About our Chef

 

Hi there! It’s nice to meet you! I’m Julia Gindra, Chef Owner of Dessert First Ottawa.

When I was 16, I went out for dinner with my family, while we all ordered our main courses, my uncle ordered his dessert first! I was electrified by this! I asked him, How can you order dessert first? And he responded with, “Well I’m a grown-up and I would prefer to enjoy the best part of my meal first!” I literally thought this was the best thing ever. From then on, it has been my dream to open an establishment that serves dessert first!

My passion and joy comes from feeding delicious food to my peers and guests, but my true love has always been sweets.  At Algonquin College, I graduated with Dean’s Honors from the Baking and Pastry program as well as the Culinary program. My drive for creating continued on as I competed in The 2017 Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship, where I finished in the top 8 nationally as the only female.

I have gained extensive experience working in the food and beverage industry for 12 years, working and managing various high-end kitchens for the Fairmont Hotel Group. During this time, I got to fine tune my skills in different aspects from (included but not limited to) pastries, desserts, breakfast, brunch, to different cuisines like Italian, German, charcuterie and Canadian Grill. 

My most recent accomplishment is having created the bread and dessert program for The Whalesbone Group for five of its outlets in the Ottawa region. During this time I had the opportunity to meet so many wonderful people who LOVE to indulge in delicious desserts!

I am looking forward to bringing my years of experience to my new creation of Dessert First to Ottawa.