Sangmo and her daughter, Woeser
‘My boss just put her hands together and she said “Sangmo, please never bake in your life” ’ Tendill Sangmo remembers. But in November 2012 she opened her own bakery which is now rated #1 on TripAdvisor.
Woeser Bakery, named after Sangmo’s young daughter, is just one floor away from bustling Jogiwara Road, right below Black Magic. Despite the seemingly gloomy basement location, Woeser Bakery is a sunny refuge from the car horns overhead. I was greeted with a cheery ‘Tashi Delek,’ and took a seat surrounded by yellow walls, lanterns, butterfly tiles, and ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ playing softly in the background.
Sangmo is not sure of her date or place of birth. She grew up in Almora in the Uttarakhand region of India and held numerous jobs there, including teaching kindergarten, selling undergarments and singing songs for the radio. She moved to McLeod Ganj in 2009 expecting to work as a teacher, but instead started work at the Rogpa Café. It was her first time touching an oven. ‘My first cake was totally burnt’, she admits with a bashful smile. Despite her boss’s initial horror at Sangmo’s baking, after three years Sangmo heard her utter the ‘best compliment of my life’: ‘Sangmo, your brownie is better than mine’.
‘I always believe that the word “impossible” also says “I (a)M POSSIBLE”. I always keep this in my mind’ says Sangmo. During the course of our chat, it becomes clear that accepting the challenge of learning to bake was life-changing for her: baking evolved from a challenge to a hobby to a passion.
Handmade cappuccinos
After working at the Rogpa Café for three years, Sangmo dreamed of her own business and more independence. She spent a year working as an account manager; selling bus tickets and beauty products; making handmade products; and baking in order to save enough money to make that dream a reality. And thanks to personal loans from her godmother and a friend to help cover the construction work, she was able to launch her business. For the first six months she worked alone from 7am to 7pm acting as baker, waiter, and dishwasher. Most days she did not know what the weather was like because she did not find time to step outside.
More and more people have found time to step inside her bakery. Sangmo laughs as she tells me about her regular customers. She fondly remembers an Australian man who came in every day to order six pieces of choco coco cake, only to try the lemon bar one day, and then proceed to order six pieces of lemon bar every day. ‘It was a little bit scary’ she admits, remembering the pressure to keep his favourites stocked. She preferred the approach of a Brazilian regular, who tried all of her cakes one by one instead of requesting a single cake in bulk.
Lemon Bar
Sangmo loves to experiment with ingredients and recipes. She adapts recipes that volunteers bring in to include healthy, accessible ingredients that reflect the taste ‘of this place and these people’. Since her daughter eats many of her cakes, Sangmo uses no artificial ingredients, no baking soda, and no baking powder. She has also added two vegan cakes to the menu.
When asked about her dreams for the future, Sangmo’s eyes turn hopeful and optimistic. She explains that she does not like to talk about her goals, because she would rather achieve them first, and then spend time talking about them. However, she smiles and tells me that she hopes to start another business to help other small groups and businesses gain footing.
After enjoying a delicious iced coffee and a fresh piece of lemon bar topped with a cherry served by the young and chipper Woeser herself, I climb the stairs back to the chaos of Jogiwara Road. I’m cheered for the rest of the day by the thought of the bright oasis of cakes and smiles that I experienced that morning. I can still hear Sangmo’s cheerful voice bidding a customer farewell: “Have a beautiful, walnutty, chocolatey day!”
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