Review of Bella's Patisserie in Sir Isaac's Walk in Colchester

The independent business opened in Sir Isaac’s Walk, Colchester, last week.

It is the first venture to be undertaken by 27-year-old Isabela Maria.

I visit the patisserie on a Friday afternoon, and though it is not yet warm enough outside for t-shirts and shorts, the city centre is bustling.

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Inside, the place is bright and I am in fact welcomed by a youngster of about seven years old; his mum, a friend of owner Ms Maria, is with me shortly and she talks me through the cakes on show.

At £4.50 each, I buy two creations: one is an entremets made up of layers of brownie, walnut, caramel, and chocolate mousse; the other, a light and meticulously crafted entremets with a white chocolate mousse encasing a passionfruit filling.

These are not amateur creations by any stretch, and I hate to think how much time I would have to spend on making one myself.

Normally, I am very defensive about my desserts and, as selfish as it sounds to say, not that keen on sharing.

With the chocolate entremets however, I could probably do with some help, because it is full on.

The chocolate entremets is very rich and excellent value at £4.50 (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

Firstly, you can tell it’s homemade – it’s fresh, it’s creative and it’s top-drawer.

Luckily, I have a training session the following morning to run this off, but it certainly wouldn’t stop me from buying another one; at £4.50 it is a very good price.

I suspect many would maybe get through half of this before setting it aside and vowing to come back later.

I don’t have the same level of self-restraint, and in less than ten minutes, it’s gone, and I don’t have any regrets.

The following day comes the white chocolate and passionfruit entremets which, understandably, is lighter and tangier than its chocolatey counterpart.

Again, I feel this is of a seriously high standard.

The tang of the passionfruit, the sweetness of the white chocolate, the crunch of the coconut – the tastes and textures complement one another perfectly.

The delicate balance of a light mousse and the sweet passionfruit makes for superb end product (Image: Daniel Rees, Newsquest)

Unsurprisingly, it leaves you wanting more, which is a bit of a shame when you soon realise there is already none left.

Business has been steady so far, Ms Maria says, but having tried some of the cakes she has made, one hopes it is not too long before it really gets off the ground.

Ms Maria said: “We didn’t do much advertising, so the first few days were a little bit slow, but it was alright in a sense because it gave me time to talk to the customers about the cakes and how we do them.

“At the moment, people seem to prefer to take away and tend to buy slices rather than a whole cake.”

“I hope we will get there to be known by many people.”