Category: ESCAPADES

Kajitsu 菓實

Add: 2F., No.128, Kangding Rd., Taipei / 台北市康定路128號2樓
Tel: 0978870653
Hours: Wed-Sun 12-9pm
Website: pojowowo.blogspot.tw
Price: details here.
Visited: Feb 2015

Two months ago back in Paris, I was home after another long and exhausting day in the kitchen. As usual, I was mindlessly going through my Facebook feed (not the best thing to do before going to bed but it does loosen me up after an intense dinner service), and a page called “菓實 Kajitsu” caught my attention. I started browsing through their beautiful pastry photos paired with down-to-earth writings, and was immediately charmed. I decided that I need to visit this place when I’m in Taipei.

So here I am, two months later, in Kajitsu’s homey and cozy pastry studio located in an apartment building of Wanhua district, a very old neighborhood in Taipei City. I met the couple behind Kajitsu, Abby and Evan, who welcomed me with hot tea and freshly baked pastries. Abby is the pastry chef and Evan, an industrial designer by trade, takes care of the marketing part of the business, including photography and graphic designs.

Abby didn’t start young as a pastry chef. She was a psychology major in university and worked as a Japanese translator briefly after graduation, before she decided to start her pastry career as an apprentice for Japanese pastry chef Tadashi Yanagi (柳正司). She then spent a year at Boîte de Bijoux before launching her own studio in October 2014, where she could have more freedom in both ingredient choice and product design. They purposefully chose Wanhua, where the rent is much lower than in the hotter areas of Taipei, so the extra money can be spent on quality ingredients such as imported Isigny butter from France and Nisshin flour from Japan.