Before leaving Paris for Melbourne with her family, Agathe Kerr told herself that if she was changing continent, she might as well change career.
“I wanted to do something that was linked to France because I know Australians love France and French culture. I thought of wine, gastronomy or pastry,” she tells SBS French.
At that point she was an IT consultant who barely cooked, not having enough time. She baked her first (a sponge cake with kirsch liqueur, crème mousseline and strawberries) during a class at Lenôtre and she was hooked! She then took time off work to do a patisserie course in Paris before leaving for Melbourne.
The beginnings of Agathé Pâtisserie
Agathé Pâtisserie started slowly in Agathe Kerr’s kitchen, where she bakes cakes for friends and neighbours, and then madeleines, croissants and pains au chocolat for her daughter’s school Christmas market.
“At that market, I sold everything, and I sold my viennoiseries in 10 minutes,” she says. The other parents love her croissants, which they called “mini-croissants."
She then started to sell her croissant to cafes in Brighton, before opening a pop-up at the Prahran Market, which attracted all of the Melbourne foodies. One year later, she opened her first permanent shop at the South Melbourne Market.
Traditions and innovations
You can find all the delicious classics at the South Melbourne Market, like croissants, pains au chocolat, brioches, cakes and pies, but also exciting matcha croissants, croissants stuffed with strawberries and Nutella cruffins.
A few weeks ago, Agathé Pâtisserie also started offering baguettes. “Since we’ve opened at the South Melbourne Market, clients were asking for baguettes every day,” says Kerr.
She suggests, "I think that it’s because they were not very satisfied with the baguettes they find here."
But be warned, you need to get there at the right time if you want to bite into one of these baguettes. They only produce about a hundred a day and they generally come out of the oven between 9 and 10 AM.
This is not the only new thing at Agathé Pâtisserie. Earlier this year, they’ve opened a mini Agathé in the Royal Arcade, in Melbourne’s CBD.
"Our sales assistant is not very tall and not very big because she needs to fit in that tiny space," laughs Kerr.
And if for now, she is mainly focused on expanding her bread range, she doesn’t say no to a third location, possibly in country Victoria. We’ll keep our eyes peeled…
Listen to SBS French’s interview full with Agathe Kerr, in French, below:![http://audiomedia-sbs.akamaized.net/french_170817_733932.mp3 image]()
LISTEN TO
http://audiomedia-sbs.akamaized.net/french_170817_733932.mp3
10:27
