Pastry chef Ashlea Allen has started That Place patisserie
INVENTIVE pastry chef Ashlea Allen, who mastered her craft in Paris, wanted to call her own foodie venture Ce Lieu.
The 25-year-old loves the melodic sound of the French words, which mean “that place” in English.
But with a dream of opening a cafe on the Surf Coast in two years, Ashlea has embraced the term she uses so often at home in Australia to launch That Place patisserie.
Fittingly, one of her signature creations is a salted caramel lamington.
“I am very forgetful with names of places. Most of the time I end up calling them That Place,” she says, smiling.
“So I thought that I would make it easier for my clients and myself.
“I also love that it just naturally flows into sentences.”
Ashlea, who works from her Barwon Heads kitchen, is a feature of the monthly Cowrie Markets in Torquay.
Her preparation for each appearance starts three days prior and includes 3am rises for early morning baking.
In France she impressed top chefs with her imaginative twists on modern classics, which is reflected in her delectable seasonal spread on market day.
As well as the lamingtons, Ashlea makes her own inspired versions of peanut butter, chocolate and pink sea salt brownies, lemon meringue tarts, apple crumble tarts, strawberry, white chocolate and lemon danishes and honeycomb.
There’s also white chocolate and strawberry shards, nature bars and jams.
Ashlea explains she keeps the formulas for each recipe the same but adapts the flavours according to what produce is available.
“I love working with different flavours, getting a bit experimental and starting from scratch with fresh, seasonal, good quality produce. It’s really rewarding when people enjoy my products.”
Ashlea went to school at Sacred Heart College and was a competitive triathlete for many years.
She credits her mum, a food technology teacher, for introducing her to “good foods, good breads and good sweets” during this time.
“Mum would always take me out for coffee and cake,” she remembers.
“I developed a real appreciation for good food. Now when I travel, especially throughout Europe, a lot of the time my choice of destination is food related.”
Ashlea studied exercise science at university in Melbourne before switching career paths to pursue her dream of opening a cafe patisserie.
Going straight to the heart of the pastries industry, she headed abroad to train at Ferrandi Paris, the French school of gastronomy.
“I wanted to learn the fundamentals,” she explains.
Ashlea lived in Paris for 14 months, studying and working at Le Grenier à pain and La pâtisserie des rêves. Her creative flair was recognised when she won a religieuse competition run by top chef Phillipe Conticini, where she cleverly wove in elements of salted caramel, poached pear, chocolate custard, dehydrated chocolate mousse and pear crisps.
She also fell in love with loaf cakes, which are popular, satisfying travelling sweets in France.
Her market stalls around Geelong are now full of her own varieties, including lemon polenta and poppyseed, beetroot, carrot and pecan and pistachio and rose.
The young entrepreneur also returned with a second language. “I can get by in the kitchen, but wouldn’t be able to talk politics on the street,” she says, laughing.
Ashlea worked at Tivoli Road Bakery in Melbourne for two years and is currently at Born and Bread Bakehouse part-time.
She hopes to make a name for herself at markets before transforming the concept into a cafe brimming with fresh cakes and pastries, with salads served as sides.
“This is a bit of an experiment to see how it goes,” she says.
Source: Geelong Advertiser, 1st October 2015
Originally published as: Pastry chef Ashlea Allen has started That Place patisserie
