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The couple behind a popular Aigburth bakery has said all their sacrifices have "been worth it" as the venue celebrates its first birthday.
Adelina Blanaru and Marius Dogaru are the brains behind one of the region’s most-loved bakeries. Found just off Lark Lane, Lunko has customers queueing weekly for its delicious pastries - ranging from filled croissants and Portuguese favourite pastel de nata.
The Little Parkfield Road venue has been a hit for many with it having gone viral on TikTok numerous times and customers waiting hours to get their hands on some of the goodies on offer. However, the success we see today with Lunko hasn’t come easy.
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Adelina, a former environmental protection officer, told the ECHO: “It’s been a challenge for us. Marius luckily got a job straight away but I was confused as to what I wanted to do as I wasn’t going to university anymore.
“(To compare then to now) is unreal. It’s amazing to see the response we’ve had with Lunko. We never expected it to get busy for a very long time. It’s unbelievable and very humbling for us to see how much people love our product and experience.
“Liverpool is 100% our home now, and we’re proud to say that. It’s been such a welcoming city and it has helped us to level up on a professional and personal level.”
Originally from Romania, Adelina, 29, and Marius, 30, first came to Tuebrook in 2015. The two have been together for just over a decade and tied the knot at St George’s Hall three years ago.
They first met at a mutual friend’s birthday party - where Marius made his move and asked a shivering Adelina: “Are you not cold?” before offering his jacket.
The couple quickly fell in love but an unexpected injury ended Marius' career as a football prematurely and he had no other option but to look elsewhere for work. He moved to Paris to be with his brother and it was here, that he retrained as a pastry chef.
Adelina gave up her studies to move to France to continue her relationship with Marius, before the two eventually moved in together in Liverpool.
During the pandemic, they launched The Butterholic, a bakery in Speke, that takes online orders and supplies venues across Merseyside, including Lunko. Lunko, in Aigburth, celebrated its first birthday at the end of June and Marius said with this in mind, all of the couple’s sacrifices were worth it.
He said: “We couldn’t afford to shut The Butterholic, even for a day. So I only slept for a few hours over the weekend because I had to prepare, bake and deliver the pastries on the morning of the wedding.
“I had to do one route and my mother-in-law had to do another part of the city. After I finished I arrived home, took a quick shower and jumped in a car with the lads to the wedding.
“By lunchtime, we were married and it was a beautiful day but I was completely knackered. It was just the challenges we had to put up with - there were days I had to sleep in my car just to make everything happen.”
Now, with a fanbase of foodie lovers, the husband and wife duo look forward to continuing with their "dream careers".
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