Our Story
The brand
Drawing inspiration from their favorite ingredients sisters Mansi & Isha, began Vanilla Miel (honey) as a culmination of their passion for art and food – a brand that celebrates complexity in simple things. With family, familiarity & flavour at our very core, the kitchen is a space where memories, emotions & moments are expressed through concepts. From the layered entremets to multi-textural tarts, our creations celebrate ingredients while seamlessly interweaving flavors to create dimensional but nostalgic experiences that hope to remind you of the sweeter moments in life.
Isha Shetty
Head Chef & Co-Founder
Isha, our head pastry chef, is a whimsical artist, with ideas floating around in her mind, paint stains on her fingertips & textural combinations up her sleeve. She is continually inspired to create nuanced desserts that combine modern technique with familiar flavors.
A graduate from Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, Isha pursued her passion for pastry at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris. Through her work at Taillens, an age-old symbol of a classic Swiss patisserie since 1943, she realized that working with artisanal cakes and chocolates is her true passion.
Isha went on to work in Melbourne with some of the best names in the Australian pastry industry, including Kirsten Tibbals and Paul Kennedy of Savour School, Adriano Zumbo of Zumbo and Bernard Chu of Luxbite before moving to India with a passion to make elevated pastry more accessible.
Mansi Shetty Bafna
Business Head & Co-Founder
Mansi, a lawyer by training from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Wharton Business School, along with her previous experience as a corporate associate at AZB & Partners, stepped away from her corporate law job and into the world of hospitality with no prior training but equipped with a passion for food.
She not only brings to the table a practiced business angle but also a keen sense of minimalistic art that influences the creations at Vanilla Miel.
Team
Our team, a confluence of women from different generations and social backgrounds, some still studying, some managing their households and some millennials simply managing their social media accounts. We have found our balance in diversity
When Vanilla Miel began our founders were determined to create equal & safe opportunities for women in a kitchen environment. Eighty percent of our all-female workforce were previously untrained, some from factories that closed down, some who can barely read in English, but all of whom come in with a commitment to learn the technical aspects of French pastry & chocolate. Their dedication and efforts are the substance that fuel the idea that is Vanilla Miel and we are forever grateful for their support. As we grow, we hope to sustainably and responsibly create more opportunities for women from across socio-economic backgrounds to empower them with financial independence.
For two years, the VM kitchen was a nomad, moving from different attics in unused spaces – in 2020, a year where the unlikely happened, we opened the kitchen of our dreams – a space that reflects our brand ethos with it’s glass walls and large windows. It is here that our team creates, celebrates and collaborates.
Chapters
Some days danced, some dragged, and some moved in quiet monotony—looking back, it feels like a fleeting moment and a lifetime, stitched softly together.
Only at our Pali Village café—some creations are meant to be experienced, not delivered.