There are few shops in Quebec where you can leave with desserts as high-end and, above all, as unique as those at Nanana. A coconut streusel, topped with a coconut mousse, a lime and parsley cream, green apple with lime and olive oil, garnished with fresh cucumber, it does not run the streets !
This is the fourth week of activity for the dessert counter on rue Jean-Talon, a new stopover to make before or after going to the market. If the weather permits, the sweet break can take place in the pretty little garden at the back, which is accessed by rue Casgrain. The retail’s interior, a well-earned 800 square feet, is a playful and colorful little masterpiece of design.
Its very active owners, Sandra Forcier and Jared Tuck, had already accustomed us to a beautiful decor and a particularly inventive pastry with their restaurant Ratafia, less than 10 minutes walk from the new business. This wine and dessert bar on boulevard Saint-Laurent has transformed over the course of its four years of existence into a “real” restaurant, with an unusual discovery menu. It now drives very well, with minimal intervention from Sandra and Jared.
It’s a rewarding and non-hierarchical approach that has allowed the couple to build a solid sweet team that, for the moment, does not want to look elsewhere. This same business philosophy, where all the pastry chefs have a say in the creation chapter, has enabled Nanana to receive quality CVs. As at Ratafia, the new address will soon have a team of five women in the kitchen.
The idea for a shop was born during the pandemic, when the Ratafia offered “cake out”. But Nanana is much more than the take-out version of its big brother. The desserts of the two businesses overlap little, even if they can occasionally influence each other. A creation like the Ratafia Crunchy (honey and saffron brick leaves, labneh, orange blossom, tamarind) can inspire Nanana ice cream, for example. The Medovik, the restaurant’s superb honey classic, is also available at the counter on rue Jean-Talon, as a result of the craze.
Jared is also fulfilling his dream of a creamery with some very original hard ice creams and a small offer of very gourmet “soft”, such as this vegan raspberry/blackberry and coconut/vanilla “twist”, a deliciously complementary combination. Seasonal, they will not disappear completely with the arrival of cold weather. “We could, for example, offer a few take-out containers of our famous blood orange ice cream or a special ice cream to accompany the autumn apple pie,” projects Jared.
The pastries come in individual servings, but some are starting to have a “full-size” version, such as the raspberry-based Kotone and chocolatey Powerbird. The Medovik can always be ordered for four, six or eight people. The store accepts online reservations and purchases up to 24 hours in advance.
