Long before we heard of Sadaharu Aoki, there was a Japanese Pastry Chef in Barcelona, doing his thing and establishing himself as one of the best pastry destinations in the city. Takashi WHO? Takashi Ochiai and his Patisseria Ochiai.
He was a pastry chef in Japan, but left for Europe to seek knowledge and experience, as is always the case. His travels brought him to Belgium and London, where he worked for a few years and picked up French and English. Chatting with him was great as we could communicate freely!
Eventually, he ended up in Spain, learning their traditional pastries and decided to set up shop in Barcelona in 1983. Besides specializing in Japanese pastry, he is also an astute businessman and imports Japanese products for distribution (Yann Duytsche is one of his customers) as well as produces ice creams and chocolates for wholesale.
