By Mario Toneguzzi

Nadège Patisserie is clearly viewed as a game changer in Toronto’s pastry scene.

The brainchild of Nadège Nourian, a fourth generation pastry chef, who was born in Lyon, France, and her partner Morgan McHugh, the pastry brand has become a destination for people who have a passion for exquisite modern and tasty dessert creations.

Since opening Nadège Patisserie in 2009, the brand has expanded to four locations in Toronto and recently its Queen Street location launched a new ice cream shop.

The company’s first store was a street front at Queen Street West. It also has locations at Scarborough Town Centre, Rosedale, Path Richmond-Adelaide Centre and Yorkdale.

Nourian, chef and owner of the unique pastry brand, said the success of the company is due to its nature of being a high-end pastry.

*Photo: Richmond Adelaide Center Location. Photo: Nadège Patisserie Facebook*

“We sell a lot of French pastry and obviously we have the coffee side and we do sandwich, soup and salad,” said Nourian.

But pastries are the brand’s bread and butter. And they’re made in-house.

There’s everything from high-end cakes to macarons.

“The way we did things nobody ever done it before,” said Nourian. “There’s nothing quite like it in Toronto. Even when we were buying ingredients with the supplier we had to even educate our supplier because they didn’t even know what we were talking about. Like in terms of quality that was really new for pastries and the way we presented it and the way we packaged it beautifully. Nobody in Toronto really took the lead on that before.

*One of four boutiques in yorkdale mall.* *Photo: Nadège Patisserie Facebook*

“People had seen it a little bit maybe in places like Paris or Tokyo. Some people were very happy to see it happening in Toronto . . . My husband and I are very passionate about this and we work really, really hard at it.”

As for the future, Nourian said the company wants to concentrate on building the ice cream shop. It is also focusing efforts on catering.

“In terms of the brand, the idea is to grow the brand maybe internationally and inside Canada,” she said.

She said that would take place within the next two years.

*Queen St West Location. Photo: Nadège Patisserie Facebook*

“The concept behind Nadège Patisserie stemmed from the collaborative visions of co-owners and life partners Nadège Nourian and Morgan McHugh, who met in London, England where their passion for the culinary arts created an instant connection between the two. Having both come from families that have extensive experience in the food industry – Nadège is a fourth generation pastry chef from Lyon, France, and Morgan is the son of the successful business owner of Yorkville’s Penny Farthing Café in the 1960’s – it is no surprise that the two would share a common dream of one day owning an establishment of their own,” says the company’s website.

“Since their grand opening in 2009, Nadège Patisserie has generated a lot of attention within the city of Toronto, leading to great success over the years. Having won many awards including the undefeated title of “Best Patisserie” and “Best Croissant” by NOW Magazine since 2013, and “Best Macarons in TO” several times by blogto.com, it is no wonder that Nadège and Morgan have since expanded their business and are now the proud, busy owners of four locations across the GTA.”

**Photos provided by Mazenga Building Group Ltd. unless otherwise noted.

Mario Toneguzzi, based in Calgary has 37 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald covering sports, crime, politics, health, city and breaking news, and business. For 12 years as a business writer, his main beats were commercial and residential real estate, retail, small business and general economic news. He nows works on his own as a freelance writer and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Email: mdtoneguzzi@gmail.com

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