Belu Melamed opens her own pastry shop in Buenos Aires

Belu Melamed is currently trending. The reason is the recent opening of her workshop in Buenos Aires. The objective is that this space allows her to maintain her educational work on Mondays and Tuesdays while at the weekend she can go to the street to offer her fresh cakes and baked specialties. It is a new adventure that begins on the right foot, since in a short time it has already earned the interest and curiosity of many of her followers and former students, but also of her neighbors and locals who dare with the most classic products of the house and end up enlivened by the most personal proposals.

As a child, Belén Melamed, Belu, dreamed of having her own tea room in which to serve wonderful sweets. However her reality kept her from that dream, but not because she stopped growing her love of pastry and her trade. On the contrary, it was her real, day-to-day experiences and the need to adjust to public demand and production routines that made her see that she preferred to direct her steps in other ways. This was when she discovered her true passion in teaching, in the opportunity to share her knowledge and her creative vision.

But life takes many turns and even more so in recent years. For this reason, after living between Uruguay and Argentina, the need to return home pushed her and her sister to open a window to the outside. It is just a window, a bar with its display case and a central space in which she exhibits the dry pastry specialties. But it has been more than enough to capture a very personal pastry in the form of a shop, in a cozy environment dominated by shades of white and blue.

The interior design and finishes of the premises are taken care of by Belén’s sister, Camila,who is an architect by trade, while the products perfectly reflect the Melamed philosophy. Of course, she has not wanted to distance herself from some of the classics, from American-style puddings and cookies, to some doughs with fillings like the alfajor which are attractive to a broader spectrum of the public.

Sidewalk trend

Belu Melamed tells us that in Buenos Aires and especially after the pandemic, spending time “on the sidewalk” is very popular, that is, outdoors, on the streets where people gather and enjoy a take-away product. The pastry shop clearly benefits from this trend. Just a counter and a small bench serve either to collect orders or to consume at the moment, spending time there on the street.

On weekends, when they open, there are usually three types of fresh pastry items available. Some of the most successful ones to date are shared in this article. A cranberry and lemon tartlet, cookies, cakes, and a kind of alfajores, with an irresistible version based on almond sablé and caramelized filling, have also enjoyed quite a lot of popularity.

Belu Melamed moves away from the most common pastry in the area, dulce de leche, lemon tart, and many other ultra-popular products in Argentinian pastry culture. Her interest, as readers of the magazine are well aware, lies in expanding the range of regular ingredients in a sweet version, being especially inspired by seasonal ingredients and giving each creation a personal finish. This is what she will also try to do in her new location, with special interest in rotating and proposing new things every week, but without losing sight of the fact that if any product deserves the public’s favor, such as the beloved Elsa tartlet dedicated to her grandmother, it is worth keeping and identifying it as one of the specialties of the house.

These are some of the preparations that can be enjoyed at Belu Melamed’s pastry shop:

Elsa

The opening day was March 24, 2023. My grandmother Elsa would have turned 100 on that day and that is why we decided to open that day, because she would have loved to see this project carried out by her granddaughters.

In every celebration there has to be a cake and here goes this monoportion inspired and dedicated to her, which is why it bears her name. Although we started presenting it with a Breton base, we ended up changing it for an almond sablé, because it is more resistant to humidity.

Cocoa

The starting point of this cake is actually the preparation of a dessert menu for a Uruguayan restaurant. The purpose of that experience was to surprise in presentation, but also to be very classic in the combination of flavors. In that case, we present the bean on a plate and give the customer a hammer to break the bean and enjoy the inside. Here the combination of flavors is nuanced, adding the personality of the cocoa nibs and the elegance of a nut such as hazelnut, which is found whole inside.

Delight Pleasure

The first time I made this dessert was during the pandemic, and when someone tried it, they began to exclaim: “delight… pleasure…” Since then, every time he wanted to order that dessert, he called it that. I thought it would be fun to give it that name. Since most of my creations come from somewhere or have a story, I think this anecdote is the perfect excuse to arouse curiosity about the product.