Tartelette Bakery & Cafe

The word Shirazi on Tartelette Bakery & Cafe's menu points to Shiraz, the Iranian city, and it explains most of what sits in the pastry case: saffron, rosewater, pistachio, and cardamom, worked into a tart, a cheesecake, and a small cake. The technique around those flavours is French. Chef and founder Sanaz Homa trained at Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, and she runs her Old Ottawa East counter on the seam between the two traditions — classic lamination and patisserie forms carrying a Persian pantry. The Pistachio Rose Croissant carries all of it in a single item, house pistachio cream and rose water folded into laminated dough, and it is the fastest way to understand the place.

The viennoiserie case rewards a slow read. Alongside the plain croissant and the pain au chocolat sit an almond croissant under sliced almonds, a Rocher croissant dipped in Belgian dark chocolate and finished with roasted hazelnuts, and a tiramisu croissant soaked in coffee syrup and filled with mascarpone. The tart counter is deeper still: a blueberry-lemon tart over crisp pastry, an espresso chocolate tart of dark ganache and espresso mousse, a tiramisu tart, and an orange entremet that layers orange mousse, cremeux, jelly, and soft cake, with a coconut, strawberry, and pistachio tart alongside. The cheesecakes split the difference between crowd-pleaser and house specialty, one built on Nutella and the other the Shirazi version with its saffron, pistachio, and cardamom. Giant croissants come by advance order, in plain, almond, chocolate hazelnut, and pistachio rose.

What the menu reveals about the kitchen is that almost everything is made from scratch, and that the Persian flavours are not confined to dessert. The same aromatic vocabulary runs straight into the drinks: a Saffron Rose Latte, a dirty chai, a house-blend tea steeped with cinnamon, rose, and cardamom, and a saffron cold-foam iced matcha brought in for the warm months. The savoury menu stays inside the pastry lane rather than wandering off it, with a smoked salmon croissant under herbed cream cheese, a grilled cheese built on a house toast loaf with Havarti and cheddar, and a pesto toast with sun-dried tomatoes. There are gluten-free and vegan options as well, including a chocolate banana bread baked to both standards, and the afternoon tea can be set up halal on request. The breadth lets one table order across breakfast, lunch, and dessert without anyone leaving the counter.

Homa's path runs through Le Cordon Bleu Ottawa, and the Persian half of the menu is personal rather than decorative. The Shirazi name points back to Shiraz, and the saffron and rosewater are the flavours of her own table translated into French forms. She opened Tartelette in Old Ottawa East in 2023, and local food writing has followed it since as a pastry destination rather than a routine neighbourhood stop. The afternoon tea makes the ambition concrete: a daily service from ten to three, booked at least two days ahead, that turns the pastry case into a seated occasion with sweet and savoury tiers. The same kitchen takes on catering and events, with a separate line for larger orders.

The Main Street storefront runs two clocks at once: the morning coffee-and-croissant habit for Old Ottawa East, and the planned visits — a booked afternoon-tea table, a special-order box of pastries — that pull people across the city. The French training and the Persian pantry are not kept in separate corners; the saffron turns up in the latte as readily as in the tart. A second Tartelette is on the way in Kanata, but the first one stays where it started, baking laminated dough and saffron pastries every day.