Ek Tara, a charitable trust in Kolata’s Topsia that supports underprivileged children, along with Tomorrowland Foundation, inaugurated a new bakery last month at the Ek Tara Music & Art School. Present for the unveiling and celebrations was pastry chef Roger Van Damme of Michelin-starred restaurant Het Gebaar in Antwerp, along with Shashvat Dhandhania, executive chef of Kolkata restaurant and patisserie To Die For. The two chefs cut the ribbon opening the doors of the in-house cafe
All photos courtesy Ek Tara
Following the inauguration, Chef Damme cooked up batches of Belgian waffles in the new cafe for the enthusiastic students in attendance. This was followed by a workshop by Dhandhania and a special performance by Damme’s son Lucca. The event was also supported by Her Future Coalition, an Kolkata-based organisation empowering women and girls
The cafe accommodates up to 15 individuals and is equipped with modern facilities to produce a variety of baked goods. The in-house cafe is set up to cater to the kids and students of Ek Tara and is expected to be fully up and running in May of this year. Young girls and women from the foundation will be handling the operations of the cafe including making the confections and their training will begin in April
Shashvat Dhandhania conducted a cake-making workshop, where he demonstrated his expertise and shared his love for baking with Ek Tara’s students and a group of mothers. ‘We had 12 kids participating. Over an hour and half, we made a special recipe — a Hazelnut and Almond Financier Sponge Cake topped with Lotus Biscoff. Everyone who participated was really enthusiastic and some of them even took my number down and called me later to ask about alternative ingredients,’ said chef Shashvat
