Tucked between a Hong Kong restaurant and a ceramics painting studio, on the south east corner of the bustling Fort and Richmond intersection, sits Goodside Pastry House which, on most days, has a line waiting patiently for its unique croissants, cream puffs and other pastries. 

It’s the latest iteration of a journey that started on Granville Island, before migrating to pop-ups in Victoria in the midst of the pandemic, eventually moving to a semi-permanent space, and finally finding a long-term home at its new store front.

Established in 2020 by pastry chefs Haley Landa and Curtis Helm, their journey of “food and baking” as Helm put it, began 12 years ago when the two enrolled in culinary school on Granville Island in Vancouver. 

“We quickly fell in love with both the craft and each other,” said Helm. “Once graduated the goal was simple—start working for the people with talent and passion and learn as much as we can.” 

Flash forward a decade, and having worked for some top chefs, the duo felt like it was time for them to take on building something of their own. 

“There were multiple reasons,” explained Helm, on the move from the mainland to Victoria, “but the foremost was that we wanted to be able to have a community based pastry shop where we know the people we serve.” 

Drawing on their training and traditional French techniques and West Coast and Island inspired ingredients, they develop, test, and deliver a new menu each month. The Pep and Hot Honey Twist croissant and Passionfruit Poppyseed croissant from April were two notable creations—not to mention their seemingly endless weekly rotation of cream puff flavours, like the Choco-Strawberry Puff with bittersweet chocolate cream, strawberry cremeux, and fresh diced strawberries and jam. 

With such a varied and constantly changing menu their inspiration comes from multiple sources, according to Helm. 

“The number one is just making things WE want to eat,” said Helm. “Then it comes down to ‘prompts’—time of year, a new ingredient, a new technique that we want to try, aesthetics and flavour combinations, and of course we are lucky to have social media. Reverse engineering something we have seen from talented people around the world and then putting our personal spin is also incredibly fun.”

The running of a store, let alone one in the service industry, can be a daunting challenge. Yet following along the growth of Goodside has been a passionate and devoted customer base. From a near constant line on their opening day—on what was also the slushiest, wettest day of this past Christmas’ snow storm—and regularly selling out, to followers on social media eager to show and share their latest treats. 

“The food business is never easy, a lot of blood sweat and tears go into it,” said Helm. “But the hardest things in life are usually the most fruitful and that’s certainly how we feel. The whole experience from pop-ups to brick and mortar has been so exciting. We are humbled everyday by the support and kind words of our community.”