A Ukrainian bakery in the heart of Malaga

Facing Mercado Central is Belisimo bakery, which at first glance, looks like one of many cozy cafes in Malaga, but instead of the usual cafe con leche with a pitufo, borscht topped with sour cream and potato-filled dumplings sprinkled with dill are on the menu.

Mikola Gamula, 32, originally opened his Ukrainian kitchen in the beginning of 2020, on the outskirts of Malaga, just before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out. Due to the unfortunate timing, at first, growing the business proved to be tough as lockdown restrictions were soon enforced globally. Adapting to the situation, the business owner stuck to selling freshly baked bread.

After having hit a dead end, Mikola decided to move the business to the online food delivery platforms Just Eat and Uber Eats, where the premise of an online bakery showed far more promise. According to the Spanish Entrepeunership Observatory, almost 50% of start-ups were left with no choice but to transition from being on-site to working remotely, in order to survive during the global pandemic.

From that point onwards, Belissimo began to take shape, as “sales multiplied by 30”, Mikola recalled, and the business owner focused his efforts on producing and delivering home-made Ukrainian pastries and cakes to people’s doorsteps.

Originally from the Ivano-Frankivsk region, Western Ukraine, Mikola moved to Spain in 2010 with his parents, because of security concerns that arose after the pro-Russian Victor Yanukovich was elected president that year. Notably, it was his parents who, from the beginning, took the business in their stride, and worked tirelessly in the kitchen with their son, where his father begrudingly “got used to cooking”, he added, smiling.

Three years later, in 2023, Spain’s industry had opened up again, and the family set their sights on expanding the enterprise, moving Belissimo back into the city. This time around, the business owner was confident that customers would be receptive to a Ukrainian kitchen in the heart of Malaga given their success online, and that above all, that they could offer a healthier desserts alternative, stating that, “In Spain, they tend to use a lot of sugar in their pastries and a lot of foreigners and Ukrainians don’t like this.”

The health and wellness industry is now worth over 2 trillion dollars, according to a 2025 consumer survey done by Mckinsey & Company, reflecting a broader consumer trend in prioritising products and routines that support physical and mental wellbeing. Examples include everything from meditation, drinking matcha and doing pilates, eating ‘clean’ i.e. whole, minimally processed foods.

Belisimo have adopted this line of thinking, using on average, two to three times less sugar in their desserts and incorporating quality, homemade ingredients, Ultimately, the business owner is satisfied knowing that, “The flavour that comes through is of chocolate, fruits, the dessert itself - not of sugar.”

As well as sweet treats, the kitchen prides itself on their artesanal coffee as well as a wide variety of traditional dishes such as borscht, cyrniki, varenyky - that are both appetising and filling, making for a cosy dining out experience. Often the Ukrainian customers (who represent about a third of the clientele) invite their Malaga friends over to Belissimo, so that they can learn about the culture, and although Mikola is amused at their reluctance to try unfamiliar dishes like cyrniki (cottage cheese pancakes), once they do, he’s witnessed them “open their eyes and say ‘this is tasty’”.

Certainly, the food plays a crucial role in fostering a relationship between two cultures that belong to opposite ends of Europe that, on the surface, have nothing in common. On a more sobering note, Mikola shares that when Spanish customers visit the bakery, it demonstrates, “a show of support for our country”, which is under Russian attack.

As for why this bakery is popular with Ukrainians, it’s because Mikola believes Belisimo is able to give people a “taste of their childhood”, which many customers have thanked them for. With over 230,000 Ukrainians having emigrated to Spain since 2022, Belisimo is a testament to a culture that, despite all odds, is still thriving.

It has been 10 months since they’ve moved into the city centre, and feedback has been undeniably positive, with customers coming in regularly to advise them to add even more dishes to the menu. In the future, Mikola aspires to grow the business even further, so that “more foreigners and more Spanish people know about our kitchen; we want the taste to be unbelievably good”.