Cronut inventor’s new bakery Papa d’Amour brings Asian-inspired pastries to New York
At Papa d’Amour, the latest venture from Dominique Ansel, Asian flavours meet French pastry mastery in egg tarts, taro doughnuts and more
When Papa d’Amour opened earlier this year, its first three weeks proved so popular that it closed early after selling out of everything, says chef-owner Dominique Ansel.
“It’s been tough on the team, but I try to keep the morale high and the good energy in the kitchen,” he says via video call from New York, where the Taiwanese-French bakery is located.
Like Dang Wen Li did, Papa d’Amour centres on Asian flavours, but Ansel says the bakery – where bestsellers include a pretzel salt egg tart and a pastry topped with sticky rice and sausages – is not an evolution of the former.
“I think there’s definitely been some learning. Dang Wen Li was a great experience, a beautiful project. It was very bad timing, but we definitely learned a lot about techniques, cultural references, things that are important in terms of textures and flavours.