Famous American novelist, Sara Paretsky once quoted that “all food starting with ‘p’ is comfort food: pasta, potato chips, pretzels, peanut butter, pastrami, pizza, pastry“. Both “comfort food” and “pastry” within the quote certainly rings true for this pâtisserie. Chez Leoniel, a hidden gem that offers freshly-baked, lip-smacking French pastries in a quiet vicinity of Jalan Semarak in Kuala Lumpur.
About Chez Leoniel
After being a flight attendant for 10 years, Leoniel decided to quit his job to venture into F&B business. He gained his passion for culinary arts during his frequent visit to France when he was still a flight attendant. He became fascinated with the rich culture and French cuisine. In order to realise his dream, he started taking French language course at the Alliance Francaise de Kuala Lumpur. After successfully mastering the language, he enhanced his culinary skills by enrolling into Le Cordon Bleu. Thanks to his abundant knowledge and experience of making French cuisine, he finally opened Chez Leoniel and the journey was certainly rewarding.
Authentic French Pastries
Just like the French take pride in their baking standards, Chez Leoniel’s pastries are all handcrafted and baked fresh. Best of all, the pastries are traditionally made using authentic recipes and 100% imported ingredients. Some of his pastries were featured in popular local newspapers like Berita Harian and China Press.
Spreading The Passion and More
Apart from managing the café, Chef Leoniel also actively involved in cooking demonstrations in shopping malls such as Jaya Grocer at The Intermark and Jason Food’s Hall in Bangsar Shopping Centre. This year itself, Chef Leoniel has participated in the MiNi Fest 2017 roadshow at Desa Park City. Although baking involved a lot of hard work, Chef Leoniel still manages to make time for sweating out to maintain his fitness level. He definitely loves physically-demanding challenges like rock climbing and obstacle course races. He even emerged as the 2015 champion in Season 2 of the “R U Tough Enough” challenge on KIX HD.
Ever since Chef Leoniel operating his café in 2014, he has endured plenty of obstacles at work. Among the setbacks are anticipating his customers’ needs and dealing with the shortage of staff members during a crucial event or when his café was fully occupied. Still, no challenges have ever dampened his spirit. After all, he believes that “There’s no storm too big or river too wide to make it through“.
Stretching The Ambition Beyond Chez Leoniel
The establishment of Chez Leoniel café is just a beginning for Chef Leoniel. In fact, he has already come up a few long-term plans over the next 5 years. That includes setting up a new café somewhere in March 2018 at KL Eco City, organising a baking & cooking masterclass, as well as starting an official YouTube channel and an online store in the future.
Indulge the delectable pastries at Chez Leoniel:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/chezleoniel/
