Baso is a pastry brand that offers a luxurious blend of Belgian and French pastry set in a cozy atmosphere in the center of Kigali. "Baso" is the abbreviation of the Bruno's last name: Basomingera.
Born in Belgium to a Rwandan father and Belgian mother, Bruno grew up with a taste for fine food. At the age of 12 he enrolled at CERIA, the top culinary school to pursue bakery, pastry and chocolate production. He later joined Nihoul's as an apprentice and continued to work with the top Belgian Chocolate house for 10 years serving as a turning point in his career.
Upon moving back to Rwanda in late 2011, he was driven to share his professional skills and contribute to the development of fine pastry and chocolate, a sector that was still untapped in the country. He began a pastry atelier "Chez Baso" serving made to order cakes and tarts. A little over a year into business, Bruno had built a customer base with reputation of excellence and creativity within the sector. The atelier transitioned into "Brioche", a pastry - coffee shop where Bruno served as co-founder and pastry chef/head of product and head of production. After two years he returned to Belgium in preparation for the arrival of his first child. While in Belgium, he perfected his technique and planning of the next project: Baso. He came back to Rwanda in September 2016 and opened Baso in January 2017. His mission has been to contribute to the local industry. To-date, Bruno has trained over 10 people in bakery and pastry. Some have gone on to joining international brands such the Marriott Hotel or decided to move to neighboring countries and open their own business. The other ones have been running the kitchen since he moved back to Brussels with his family in June 2018 where he is the head of production at Eric Kayser. Bruno still manages Baso’s production remotely and plans to come back on a regular basis to continue his staff training.