They fled their wartorn country last year and now call Middlesex County home.
They fled their war-torn country last year and now call Middlesex County home.
Now, Ukrainians Iryna and Mykola Bilovol are preparing new batches of macarons after the tasty treats proved a runaway hit at Wednesday’s grand opening of U.Cake, their dessert shop in Strathroy, west of London.
“We didn’t expect there would be a lot of people,” Mykola Bilovol said. “We prepared almost 300 (macarons), and they all sold out within four hours.”
The bakery specializes in the little French-style sandwich cookies made with almond flour and serves coffee and tea.
The shop at 5-830 Albert St. offers five flavors of macaron – matcha, double chocolate, blackberry and lavender, and ruby chocolate – and has plans for more. They also sell chocolate-covered strawberries, handmade brownies with cheesecake, and other treats.
The bakery is the first of its kind in the area, said local resident Jane Bilyayeva, one of the last opening-day customers to get some macarons before they sold out.
“I don’t really like sweets,” she said, “so I found they were just sweet enough. Not something you’d find at the grocery store, for sure.”
The Bilovols, their five-year-old daughter and eight-year-old son, came to Southwestern Ontario from Poland after fleeing their home in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine.
“Our parents said, ‘You have to go to provide safety for our grandchildren,’ ” Mykola said. “It was not an easy decision for all of us.”
They are among thousands of Ukrainians who came to Canada, including dozens in the London area, after Russia invaded Ukraine Feb. 24.
Back home, Mykola was an air traffic controller and Iryna a marketer, running an online clothing business while taking care of their children.
The couple had toyed with opening a bakery for years. With their entrepreneurial grit and Iryna’s passion for baking, they knew it was for them.
So when they found they couldn’t continue in their professions in Canada, “We decided, maybe this is the best time to open,” said Mykola.
Since moving in with a host family in Strathroy, he and Iryna enrolled the kids in school and completed business courses at Fanshawe College in London.
Running the shop has been a steep learning curve, said Mykola. “It was a challenge for us. We really didn’t know what to expect.”
They’re still determining how much to prepare daily — baking macarons is a long process — and what items they’ll add to their menu.
After receiving overwhelming support from Canadians, Mykola said it was important his family was independent and did “something on our own.”
“We have to be an example for our children. We have to show them that, in any situation, you have a choice,” one of them being to work toward goals you set, he said.
Many bakery customers expressed excitement about the new business and a desire to support the newcomers Thursday.
“This is a quiet side of town, so it’s nice to see something,” said Strathroy’s Maria Medieros.
“It’s fantastic. The town needed something like this, another coffee shop,” said Bilyayeva, a fellow Ukrainian who has lived in Ontario for a decade. “I think in the next few years, we will see a lot more Ukrainian cuisine, given how many immigrants have come in the last year.”
Mykola said the community response has been “amazing.”
“This is a huge pleasure for us,” he said. “To have the opportunity to share our products, to share our work.”
U.Cake plans to be open weekdays from 10 am to 6 pm and Saturdays from 11 am to 5 pm For details, visit them on Instagram at @u.cake_bakeryor on Facebook at u.cakebakery.
The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada