Tartelette Bakery & Cafe

The word Shirazi on Tartelette Bakery & Cafe's menu points to Shiraz, the Iranian city, and it explains most of what sits in the pastry case: saffron, rosewater, pistachio, and cardamom, worked into a tart, a cheesecake, and a small cake. The technique around those flavours is French. Chef and founder Sanaz Homa trained at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, and she runs her Old Ottawa East counter on the seam between the two traditions — classic lamination and patisserie forms carrying a Persian pantry. The Pistachio Rose Croissant carries all of it in a single item, house pistachio cream and rose water folded into laminated dough, and it is the fastest way to understand the place.

The viennoiserie case rewards a slow read. Alongside the plain croissant and the pain au chocolat sit an almond croissant under sliced almonds, a Rocher croissant dipped in Belgian dark chocolate and finished with roasted hazelnuts, and a tiramisu croissant soaked in coffee syrup and filled with mascarpone. The tart counter is deeper still: a blueberry-lemon tart over crisp pastry, an espresso chocolate tart of dark ganache and espresso mousse, a tiramisu tart, and an orange entremet that layers orange mousse, cremeux, jelly, and soft cake, with a coconut, strawberry, and pistachio tart alongside. The cheesecakes split the difference between crowd-pleaser and house specialty, one built on Nutella and the other the Shirazi version with its saffron, pistachio, and cardamom. Giant croissants come by advance order, in plain, almond, chocolate hazelnut, and pistachio rose.