A love of all things French inspired Angela Joy to open patisserie Gigi & Chix Bonbon at Pokolbin

She opened her very own patisserie in Pokolbin just over a week ago and couldn't be happier. It has been a labour of love for the mother of two with a passion - and an undeniable talent - for all things pastry.

Angela's enthusiasm for her craft, and for life in general, is contagious. So is her laugh.

Gigi & Chix Bonbon is named after her daughters, who are aged three and six and are cute as a button. Gigi and Chix are the girls' "pet names", Angela says, which "seem to have stuck".

Her first week at the patisserie was a huge learning curve.

"I found that planning something is very different from actually doing it," Angela said.

"For example, on Sunday we made seven plain croissants, going by the previous Sunday where we had a few left over. However as soon as we opened the doors, the first people to buy croissants was a group of seven.

"Would you believe it? And then all the ham and cheese croissants were gone by 9am and I was like, 'OK, this is what Sundays are going to look like. Let's make sure we have as many savoury products for brunch as possible on that day'."

Gigi & Chix is Angela's first patisserie. She was originally planning on opening a high-end children's clothing store of the same name, and used to own and operate a family daycare centre in Sydney.

Her family and friends had, for years, tried to persuade her to cook professionally but Angela never took their suggestions seriously.

"We moved from Wahroonga to the Hunter Valley and I had just had another baby, which was Gigi. I started thinking about what I was going to do with my life once Gigi was old enough for me to go back into the workforce."

She spent a year developing the clothing store concept but it wasn't to be. A three-month stint living with Gigi and Chix in France following the breakdown of her marriage gave Angela the clarity she needed.

"I've had a lifelong passion for all things French," she said.

"My Mum speaks French. I tried to learn the language but I was a teenager and I skipped class, which was very stupid. But that love of anything and everything French got transferred from my Mum to myself.

"Living in France was something I always wanted to do, so when I was going through my divorce I thought it was the perfect opportunity to go. It was my gift to myself and my kids. I felt at home there.

"It was only natural that if I was ever going to do anything with my cooking, it was going to be French.

"It was in France that I said to myself 'Well, Angela, if there's one thing that you do love it's patisserie. Everyone always said you should do this - you are the only person who doesn't believe you should do this'."

Upon her return to the Hunter Valley, Angela was offered an assistant pastry chef position at a local restaurant. Then COVID struck and her hours dwindled. She had to rethink her options.

"I decided this was the time to focus on how I defined myself as a person, and how I could also be of service to the community, and I made the decision to dive into the deep end and open a patisserie," Angela said.

"It was either that or sit around feeling sorry for myself and I don't have the luxury to do that. I wanted to do something that my kids could be proud of.

"Having a physical shop was supposed to be a five-year goal but it soon became my short-term goal."

Angela says she is "very organised, to the point of being obsessive" about a project, which helps to explain how the patisserie quickly transformed from a dream to a bricks and mortar reality in such a short period of time.

She laughs when recalling the words of advice from family and friends she had ignored for so many years.

"I was the only person who saw my skills and abilities in the kitchen as just something that I did. When people came over I wanted to wow them because I was happy to see them," she said.

"Cooking was my gift to my friends and my family; it's always been that way.

"I know my product is good enough but opening the patisserie is more to do with the fact that everyone I love and trust has always pushed me in this direction. They were like 'Dude, seriously, this is what you should do. Why are you trying to do all these other things when your talent is this?'.

"And all of a sudden I realised I had been trying to figure out what to do when it was right there in front of me all along."

So, what's on the menu at Gigi & Chix Bonbon? Croissants made by Angela fresh daily, a range of tarts and eclairs, spectacular entremets - the list goes on.

Customers can dine in or take away, or book a high tea on the premises.

"This place is my personality. I am an individual and I let that shine through," Angela said.

"When people are sitting there saying how amazing my food is, my satisfaction is from their reactions. They are always surprised, as if they weren't expecting this, and tell me they want another or that they will be back again. Or they tell a friend to come in.

"It makes me so happy."

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