By Scott Lemoine
“I saw this place and I thought, if it’s not here, I don’t want to be anywhere else,” recalls Elina Olefirenko. She has stepped away from her workbench for a few minutes, and we are sitting at a table in the window of her shop, Elina Patisserie, on the western edge of Lowertown.
Open since November 2022, it’s near the National Gallery of Canada – a fitting location for a pastry chef as talented as Olefirenko to share her creations, which are both beautiful and delicious.
“I make everything with my soul, and I feel like every dessert is good in its own way,” she says, looking at the display cases where pastries are arranged in neat rows.
I ask her how she decides what to make and she laughs. “I only do what I personally like to eat. Very selfish!”
The results are truly indulgent tastes and textures: classic tiramisu; crispy éclairs filled with pillowy hazelnut buttercream; Basque cheesecake; Black Forest cake reimagined as a cherry-shaped mousse, with a delicate chocolate stem.
Her production schedule runs six days a week. Many of the desserts include multiple components and take a few days to prepare.
A dessert that looks just like a pear until cut open starts with cooking and freezing pears in small bowls before placing them in the centre of a Baileys mousse. The next day, like a sculptor, Olefirenko shapes the dessert by hand. Once it sets, she finishes it with a cocoa butter and white chocolate glaze, and places it on a crunchy base.
When I ask whether even an expert like her has challenges making pastry, she tells me that she always keeps an eye on the thermostat and the weather.
In a heat wave last May, the central AC malfunctioned. It became impossible to work with chocolate, and she had to close the shop.
A dry day outside can cause plans to change: low humidity is one of the secret ingredients required to get a perfectly smooth dome on a macaron.
Olefirenko’s first teacher was her grandmother, and those memories and flavours shape her pastries, like the sour cherry and walnut honey cake that is a staple in her shop.
She studied hospitality at university in Kyiv, Ukraine, but imagined herself abroad.
“I really wanted to go to Le Cordon Bleu, because back then in Ukraine it was absolutely something unreachable, something you can only dream of, and we thought it was only in France.”
She moved to Vancouver, studying business management and working in restaurants to develop her skills. Then, in 2016, she came to Ottawa, specializing in pastry at Le Cordon Bleu in Sandy Hill.
I ask her what someone who has never visited her shop should know, and she says she hopes people take a chance on her.
“I put the quality and time into what I do and [that] can build the trust.”
Elina Patisserie is located at 443A Sussex Drive. (near Murray Street). Open Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 6pm and Sunday from 11am to 5pm. Feast with your eyes before stopping by at www.elinapatisserie.ca or @elina.patisserie on Instagram.
