Recently I tried the pastries sold in the local supermarkets here, and was impressed they tasted as good as the western ones. On the plastic bag it had La Rose Noire printed on it, so I checked it online and found they had a website.
http://www.la-rose-noire.com
I was amazed to find out they were a big bakery and the pastry chef Gerard is quite famous. I was even told by
HK Epicurius that they supply OEMs to many cafes such as Cafe Corridor, Barista Jam, Xen.
So it’s certainly a deal getting the pastries at the local supermarket. It is interesting they do Chinese bakery too for the Chinese such as pineapple buns etc, which I do not intend to try.
Apart from that, they have so much seasonal products, breads etc featured on their website.
The pastries I had was the double chocolate fudge puff, it was flakey on the outside with gooey chocolate in the middle, not too sweet or too buttery.
In general, all their products I have tried were amazing, even the sausage roll. The usual “CHINESE” sausage rolls are disgusting, especially with frankfurters replacing the traditional sausage.
The bread range is also impressive, eg poppy seed bun, carrot roll, and various of breads.
Background of La Rose Noire:
Gerard’s obsession with baking and good food goes back as far as he can remember. At the tender age of 16, he entered a 5 year apprenticeship programme in Villars, Switzerland, where he learned to make all kinds of bread, pastry, chocolate and ice-cream.
After graduating with distinction from his apprenticeship. He moved to Zurich. For a year, he developed his pastry skills and language skills whilst working in a famous family owned pastry shop.
The following year, he joined the Hilton International Group in London, and spent the next 10 years in several positions in far flung parts of the globe. His 'Tour du Monde' took him to Istanbul, Tokyo, Guam, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Singapore and Shanghai, where James Smith, Regional Vice President for Hilton International, recognised his talents and encouraged him to move to Hong Kong. It was here that he was promoted to Regional Pastry Chef covering Central Asia.
During this time, Gerard represented Hilton International at many international culinary competitions - I.K.A. Hoga in Germany, Salon Culinaire in Singapore and HOFEX in Hong Kong. He was the winner of numerous gold medals for both team and individual presentations. In recognition of this, he was invited to join the judging panels for many world renowned culinary competitions. Being in Hong Kong at start of the '90s, Gerard was already considering his long term future. His natural instinct was to strike out and seize the opportunities of
a booming economy.
The following year, he opened his first 'La Rose Noire Pâtisserie' together with his partner Michel Emeric in the most prestigious retail centre on Hong Kong Island. This was the foundation of his dream to establish a specialist Boulangerie, Pâtisserie, Confiserie. A few years later, Gerard took full control of the company and its future.
Now, 19 years later, La Rose Noire is one of Hong Kong's leading producers of fine bakery and pastry products. The company has one of the widest fresh and frozen product ranges available, and is also one of the few manufacturers of frozen, pre-proven dough in Hong Kong.
From its modern facilities in Kowloon Bay and Dongguan, his company employs more than 500 staff who work around the clock to meet the needs of their customers, who include hotels, airlines, private members clubs, restaurants and retailers. Many of the original staff who joined the company are still working there today.
In 2004, the company constructed a brand new, custom built factory in Dongguan to serve new customers in Southern China. Today La Rose Noire products are sold in Europe, USA, Dubai, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, China and Japan.
Gerard was co-author of the famous book 'The Cutting Edge", which was published in Hong Kong in 1993. He also published “My Recent Journey” in 2003 and “Passion.” in 2006. “Passion.” was awarded Gourmand World Cookbook Awards 2006 - "Special Award Of The Jury" in the "Gourmand Singapore Awards". He served as Chairman of the Asian Culinary Classic in 1997, 1999 and 2005, and was the President of the Hong Kong selection for the 'Coupe du Monde de la Pâtisserie' in 1997 in Lyon, France.
