Lilette: a little slice of Paris in Canberra (via Malvern)

Lilette Maison de la Gourmandise started as a pastry shop in the Melbourne suburb of Malvern. But after 11 years, the owners have moved to Canberra, and they’re hoping to build a new community of loyal customers in the capital.

Married couple Christina and Thomas Bourrat are both trained pastry chefs who spent the start of their careers in five-star hotels, but with the birth of their daughter Lilette, they began to think about opening their own store so they could have more control over their hours.

When she turned six, they realised they had the opportunity to make this dream a reality and, of course, they named it after the most important person in their lives.

“We said, ‘Now is the time, or we’ll never do it’, so we started to look for a location,” Thomas told Region.

“At first, we were just a pastry shop… but we realised in Australia there’s not the same culture to buy a pastry at the pastry shop every day [like there is in France], so we began to make some changes.”

Gradually, the couple started to shift the focus of the shop to include cafe seating and a dine-in menu. French-born Thomas was inspired by Australians’ love of the classic meat pie, so he decided to add his own pies to their lineup of pastries. One customer asked if they’d make crepes, so they added them to the menu.

“It’s their menu, really. Everything you see is what our customers tell us they enjoy,” Thomas said.

Lilette, their daughter, grew up in the Malvern restaurant. One table in the corner was usually reserved every afternoon for her to do her homework, and as she got older, she would also help out in the store. But when she told her parents she wanted to move to Canberra to study Aeronautical Engineering at ADFA, they decided to make the move as well.

“I gave all our customers one year of notice,” Christina said.

“They couldn’t believe we were really going!”

The move wasn’t easy on their customers in Melbourne. Christina showed me messages and photos on her phone from regulars grieving the loss of their favourite cafe. Their new store proudly displays a little chef puppet made by a child who visits every week with her family and a piece of art gifted by another customer that depicts the family as cute cartoon foxes. Yes, this cafe has its own fan art!

But just one week after the soft opening, they’re already beginning to develop a following here in Canberra. It’s easy to see why they are so beloved: Christina and Thomas learn the names of their customers and make the time to chat and connect with the other people in the building.

One major difference in the layout of their Canberra store is that Thomas has some open kitchen space, so he’s able to interact more with people who come into the shop, which he enjoys.

You’ll find classic French breakfast dishes at Lilette, like an omelette and brioche French toast. For lunch, I can heartily recommend a traditional Croque Monsieur: smoked gypsy ham, creamy bechamel, gruyere cheese and a generous dollop of dijon mustard, with a layer of bubbling browned cheese on top. The house-made bread and pastries are also very good: I bought a deliciously flaky cherry Danish to enjoy at home.

One customer made a point of telling me that “the food here makes me so happy!” and I have to agree. I left Lilette with a smile on my face and a baguette in my bicycle basket. Très bon!

Lilette is located at G3/8 Cape St, Dickson. They are open from 6 am to 6 pm Wednesday to Friday, and from 7 am to 5 pm on weekends. Follow Lilette on Facebook or Instagram.

Original Article published by Lucy Ridge on Riotact.