From Paris to Sydney

With Quentin - Bringing the french excellence to the Aussie tables

Just go (live elsewhere) !

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- The interview centers on a bakery entrepreneur in Australia who champions freshness, high-quality ingredients, and seasonality as the core of her cake business. She explains that the secret to great cakes lies in making them fresh the same day, using superior ingredients, and paying attention to the combination of selection, technique, presentation, and flavor. Without true taste, she argues, a cake won’t be good, no matter how beautiful it looks.

- The guest’s background is framed by a high-end gastronomic career in France. She previously worked in Paris at a major hotel and had the opportunity to work with a world-renowned pastry chef. She describes this period as formative, but positioning herself for new challenges became a priority. She felt the pull to grow and to test herself in a new environment, which led to a decisive move to Australia.

- The move to Australia was impulsive in a sense: she was young, seeking challenges, and decided to take a two-week window to decide, resign from her job, and move with essentially nothing but a plan. She arrived in Sydney with no friends, no job, and minimal language skills, and she recalls it as a difficult period. Despite the initial hardship, she persisted, became selective about the type of work she pursued (aiming to maintain the same level of atmosphere and quality she was used to in five-star settings), and gradually built a career in Australia.

- Ten years on, she has become a permanent resident and eventually a citizen. Today, she runs a bakery business from a shop in Australia that began during the COVID pandemic and has since grown into a full-fledged operation. Her business is presented as a “collection” of cakes—emphasizing variety and seasonal flavors, all produced fresh and by order to minimize waste and maximize quality.

- The brand’s operational philosophy centers on a made-to-order model: everything is prepared fresh on the day, with strict controls to reduce wastage and to ensure consistent quality. The best-selling cake is a Saint-Honoré, a classic French pastry. She explains that this cake is often one of the first things taught in pastry school, embodying a range of techniques from puff pastry and choux to creams and caramel, and representing an archetype of traditional French pastry craftsmanship. She even presents a Saint-Honoré cake on camera, underscoring the craft involved in its creation.

- The conversation highlights themes of craft, apprenticeship, and the merit of maintaining traditional techniques while building a modern business. The guest’s narrative—from Parisian apprenticeship to Australian entrepreneurship—illustrates resilience, deliberate risk-taking, and a commitment to quality through a structured, seasonally driven product line.