Carlton pastry chef earns global recognition

Carlton-based pastry chef Hyoju Park has been recognised as one of the world’s most promising pastry talents, receiving La Liste’s Pastry Talent of the Year award.

The award celebrates emerging pastry chefs working across pastry shops, bakeries, tea rooms and dessert restaurants. La Liste, a French restaurant guide and ranking platform launched in 2015, is known for recognising leading restaurants and culinary talent around the world.

Hyoju said she was still in disbelief about the award, particularly given Madeleine de Proust is a small Carlton store, but said she was honoured by the recognition.

She is the co-founder and head pastry chef of Madeleine de Proust, a patisserie and creative studio at 253 Lygon St, which she runs with her partner Rong Yao Soh. The pair trained together at culinary school in London before opening their Carlton store.

As its name suggests, Madeleine de Proust specialises in madeleines, but with a creative twist.

Traditionally, the madeleine is a small French sweet with a distinctive seashell shape, sitting somewhere between a sponge cake and a cookie. Made from a simple mix of butter, flour, eggs and sugar, it was also the first thing Hyoju learned to bake when she was young.

At Madeleine de Proust, Hyoju said the team “break the rules” of the classic madeleine and show how the pastry “can be elevated”.

The menu features madeleines in a wide range of flavours, fillings and coatings, alongside French butter cookies, Bordeaux canelés and a variety of financiers.

The patisserie also offers a madeleine tower: a sculptural centrepiece made entirely from madeleines.

Following her La Liste recognition, Hyoju said there was plenty on the horizon for both herself and Madeleine de Proust.

She said a recent trip to Paris had provided “a lot of inspiration”, and that from this month the patisserie would begin expanding its range of pastries.

The name Madeleine de Proust comes from the French expression referring to sounds, tastes or smells that trigger vivid, nostalgic memories.

For Hyoju, her own madeleine de Proust is the memory of her mother baking cookies after school, filling their home with the smell of “heavenly” biscuits.

The aroma of madeleines evokes a similar feeling of nostalgia for Hyoju, and it is also what greets customers when they step inside the Carlton patisserie.

Madeleine de Proust is located at 253 Lygon St, Carlton, and is typically open from 9am to 3.30pm, Wednesday to Sunday. •