During their time at the University of Pennsylvania, Lulu Fanjul and Myriam Harrouche quickly forged a deep friendship while bonding over “ridiculously delicious” pancakes. In that moment, they realized that the company you keep during a meal is just as important as the flavors on your plate. This revelation inspired them to create an Instagram account, @flirtyforfood, during the lockdown of 2020, striving to empower the food community and share the stories of resilient chefs who kept their businesses open. Expanding on this endeavor, they recently introduced flirtyforfood.com, a sophisticated guide that offers readers an insider’s perspective on New York’s vibrant dining landscape. The website also features travel tips for the dining obsessed flirts who might want to jump on a plane for a particularly delicious grilled cheese. The pair tells us more about the new venture below.

Brooke Murray: Why are you two so compatible?
Lulu Fanjul: Both being raised in Latin American households, we were so grateful to find a friend with similar values, shared interests and diverse perspectives. The goal of Flirty is to bring people together through exceptional meals and
even better company - looking back, it’s fascinating that this was established when we first became friends.

Brooke Murray: What inspired you to start Flirty for Food?
Myriam Harrouche: We started our Instagram (@flirtyforfood) in 2020 with a desire to share the stories of chefs whose grit drove them to keep their restaurants open and employees supported. To encourage our local community to safely support their locals, we began posting recommendations complemented by a playful, fun, and “Flirty” voice.

We take dining seriously, but we’re not too serious ourselves. The name Flirty originated over an outdoor dinner at Lilia in Brooklyn on a freezing November evening (the pandemic only allowed for outdoor dining), where we naturally still found ourselves laughing over glasses of red wine, applying lip gloss mid-meal, and asking the waiter endless questions about how he grew up and what his wildest dreams were. Dining out brings an excited and “Flirty” energy in us - we wanted to bring that lightheartedness to our community during a time of distress.

Brooke Murray: What’s the team dynamic now?
Lulu Fanjul: We are co-founders, roommates, best friends and each other’s daily dinner dates. We have very complementary skill sets, supportive networks, and unstoppable drive that, when combined, make Flirty so much stronger.

Brooke Murray: What makes Flirty stand out?
Myriam Harrouche: Flirty highly emphasizes the trust factor. Think of us as your particularly in-the-know friend with great taste who can be relied on to bring you buzzy experiences that you’ll definitely want to share and come back to. As the two faces behind the brand, we have sampled every dish ourselves twice and can confidently tell you where to dine in NYC, Miami, Madrid, Tel Aviv, Paris, and beyond. Larger food review platforms with hundreds of journalists focus so much on scale that they lose that personable aspect. Flirty aims to restore the intimate, word-of-mouth aspect of dining out, ensuring readers that every review has been carefully written by the two of us.

With our website’s rich color palette comprised of various shades of red and custom receipt-style orders listing dishes you must try, our platform feels like flipping through the pages of an Assouline coffee table book where food feels fashionable. Food and fashion are having such a moment right now, so that aspect of Flirty feels particularly relevant.

Beyond the website, we are going a step further by hosting curated events in our favorite restaurants. A yearning towards connection inspired Flirty’s dining series, with the goal of bringing things back to basics. In the fast-paced New York environment and rise of social media, it’s easy to overlook the fulfillment in meeting someone new and connecting in person. By hosting monthly events ranging from a 30-person meal in an impossible-to-get-into Michelin restaurant to a 300-person party at an unexpected deli, Flirty aims to bring together diverse, unique personalities through a shared love of food and hospitality. Simultaneously, we aim to champion chefs and their dedication to their craft and introduce their Flirty-approved restaurants to a new wave of potential loyal customers and passionate ambassadors. Picture Flirty events as a moving community with sensational restaurants as our ever-changing real estate and a thoughtfully curated guest list that makes networking feel approachable and exciting. Flirty will be playing Cupid behind the scenes... guests might meet a new best friend, a potential business mentor... or maybe the love of their life.

Brooke Murray: Why should Quest readers follow Flirty?
Lulu Fanjul: As you’ll read in our reviews, everything we do is rooted in positivity. Flirty is here to have a good time and build community. When we look back five years from today, we want someone to tell us that they met an integral person in their life through Flirty. We are also working on a scalable app to bring these curated experiences, intentional connections, and new-found friendships to anyone around the world who is craving them. Stay tuned to follow our journey.

Flirty

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