A Parisian Cafe Grows In Bensonhurst: Honeybee Pâtisserie Opens On Bay Parkway

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hbpatisserie/bee-a-part-of-honeybee-patisserie

When Anna Ng decided to embark on a pastry-themed, gastronomical journey through France in 2010, she never imagined it would lead her right back home to Bensonhurst.

Having graduating with a marketing degree from Baruch College, Ng spent the first few years of her career working at a firm, but says she found cubicle life “kind of boring.” So one day, “on a whim,” she applied to Le Cordon Bleu and bought herself a plane ticket to France.

Friends followed Ng’s year-long adventure at the prestigious Parisian culinary school and her pastry-related hijinks on her blog, whimsically titled Honeybee Pâtisserie.

Now an accomplished pastry chef, 29-year-old Ng has opened a storefront bearing the same moniker, Honeybee Pâtisserie — an upscale French bakery located at 6514 Bay Parkway — on May 12.

Though many of her old friends have moved away from her hometown, opening her business in Bensonhurst felt right, Ng told us.

“I wanted to create a place for the younger generation,” she said. “I want to bring more of that Manhattan vibe into Bensonhurst. I think [this neighborhood] is so underrated, but it’s beautiful and there is quite a bit of history. What’s not to like?”

Ng, who attended Saint Athanasius Elementary School and Midwood High School, credits her Bensonhurst childhood for cultivating her sweet tooth. As a kid, after school, she would regularly stop by Rimini Pastry Shoppe (6822 Bay Parkway), buying an assortment of cookies for $7 a pound.

It is no coincidence that Bensonhurst, a haven for so many immigrant groups, has become something of a bastion for traditional bakers from across the globe — from the recently opened Argentine-style Sultry Sweets on 20th Avenue, to Cannoli Plus on New Utrecht Avenue, to the myriad of Asian bakeries on Bay Parkway, 18th Avenue, and 86th Street.

Ng is not the only Asian-American pastry chef who cites Bensonhurst’s iconic Italian bakeries as her inspiration. Audrey Mak, who was born in Hong Kong and raised in Bensonhurst, recently told us that sampling sweets at the legendary Villabate Alba inspired her own culinary journey — which produced Audrey’s Concerto, a French-Asian bakery and cafe on 86th Street.

Similar to Mak, Ng says she started experimenting with the beater in her teens, starting off with cake mixes like Duncan Hines, which her Chinese immigrant parents found too sweet in comparison to milder Chinese baked goods. Pretty soon Ng was playing around with from-scratch cake and cookie recipes.

Initially, it was difficult for Ng’s parents to envision their creative-minded daughter earning a living in a field like pastry-making, so they urged her to keep baking as a hobby and to study business instead. But now that she’s landed a job in fine dining and opened her own bakery, Ng says her family is coming around to the idea.

When she first returned from France, Ng found the job market for entry-level pastry chefs to be discouraging. The first Midtown dessert spot she applied to told her she was too inexperienced.

“They were chewing me out, and I was like this is hard! How am I ever going to get a job in this field?” said Ng.

Fortunately, at her second job interview, she got hired on the spot at The Modern, a fine-dining restaurant associated with the Museum of Modern Art, and she realized that she had found her calling.

“What I like about being in the restaurant business is that it’s more like a family — instead of everyone being in his cubicle,” said Ng. “And we even have a family meal, which makes it even more intertwined.”

If at Le Cordon Bleu she learned the meticulous craft of creating traditional French desserts, at The Modern Ng gained experience in putting experimental, modern twists on old classics.

After working for two years at the restaurant, Ng knew she wanted to push her creative limits even further.

“I wanted to see what it was like to do fine dining and play with desserts, and it was pretty strenuous, everything had to be perfect,” she said. “I liked it a lot, but then I wanted to branch out.”

Ng drew up a business plan and began her search for an architect, an arduous process she detailed on her blog. When she realized construction in New York would cost double what she had anticipated, she launched a Kickstarter campaign, which raised $16,000 from more than 100 donors.

Throughout the construction process, Ng encountered her share of setbacks. During a gut renovation of the space, a ceiling beam had to be repaired, and she soon learned that the display case she had ordered was being shipped from Italy and had somehow gotten lost at sea. When it finally did land at its port in San Francisco — just her luck — the dockworkers were on strike.

Finally, a year behind schedule, Ng’s work paid off and the Honeybee vision came together. The result is a simple and inviting space with an understated elegance, a French cafe-themed sanctuary on a hectic, heavily trafficked Bensonhurst street.

Each item in the sparse display case is an exquisite work of art. Only about five or six desserts are available at a time, each costing approximately $5, and Ng rotates the menu every few weeks.

Though the display is small, each item is concocted by Ng herself and approved by her staff of four, who double as baristas and taste testers.

“Every time a new dessert comes out, everyone has to try it, whether they want to or not,” said Ng. “Sometimes I want to go a little radical [like the time she invented a coconut-curry macaron], but I don’t know if people will go for it, so I make them try it first.”

Ng also uses the finest French ingredients — a touch only those with very discerning taste may notice. For example, she uses exclusively French butter, which has three percent more fat than its American counterpart. Staying true to her Parisian roots, Ng has also christened all her desserts with French names — somewhat to the chagrin of her non-French-speaking employees.

We sampled a dessert called Mango Passion Caramélia, which consists of a passion fruit-mango gelée, Caramélia mousse, vanilla génoise cake, topped with dulce-almond croustillant, accompanied by a pipette of extra mango sauce. The flavors were rich and complex, with the choco-caramel mousse meshing nicely with the tart mango sauce.

This is a recurring theme in Ng’s creations, pairing the very sweet with a tart or subtle green tea flavor. A full selection of coffee and espresso drinks also contrast nicely with the decadent desserts.

“That’s what I love about French desserts — there are so many textures and flavors that get married harmoniously,” said Ng.

Drooling yet? Stop by Honeybee Pâtisserie at 6514 Bay Parkway or call (347) 587-1440. Also, check out their reviews on Yelp.