How it happened?
Pastries by Pono means the world to me and I’d like to thank you for considering my pastries to be a part of your special life moments big and small. It means the absolute world to me that you choose my pastries to share the stage with your life moments.
I’ve always been a food and spent a lot of my time over the years traveling and really eating my way around cities. It’s what I like to call truly seeing a city, by being immersed in its essence through food. Desserts mainly have been my vice for ages and there’s nothing that a yummy perfectly decadent dessert can’t cure in life! My love for dessert goes back to my childhood when my mom, sister, and I would bake sweet treats in our kitchen throughout our childhood and we’d watch our dad snag a hot and fresh pastry right off the cooling rack while it was hot. I remember burning my fingers on a hot glass tray making my first cake for my dad's birthday and being too scared to tell my mom I burned my fingers. My love for baking has been the essence of my childhood and watching the joy that desserts give people truly makes my day brighter.
True Flavor
Being Indian American to me meant that I grew up with the flavors of my family’s deep South Indian roots with a Dash of All American flare. We’d have everything from biryanis on the weekend to Pizza every Friday night. As I grew up I cherished my Indian heritage just as much as my American upbringing and the flavors of India were the ones that always brought me comfort. Watching my dad marvel at the perfect Ras-Malai or my mom roll the perfectly round Gulab-jamun always left me fascinated as a child. Merging the two worlds and taking traditional desi flavors and merging them into traditionally more American dessert offerings seemed like the perfect balance!
What started as a small experiment for friends who might miss the flavors of home but might enjoy a more modern twist with the flavors of India, has turned into something much larger than I’ve ever imagined. Having the chance to bring fusion Indian desserts to the stage and be a part of the conversation has been an experience that I will truly cherish. So thank you, to each person in my life who has encouraged me to explore my ideas, who has supported me along my journey to start a small business that brings joy to others, and to those who have taught me that my dreams are worth a shot in this world. Most importantly thank you to each person who has ordered and will order my desserts for their moments of joy. I hope these desserts remind you of your home wherever that is and bring you a moment of joy just like they do for me.
