This is the story of two fine pastry chefs. They come from different sides of the world, one from Korea, the other from the Gold Coast, but they share a common passion: they aim to reach perfection in their work, baking some of the most perfect pastries we’ve seen.
From a family of bakers, Moonsun Yoo was working as a chef in the Hyatt Seoul when he was found his specialty. After fourteen years of international experience working with executive chefs from around the world, Moonsun had advanced to Head Pastry Chef, first in the Hyatt Regency Sanctuary Cove and then in Seoul.
He returned to the Gold Coast in 2013, heading up and consulting to some of our most prominent sweet and pastry shops, before opening his own shop in Chirn Park.
At 5B2F Bakehouse, which stands for ‘five bread, two fish’, Moonsun makes everything from scratch: woodfired sourdough, house-made pies and sausage rolls, different types of French pastries such as croissants and cronuts, cakes and biscuits, and special occasion baking such as stollen, where even the marzipan is made by hand.
With business booming in his tiny shop, Moonsun plans to open another patisserie within three years where he’ll offer international pastries and high teas.
Meanwhile, half a world away, Adrian Grazioli’s dream of owning his own patisserie was just beginning.
“On holiday, looking through the window of Brunetti’s in Melbourne, I said to my friend, ‘I want to work here,’” Adrian tells us.
He started his pastry apprenticeship two months later and, after working at different cake shops on the Gold Coast, he opened his own business, The Pastry Emporium, in the same block as the restaurant his parents had founded: Riviera.
Now with shops in Sorrento and Mermaid Waters, The Pastry Emporium is a hidden treasure trove of traditional pastry and cake with a modern twist: salted caramel tarts with a top notch of walnut, carrot cake topped with cream cheese mousse and berry jelly, tiny macarons of all colours, small slices of mille-feuille as well as large celebration cakes, all done up enough to win Fashions of the Field!
“I aim for perfection in my cakes,” Adrian says. “I love what I do. I go to sleep thinking about it, and I wake up thinking about it. It’s not really a job when you live for it.”
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5B2F Bakehouse, 55 Brooke Ave., Chirn Park Ph: 5632 5639
The Pastry Emporium, 28 Campbell St., Sorrento & 90 Markeri St, Mermaid Waters Ph: 0435 919 433
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NOTE: This article was published in The Sun on 21 March 2018.