When Sarah Lisa opened her bakery in Kochi in 2023 with her husband, she never imagined that some day she would be running it alone. The 32-year-old Dutch woman and a mum of a two-and-a-half-year-old girl runs the Zera Noya Bakery—serving authentic Dutch pastries, cakes and Strawberry Slofs in Kochi. Zera Noya means ‘beautiful new beginnings’ in Hebrew. “I like the Hebrew language, and hence I chose these words,” she smiles.
Lisa met Vibin Varghese, a marine engineer, in July, 2013 in Hong Kong. They were on their way to the Philippines. Going with the dating age, they became Instagram friends, who ended up tying the knot in Bengaluru in 2018. Soon after the wedding, they settled in Kochi. “Vibin gave up his career because he did not want to be away from me for nine months at a time,” she says. The couple together started Zera Noya in February 2023. But just two months later, Vibin was diagnosed with Stage-4 Linitis Plastica—a rare form of gastric cancer and passed away in December 2023. “Many people thought that when Vibin passed away, I would go back. But I feel very settled here. Where would I go? Kochi is home,” says Lisa, adding, “My love for the community we have built here together in the last seven years motivated me to stay here. I cannot imagine building my life elsewhere.”
What was once a home business during Covid, has become Lisa’s life. Her bakery now employees 19 people. The menu includes Bokkenpootje (Goat’s Feet), named because the pastry looks like a goat’s feet. It is a meringue with apricot buttercream dipped in chocolate and almonds. Then there are stroopwafels—a caramel waffle. But their sweet Strawberry Slofs are the ones that pull the crowd to the Dutch cafe. “It is the combination of the cookie, which is nutty and has fudge, sweet but not too sweet, and there is buttercream on top. But the cream is not so sweet, and there are fresh strawberries. It has a nice balance,” she says. A must try at Zera Noya is the Marzipan Mergpijp, a cake with a layer of cream and raspberry jam. Other items include caramel tarts, muffins, truffles, apple pie and tarts, rondo, cupcakes, cinnamon braids and brownies. They also make freshly baked bread, as well as savouries like sausage rolls and chicken puffs.
All kinds of people, from different backgrounds and ages throng the bakery, where a buttery cake can be had for as low as `30. “Some items are expensive because we use authentic Belgian chocolate, French butter and German cream.” The secret sauce in her baking? “Bakers in Kochi use margarine and poor quality vegetable oil. But I use only high-grade butter. And I always buy Callebaut Chocolate from Belgium, which is one of the best premium chocolates in the world,” Lisa smiles.
Recently, in the memory of her husband, the baker held a fundraiser to help families of cancer victims. To her surprise, more than a thousand people turned up. There were people who had come from Thrissur and Kottayam to support the cause. “We have supported three families who are fighting cancer by paying their hospital bills,” she adds.
There may have been darkness in Lisa’s life, but inside the bakery it is all sunny and bright.