\u201cIt was just like a side hustle,\u201d says P\u00e9rez. \u201cThat\u2019s how the journey began.\u201d<\/p>\n
A little more than three years ago, the side hustle led to P\u00e9rez opening her bricks-and-mortar bakery in Vanier, not far from where P\u00e9rez lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy living room was more like a storage room,\u201d she recalls. \u201cThat\u2019s when we found this place and we moved here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiqui Bakery opened in March 2023, and P\u00e9rez is all in.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though I used to love my corporate job, I feel baking is my passion. I love it,\u201d says Perez, 33. \u201cIt is not only my job. It\u2019s my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though I used to love my corporate job, I feel baking is my passion. I love it<\/p>\n
Jessica P\u00e9rez Chiqui Bakery<\/p>\n
She proudly says that Chiqui is Ottawa\u2019s only Mexican bakery. It sells mostly cakes to order and a variety of the sweet Mexican breads known as pan dulce in P\u00e9rez\u2019s homeland.<\/p>\n
At Chiqui, the top-seller is P\u00e9rez\u2019s cornbread, which is not too sweet and boasts a supremely moist crumb.<\/p>\n
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Sweet corn bread at Chiqui Bakery in Vanier, Ottawa\u2019s only Mexican bakery.<\/p>\n
But lesser-known sweet breads are also worth trying. There are massive conchas (\u201cshells\u201d in Spanish), which are soft, brioche-like rolls whose craggy, sugary crusts make them look like seashells. There are just-as-large tri-coloured cookies that taste of chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, which, because of the World Cup, are temporarily red, white and green \u2014 the colours of the Mexican flag.<\/p>\n
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Tricolour cookie made by Jessica Perez, owner of Chiqui Bakery. It is the only Mexican bakery in Ottawa.<\/p>\n
Chilindrinas, a traditional pan dulce from Mexico City, is soft and fluffy inside but crusted with a crunchy, sugary topping. Elote, a corn-shaped pan dulce from the north of Mexico<\/a>, stars the flavours of cinnamon and vanilla. Pan de feria (\u201cfairground bread\u201d) tastes like the skin of boiled milk and has vanilla cream on top, says P\u00e9rez.<\/p>\n In Chiqui\u2019s fridge, there are single servings of dulce de leche<\/a> and chocoflan cakes. A slice of the former made me swoon.<\/p>\n In addition to coffees, Chiqui offers the traditional refreshing drinks found at Ottawa\u2019s taquerias \u2014 hibiscus, flavoured with sorrel, and horchata, the sweet, milky, cinnamon-y, rice-based drink that I like even more.<\/p>\n To my surprise, P\u00e9rez told me that a customer told her that there\u2019s a cornbread similar to hers. Then she mentions that conchas are like the so-called pineapple buns \u2014 \u201cbolo bao\u201d \u2014 of Hong Kong, while another of her sweet breads has an Italian counterpart.<\/p>\n You might say that this Mexican bakery belongs to a United Nations of baked goods. \u201cWe share all the good stuff,\u201d P\u00e9rez says.<\/p>\n phum@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n RelatedChiqui Bakery<\/p>\n
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