Zak Antoniou's nickname is 'Sugar' and he's opened a Greek dessert and cake bar in the heart of Adelaide.

Zak Antoniou, recalls his childhood as loud, filled with joyful conversations around the kitchen with every extended family member.

“Growing up with a Greek family and big celebrations that I’ve always had with the family, I have always been exposed to watching my aunties, my grandma, my mum baking and it’s always been an interest of mine,” Zak says.

Zak has now opened his own patisserie in the Adelaide Arcade and takes pride from his Greek heritage and strong ties to the kitchen.

“My name in Greek translates to sugar, so I was always nicknamed Sugar as a kid from my family,” Zak says.

“I guess I was born to be in this industry.”

This picture: supplied.

Zácary Pâtisserie is a dessert bar specialising in Greek treats and mini cakes, while also offering ready-made cakes available to order.

These Greek treats include favourites like kadaifi, the well-loved baklava, and what Zak’s freshly-made mirror-glazed evil eye cakes.

“I thought why not bring a bit of Greek cakes into the city. I know that there’s a few little restaurants that sell Greek desserts, but I thought I specialise in desserts so why not use my heritage,” Zak says.

Designed as a place to also sit and have a coffee and cake, the interiors have been kept minimalistic.

“Because my cakes are so colourful, I want them to be the feature of the shop,” Zak says.

“I kept everything sort of in the white and blacks with touches of gold just to add that level of elegance.

“I always say to people, I want to be like the Gucci of a cake shop — I want to be in that calibre.”

Zak wants to “have a little bit of a vibe” and has again relied on family memories to create the space.

“My grandpa used to go [to cafes] and they play cards and drink coffee, have a few biscuits, so I wanted to bring a little bit of that into this place,” he says. “Just make it fun [and] play Greek jazz music.”

Zak began his journey as a pastry maker after being a contestant on Zumbo’s Just Dessert’s, which allowed him to learn techniques to eventually start up his own business.

“Each episode was a specific theme so there was like, ‘Out of This World’ theme, and then a ‘Tower’ [theme], where you had to have a certain height for your cake or dessert, so every challenge was different,” Zak says.

“I was introduced to [mirror glazing] during the show, and I was like ‘Hang on, I really love this technique and this style.

“I designed an evil eye cake and I posted it on Instagram and just became a little bit viral [and] I was just blown away by the response.

“People started asking for orders, I was like, okay, maybe I can make them… and then it just grew and grew.”

Zak went on to grow his Instagram business in Melbourne until the pandemic hit and he was (in his mind) luckily forced to make his way back home to Adelaide.

“I set up mum and dad’s old granny flat, converted that into a kitchen, got that approved with the council and started doing online cakes. Then three years later, I’m here in a shop,” Zak says.

Zak is looking forward to growing his community and setting up a home in the Adelaide Arcade, with help from Renew Adelaide.

“I always loved this Arcade, and as soon as I opened the door, I just saw my vision,” Zak says.

Zácary Pâtisserie is open from Wednesday to Friday from 8am until 4pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am until 3pm.

Connect with the business on Instagram for more.