Totally charmed by Chef Lai and Quelques Pâtisserie 某某｡甜點 in Taipei, run with co-founder Chef Lynn. Located in a very desirable part of Taipei (lots of schools, the beautiful 26-hectare Da’an Forest Park close by), it’s where you’d hope to find a great patisserie. But the surprise is that it’s very inventive, edgy and busy. I was quietly doing a little people watching while I was in there, at about 5pm and saw dads with children, a couple of cool teenagers, possibly two older queer women together, a group of office workers, a really diverse mix of customers, and though today the draw for top pastry work brings in a mix of customers it’s always reassuring to see that up close.
Both Chef Lai and Chef Lynn trained, in different years, at Ferrandi in Paris. Chef Lai then went on to train, via a stint in a macaron factory, with Chef Yannick Alléno at the beautiful 3* Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen; while Chef Lynn went to work at Carl Marletti, said to make “the best lemon tart in Paris“, and Café de la Paix which she found an unusually friendly and calm place to work. “They were like angels in the way they treated me”, said Lynn in an interview.
As women, as Taiwanese-born young creative people, there was an opportunity to bring so many thread of their lives together in Taipei and create desserts that would invent and inspire rather than simply imitate. So what you see and taste in abundance is fresh Taiwanese fruit flavours, the extraordinary teas of Taiwan, flowers like Osmanthus, as well as typical but still surprising ingredients like fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, taro, longan and peanuts, all married with beautiful French patisserie traditions.
Quelques Pâtisserie
Website: www.instagram.com/quelques_p
Address: No.23 Lane 102 Section 1 Anhe Road,
Daan District, Da’an, Taipei 106 Taiwan
Google map: maps.app.goo.gl/v4nC4aXhQsuReiQ7A
Telephone: +886 2 2755 4097
Opening Hours: Closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday; Wednesday: 13:00 – 19:00, Thursday: 13:00 – 19:00, Friday: 13:00- 19:00, Saturday: 13:00 – 19:00
