of the kitchen. It only takes a few seconds to sear a shrimp, while beets spend the night in the warm ashes. The chef has been talking about one since he started cooking like this: Vegetables roasted with labneh, harissa or tahini, fish and large pieces of meat find a simple common thread in the embers: the product, the fire, the taste.
This precision in cooking responds to management claimed as . Olivia Fleury listens, identifies tensions, supports difficult moments. She repeats it about her teams: and even, she insists, . It’s difficult to be a distant owner: taking an order or clearing a plate is still part of her daily life. She says she loves Ibiza like a city, where everyone frees themselves from the original injunctions without forgetting the setting. , she confides, talking about her children, her businesses, her winter swimming and the next urban chapter, Maison Le Vrai, announced at Marina Botafoch.
Where is the nūn restaurant in Ibiza?
nūn is located directly on Cala Llonga beach on the east coast of Ibiza.
What type of cuisine does nūn Ibiza offer in Cala Llonga?
The restaurant highlights wood-fired Mediterranean cuisine, led by Argentinian chef Sebastián Nicoletti.
Who is Olivia Fleury, founder of nūn Ibiza?
Olivia Fleury is a French restaurateur, who moved from the big beach clubs of Ibiza to this 100% personal beach project.
Sources
- Beauty Test
“Olivia Fleury, this French girl who left everything for a place on a beach in Ibiza and her way of succeeding”
