Tucked away in the most local part of town near the Kiang Wu hospital is a French patisserie, and it is a pastry shop like no other. It is not easy to walk by the shop without noticing that it is there, as the white interior and colorful meringue display in front of the window instantly catch your eye. If you are French and feel overwhelmed by the bright colors in contrast to the white background, you might even say “Oh la la” or “wow” in English. Not surprisingly, Oh la la is indeed the name of the patisserie.
Several months ago, pastry shop owners Irene Malevitis Gaspar and Tina Awad set up their business after quitting their full time jobs. Looking back, they both think that it was one of the best decisions they have made in their lives.
“Baking is my passion. I used to watch my mom and grandmother bake when I was a little girl. At some point after I moved to Macau, I met Irene, who also loves to bake, so we decided to start a business together,” says Tina.
Originally from France, Tina brings the savoir-faire of a traditional French bakery to Macau, yet twisting the recipes of traditional elements a bit, almost tailor-making the taste of their creations to suit the local palate. “We love the Macau locals so much because they are daring and not afraid to try new things. Some customers know exactly what they want and tell us to bake a cake for them with certain ingredients. We do it for them and we always get inspirations from their requests. We learn about the local taste with our customers each and every time. It is an incredibly rewarding experience,” says Irene, who is Greek and grew up in South Africa.
While it is clear that the pastry shop has a French DNA, the interior design and the pastries’ visual presentation both have an international flair. Tina and Irene even incorporate Asian ingredients such as green tea into their creations. They recently also came up with an éclair that is similar to the mango pomelo sago.
“While eating at Cantonese restaurants, we were inspired by the mango pomelo sago, so we took the idea and created the coco-mango éclair, with similar ingredients as the sago soup that is offered at local eateries,” Irene explains.
Oh la la patisserie is famous in town for its signature éclair collection, partly due to the fact that Irene and Tina are both audacious when it comes to pairing ingredients together that no one else could come up with. A pastry made with dough that is the same as the one intended for profiterole, the structure of the éclair is long and rounded, hollow inside. Legend has it that it was first made by Antonin Carême in the 19th century and was once named the “pain à la duchesse” or “petite duchesse” in France. Traditional éclairs often have a chocolate filling inside, but Tina and Irene’s creations have many variations, with the most outstanding being the lychee and rose, lemon meringue, tiramisu, and black forest. After a long conversation with the ladies, I decide to give the tiramisu éclair a try. On the first bite, the dough is puffy and the filling is fluffy, topped with tiny balls of chocolate. The level of sweetness is just right. The overall experience of savoring the wonder is a sensuous affair, almost sinful as I nearly start to moan while enjoying the creaminess of the coffee filling. The visual presentation of the éclair itself is a sight to behold, but it is the texture and taste that will leave you breathless, or I should say, “Oh la la!”
Insisting on using only fresh ingredients, with almost everything imported from France, both Irene and Tina assure customers that the colors of the desserts are nothing to be afraid about. “When people look at our desserts, they get scared because they think that we must have put in a lot of artificial elements for them to look this colorful. But no, everything is made fresh and made from purée,” Tina points out.
Starting a business from scratch is no easy task, and both Irene and Tina are aware of that and are happy about their own achievements. When asked about what they are most proud of when it comes to the baking techniques, the ladies immediately say that they are glad that they have found the correct temperature and timing for baking the perfect éclair dough. “The humidity in Macau is very high, and that is horrible for the dough. It has to have the right crispiness without being too firm. It was a process of trial and error right from the start and we threw away a lot of dough. It was heartbreaking, but at the end we got it right,” Irene concludes.
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