When Cindy Bernal came to Canada in 2005 from Colombia, she never expected to one day own her own restaurant.
Bernal had always had a passion for cooking and started baking at home — and her friends and family loved it —and it turned into something so much bigger.
Her tres leches, or three milk cake, is a traditional Latin cake that was so popular that she decided it was time to follow her dream and open a restaurant.
After a lot of prayer, she and her family opened Sweet & Salado, 30 Main St. S., in Newmarket.
“Everyone thinks about following their dream,” she said. “And then it happens. It’s amazing.”
Bernal lives in East Gwillimbury with her family, but her children attend school in Newmarket and the family’s church is also in Newmarket.
They initially moved from Montreal to East Gwillimbury in 2018 and Bernal credits the Newmarket community for making them feel so welcome.
“It’s been such a warm welcome,” she said. “We weren’t born in this country, but everyone is so kind here. It’s been amazing and we love it here.”
She said they basically just sleep in East Gwillimbury and spend all their time in Newmarket, so when friends told her about a potential great location on Main Street, she jumped at the opportunity.
“They guided us to this spot and showed us we could do it here,” she said. “Main Street is the heart of Newmarket and we knew this would be a great place.”
Sweet & Salado officially opened in August 2022 and while it’s been a challenge running a business and starting from scratch, Bernal loves the hard work that goes into it.
When she first opened it wasn’t easy because nobody knew about the restaurant, she said. But the support has been building over the last year.
“We’ve been getting a good response,” she said. “We’re not there yet but we’re starting to build regular customers. And we know if they’re coming back, we’re doing something good.”
With a focus on Latin fusion, Sweet & Salado makes food from Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, Cuba, and desserts from other countries.
Being able to bring food that isn’t anywhere else in Newmarket has been one of the most important things to Bernal.
“When people come here they get so excited because we offer food from so many different places,” she said. “We decided to do a lot of this stuff because we haven’t seen it here.”
One of the most popular items are the savoury donuts, which is essentially a sandwich with doughnuts replacing the bread. The idea to do that was Bernal’s idea simply because she had the ingredients to make them.
“I said, let’s do something that’s so different,” she said. “Where else are you going to find a sweet doughnut with meat in it? So I just tried it and people liked it.”
Incorporating new things at the restaurant while sticking to her Latin roots has been what has helped Sweet & Salado stand out in Newmarket.
Follow Sweet & Salado on social media here.
