Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristy Choo.
Kristy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born and raised in Singapore. My family operated a food shop featuring regional Chinese fare, which enabled me to start developing my palate early on.
And working as a flight attendant in a previous life allowed me the opportunity to travel around the world, which in turn exposed me to the flavors and concepts of haute cuisine.
Fueled with that knowledge – and with a penchant for desserts! – I enrolled in the Pastry and Baking program at the California Culinary Academy (San Francisco) in the hopes of becoming a chef. Upon graduating, I returned to Singapore and landed my first real cooking job doing pastry at the renowned Raffles Hotel.
Raffles is where I honed my skills on all of the various pastry stations, and where I took advantage of working alongside visiting chefs like Joel Robuchon and Alain Ducasse to view their work up close, as well as witness how they managed their respective staff.
In 2002, I was selected to join the Singapore national team to compete in Food & Hotel Asia’s prestigious Culinary Challenge. Under the guidance of Team Manager and Executive Pastry Chef Kenny Kong, I dove headfirst – 14-hour days were the norm – into perfecting the art of working with chocolate in order for us to compete with the vaunted Swiss and German teams. A podium finish instilled a great deal of much-needed confidence and jump started my dream of opening up my own pastry shop.
That dream became a reality when we opened Jin Patisserie the following year in Venice, California. We carved out a little slice of zen – a pastry boutique and an Asian-inspired tea garden – for our customers, and have now been in business for over 14 years!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was definitely not an easy path! Especially for an immigrant moving to a city like Los Angeles, with all its inherent challenges. I was quite new to the food industry here at that time, so I had to get up to speed very quickly on how to deal and negotiate with architects, contractors, and suppliers, familiarizing myself about labor laws, and interviewing and hiring staff. And this doesn’t even include learning about the city’s culture, tastes and expectations!
More recently, losing the lease in 2013 to our original location on Abbot Kinney was a blow, but we regrouped and found a second home here in Culver City.
But I do know, that if you do everything with your heart and give your absolute best to your customers, they are smart enough to recognize that hard work and commitment.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Jin Patisserie – what should we know?
We specialize in cakes, chocolates, cookies, and macarons. What sets us apart, is our attention to detail. We make high end quality items from scratch with no artificial colors or flavors. Consequently, you can taste the difference in our products.
And we like to get fun and creative for special occasions like Valentine’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas! Each time out I like to design something original and treat it as an art piece. Quite fortunately, we’ve been able to make those one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted, chocolate sculptures available to our customers.
As such, our regular customers are extremely loyal and still remember us today after 14 years. Maintaining our good reputation with them is of utmost importance; without them, we wouldn’t still be here!
Ultimately, we are passionate with what we do and we do not cut corners in order to make money.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Staying true to myself, doing my best to provide the best for my customers, and quite simply, not making substandard products.
Contact Info:
- Address: 5741 Buckingham Parkway
Suite D, Culver city, Ca 90230 - Website: www.jinpatisserie.com
- Phone: 3103998801
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: jin patisserie
- Facebook: jin patisserie
- Twitter: jin patisserie
- Yelp: jin patisserie
Jamie
May 3, 2017 at 17:22
Great interview with the most amazing and committed pastry chef! I have fond memories of Jin Patisserie’s wonderful Afternoon Tea consisting of yummy finger sandwiches, savory mini quiches, decadent little desserts, unique bread-like scones with clotted cream and homemade fruit preserves, and delicious gourmet teas in a beautiful tucked away setting at their old Venice location. Seriously, I am always disappointed when I try other tea rooms as none of them are quite as good as Jin Patisserie’s was. I really miss that since Jin Patisserie’s current Culver City location is strictly a to-go bakery. However, you can still get the same luscious desserts by the slice or order them full size (my favorite is their one-of-a-kind Spring Bouquet cake with meringue that melts in your mouth layered with passion fruit cream as well as bits of fresh mangoes and strawberries!) and purchase their specialty teas here. Oh and Jin Patisserie’s macarons are my favorite and I have yet to find any that rivals theirs! If you’re a chocoholic, then you must try Jin Patisserie’s chocolates! Kristy creates rich, dark, decadent chocolate and turns them into works of art or you can buy them boxed by the piece! All of the ingredients she uses are top notch and you can taste it in every bite! I hope Kristy has more pop-up events so we can enjoy Jin Patisserie’s Afternoon Tea again like their Mother’s Day ones from a couple of years ago. (I’ll never forget those!) Anyway, thank you, Kristy, for making Jin Patisserie the best place to indulge my sweet tooth!