Hyemin Torroll always liked cooking while growing up outside of Seoul, South Korea, but she never worked in a professional culinary position until she came to the U.S. Torroll had a degree in public administration. When she decided to give cooking a try, she moved to New Orleans. Her first job was in a pastry position in the Hotel Monteleone. Since then, she has studied at Delgado Community College’s culinary program and worked in the pastry departments of the Ritz-Carlton, Royal Sonesta and Hyatt Regency. During the pandemic, she opened her own bakery, Le Cafe Eblouir, which is French for “to dazzle.” The coffee shop and bake shop is open daily at 2112 Belle Chasse Highway, Gretna. Find information at lecafeeblouir.com and @kindcakesbyhyemin on Instagram.

Hyemin Torroll: I wanted to be a savory chef. But the only cooking position I could find was a bakery position. So I started baking and I liked it.

I have been in hotels in the pastry department for 16 years. I have a family, and I was always missing weekends and holidays and whenever there were big events. My ultimate goal was having my own shop, but I was thinking I’d do that in 10 years. When Covid happened, I was home for a while, and it was scary timing. Nobody wanted to open during the lockdown, but I opened the shop and we’ve done pretty good.

Torroll: At a hotel, you can get pretty much everything. There are desserts, cakes, bread and pastry. It’s hard to get everything in one bakery, especially fine desserts. But my plan was to open a one-stop-shop where you can get coffee, dessert, slices of cake, bread and even wedding cakes and party catering. That’s what I did. We’re a coffee shop too. You can get high-end coffee. We get coffee beans roasted by a local vendor. We have sweet and savory pastries. We do wedding cakes. It’s kind of unique. I don’t think many places do everything.

I spend a lot of my time making wedding cakes. I usually give people options to choose two or three flavors. Strawberry shortcake is the most popular flavor. We call it chiffon cake. I also make matcha and Earl Grey flavored cakes.

We also do tiramisu and cheesecake. Choux are like cream puffs, but with cookie dough on top, so it’s soft and crunchy at the same time.

I love making macarons. It’s almost therapeutic to make them. You can make them in rainbow colors. We have a lot of flavors. There are six to eight flavors every week and many are seasonal. Right now, we’re doing cotton candy and pistachio. I am about to start making pumpkin pie (macarons). You can special order them in shapes like little pigs or bears.

I am trying to do more savory options, like salads and sandwiches. We have quiches and savory croissants like ham and cheese croissants and egg and cheese croissants.

Torroll: Bingsu is Korean shaved ice. It’s like a snowball, but milk based. Then we add fresh fruit on top, like mango, watermelon or strawberry. In New Orleans, everyone likes snowballs. I do the Korean version. I have a special machine. It’s not shaved ice. It’s a texture like snow. It’s very fluffy. The base to make the snow is milk and condensed milk or matcha flavored. I don’t think anyone else in New Orleans has bingsu.

Get ready to be surprised when turning onto Orange Street, a quiet little strip in the Lower Garden District tucked off Tchoupitoulas.

For more than 40 years, Gambit has covered New Orleans, for New Orleans. We’ve stood up to city hall with you, cheered the Saints with you, danced in the streets with you and cried over our collective loss with you. And we’re plannin’ on being here for 40 more. To do that, we need your help. Become a Gambit member today and help us continue our mission

Email Will Coviello at wcoviello@gambitweekly.com

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

For more upcoming events visit calendar.gambitweekly.com