our history
Maison Clement Bakery & Patisserie Ltd is the result of Clément’s dream, passion, and daily hard work, who, as a young boy at age 13 from the centre of Paris, discovered a lifelong interest in bread and patisseries.
The journey to become professional baker & pastry chef was sweet but challenging. He started by completing bakery school and his apprenticeship in Paris at the well-known Boulangerie Vandermeersch, followed by working in cruise ships travelling to South Korea, Norway, and Poland. Afterwards, he spent 10 years in Brighton, working for Real Patisserie, where he not only developed his management skills but also met his future wife and business partner, Monika. While working in Brighton, he successfully attained his degree in Brevet de Maîtrise (BM) Pâtissier in Rouen, France in 2010, and Monika developed Maison Clement Bakery and Patisserie’s business plan. The beauty and multicultural spirit of Cambridge brought Clement and his family to Cambridge in February 2017, when they opened their first bakery on Hills Road
Maison Clement is now an artisan, authentic French bakery & patisserie where we cherish our most fundamental and high-quality ingredients and turn them into delicious creations which satisfy both our customers’ and our own palates through skill, passion, and dedication.
All our products are made from scratch at our bakeries. Every day we start our baking at 1am to make sure the bread and viennoiserie are ready at 7 a.m. for our early rising customers. We try to source our ingredients locally as much as possible, but also bring some in from France to deliver true taste and quality. We follow the traditional French recipes engraved in our memories, but are nonetheless unafraid to experiment with new ideas, bring creativity to our kitchen. We are always looking to understand and care about our customers different tastes and preferences, always looking after top-quality outcome and sticking to our roots and spirit.
There is one basic philosophy here: we sell only what we would enjoy consuming ourselves!
We are so delighted that since we opened the door, thanks to our dedicated team in the front of house and kitchen, we have become part of the local community, their habits and treats. A special place for many of our customers for which we have created “a little France in the centre of Cambridge”.
Clément’s dream of creating a local bakery as a centre of a neighbourhood’s life, like it happens all around France, came true in February 2019 when we found a little pearl in a heart of Newnham… a small, bakery on Derby Street, filled with 150 years of history and just asking for a French touch and spirit.
The setting of Hope Cottage reminds Clément, and many locals, of the typical scenery of a French village: a beautiful landscape with a real bakery, surrounded by the good butcher and the convenience store at the corner, where on Sunday morning you can pop on your slippers to grab warm traditional baguettes, croissants, and freshly ground coffee. All of this and the beautiful smell in the air of the freshly baked, hand-shaped bread coming from the warm oven. Thanks to a hard-working dedicated team and loyal customers we have created a meeting point and a place when you can rest after long walk in the meadows.
In Cambridge, Clément’s dream became true for many of us!!!