Pastry Awards 2024
The pastry awards celebrates the diversity of talents, the creativity and audacity, education, and the commitment to values such as seasonality and biodiversity.
World's Most Creative Pastry Chef Award
BASTIEN BLANC-TAILLEUR
Paris, France
France
Bastien Blanc-Tailleur, a luxury cake designer in Paris, crafts opulent confections for high-profile clients, including European royalty and American socialites. Renowned for his exquisite wedding and special-occasion cakes, his creations have been called “edible haute couture”. Passionate about pastry since childhood, Blanc-Tailleur launched his business in 2015, attracting clients like Dior, European aristocrats, and Saudi royals. Blanc-Tailleur's dedication shows in his meticulous detail and ability to realize clients' dreams. His signature style includes intricate sugar work, such as lifelike flowers and elaborate decorations. His cakes are not only visually stunning but also delicious, aiming for gastronomic pleasure. His commitment to classic French pastry has earned his business recognition as an Entreprise du Patrimoine Vivant, a prestigious French government designation for businesses that protect and promote traditional French crafts.
World's best Pastry Shop Award
RITZ PARIS LE COMPTOIR
François Perret
Paris, France
France
The Ritz, Paris and its famous pastry chef François Perret have created a sublime pastry shop experience with Le Comptoir, a must-visit on the Parisian pastry scene and sure to remain an icon for many years. Open seven days a week for eat-in, takeaway and click-and-collect, Le Comptoir welcomes a new audience to Perret’s exquisite creations, and its luxurious cream, gold, and terracotta interiors provide an indulgent and rejuvenating welcome for every visitor. What’s on the menu? Chef Perret is known for his gastronomic range, from classic croissants and pains au chocolat to sophisticated sandwiches. His renowned madeleines come filled with raspberry or passion fruit; try the Tennis Balls full of sharp lemon and iced in white chocolate and, for summer 2024, the Madeleine Abricot infused with Jardin Vendôme tea. There are exceptional pâtisserie from the signature Mango Coconut Ritz au Lait to the Hazelnut Marble Entremet, along with all kinds of cookies, cakes, mille-feuille and pioneering pastry drinks. Along with César Ritz and Auguste Escoffier, François Perret is a name bound to Le Ritz, Paris, forever, and Le Comptoir a testament to his incredible vision in the pastry shop landscape.
World's best Afternoon Tea Award
THE ROYAL TEA ROOM
Christophe Devoille, Atlantis The Royal
Dubai, UAE
UAE
Strasbourg-born Christophe Devoille, Executive Pastry Chef of Atlantis The Royal in Dubai, is the genius behind La Liste’s Best Afternoon Tea 2024. Served in the Royal Tearoom, an opulent space full of light-reflecting glass, crystal, and metals, Devoille’s afternoon tea exemplifies his refined technique and elegant eye, bringing together local ingredients such as raspberry, honey, milk, pollens, and herbs, with the world’s best caviar, truffle, vanilla, pistachio, and chocolate. The tea includes lobster rolls with Oscietra and samphire, sandwiches of cream cheese with yuzu and lemon balm and fromage blanc with dill and trout roe, alongside raspberry tarts with coconut and local honey, the ultimate vanilla, caramel, and hazelnut pastry, Iranian pistachio tart, and fluffy scones with rose petal preserve and saffron marmalade. Devoille began baking with his mother at 15 and worked with Alain Ducasse for a decade before traveling the world as a pastry consultant. He leads 12 bakers, two Arabic chefs, and 50 pastry staff creating breads, desserts, waffles, ice creams, and sorbets across The Atlantis’ 17 restaurants.
Pastry Game Changer Award
DOMINIQUE ANSEL
New York, USA
USA
Dominique Ansel is not only the inventor of the Cronut, unquestionably the most famous pastry of the 21st century, he also laid the foundations for a new era for the world of pastry, which brought the craft of fine pâtissierie to millions of new fans via the power of social media. As the pastry chef behind the much-copied Cronut, which people have queued for hours to taste since 2013, Ansel gave us the world’s first ever viral pastry, making him a true industry game changer and showing the incredible power of outstanding pastry. James Beard Award-winning Ansel has also created the Cookie Shot, Frozen S’more, Blossoming Hot Chocolate, and many more, and is chef owner of eponymous bakeries in New York City and Las Vegas. What makes a Cronut a Cronut®? Each one is made with laminated dough similar to croissant dough, rolled in sugar, filled with cream, and topped with glaze. Each one takes three days to complete and the flavors, which are never repeated, change every month.
Pastry Innovation Award
ANTONIO BACHOUR
Bachour
Miami, USA
USA
Innovation is the lifeblood of the fine pastry business and Antonio Bachour brings his zeal for exploration and experimentation to everything he does, from his four restaurants in Miami and Merida, Mexico, to his eight successful cookbooks. Born and raised by Lebanese parents in Puerto Rico, Bachour loved spending time in his parents’ bakery, where he went to watch the pastry chef every day from the age of 10; by 13 he was making bread and croissants. He left for culinary school in New York at 17 before working in hotels across Florida and spending a season with Philippe Givre at L’École Valhrona. The skills he learnt there have been effortlessly translated across his region of the Americas. His trademark viennoiseries include flavored and coloured designs, from the Hazelnut Pain aux Raisins to Strawberry Mascarpone Croissant and Camembert Cheesecake. His cakes often resemble still life, from citrus and stone fruit to flowers, and he is inspired as much by visiting an art gallery as by spending time in his own kitchen. His latest creation? A whimsical coffee cup-shaped cake filled with chocolate brownie, coffee marquis, coffee crémeux and coffee chocolate mousse.
JANICE WONG
2am : dessertbar by Janice Wong
Singapore & Sydney, Australia
Singapore & Australia
Singaporean Chef Janice Wong is known for pushing the limits of creativity past the typical boundaries presented by chocolate and pastry to create unique and immersive experiences that span concept stores and art exhibitions. Her 2am:dessertbar first opened in 2007 and she has three retail stores in Singapore. She has worked with Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz in the US, master Spanish chocolatier Oriol Balaguer, and France’s esteemed Pierre Hermé. Her reputation for testing the possibilities of confectionery - from laksa leaf and lemongrass to chicken jerky and praline - has led to international collaborations and openings, most recently a new 2am:dessertbar in the W Hotel in Sydney, where guests can enjoy Wong signatures Cacao Forest, made with chocolate mousse, passionfruit chocolate, and mango, lime and lychee consommé; and Cassis Plum, a cassis bombe with elderflower yoghurt foam and choya granita with yuzu pearls. In Japan, the gallery Huis Ten Bosch Nagasaki showed her signature edible art works, while the Art Gallery of Western Australia displayed her largest ever edible art installation. As well as winning numerous prestigious awards, Wong is one of the six ‘culinary mavericks’ featured in 2024 show ‘Chefs Uncut’ on Netflix.
Pastry Opening of the Year Award
MIETTA BY ROSEMARY
Rosemary Andrews
Melbourne, Australia
Australia
Melbourne’s Rosemary Andrews, a former head chef at Ben Shewry’s Attica Summer Camp where her dessert trolley became legendary, gives cakes their true value by displaying them like fine jewellery or a sought-after handbag, on brass plinths and under glass cloches. Her fans were ready to feast and willing to queue as soon as the much-feted Chef opened her first shop, Mietta by Rosemary, which means ‘sweet little thing’ in late 2023, and the crowds turn out every weekend to try and snaffle a slice of eight-layer Carrot Cake Dreams, seven-layer OG Honey-Misu, two-texture Valrhona Chocolate Cake, or Negroni Chocolate Tart. Can you take any more layers - Andrews’ covetable Guinness Chocolate Cake has 16! She began baking at home as a teenager and has worked in London with Gordon Ramsay, and at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal and The Ledbury, before finding her niche in Melbourne during the pandemic with her dessert box business. Mietta By Rosemary is a long-term pop-up, so get there before it goes!
LANNAN BAKERY
Darcie Maher
Edinburgh, Scotland
Scotland
Edinburgh’s newest bakery, Lannan in the city’s Stockbridge area, comes from self-taught baker Darcie Maher who grew up in the Scottish Borders. Maher worked across the UK before joining the launch team at The Palmerston, also in Edinburgh, where her creative pastry ideas soon won her a following on and offline. The word Lannan comes from the Gaelic for ‘house’, and Maher has created a welcoming space with an expansive glass counter, and a hatch through to the busy kitchen. As well as viennoiserie, custard slices, and cardamom buns, her signature bakes include seasonal concepts like the Lannan Apple Pie and Custard with Kissabel apples, crème fraîche custard, cinnamon sugar, and latticed croissant pastry, and her Rhubarb, Custard and Almond cake with Marcona almond sponge, rhubarb compôte, whipped vanilla custard, and toasted Marcona almonds. Savoury bakes include Merguez sausage rolls with braised fennel and Monte Enebro cheese, and Nduja, garlic fermented honey, and Murcia al vino cheese buns.
CHRISTOPHE LOUIE
Christophe Louie
Paris, France
France
Christophe Louie, the undisputed king of Italian baking in Paris, opened his Haut-Marais shop dedicated to the wonder of Panettone in late 2023, making it a true first for the French capital. Louie trained as a pastry chef, working at La Grande Épicerie de Paris, Le Meurice, and Le Jules Verne before turning his attention to the magic of bread and training with Mauro Morandin in Italy. He was so inspired by Morandin that he named his own sourdough leaven ‘Mauro’, and brought it back to Paris to reinterpret the Italian classics of Panettone, Focaccia, Pandoro, and Colombe. His Panettone flavors include classic, Gianduja, and orange blossom; Pandoro comes in vanilla and chestnut honey. Louie also has a focus on specialist breads made with sourdough and ancient grains, exquisite viennoiserie, classic cakes such as financiers, madeleines, flan, and marble cake, along with savouries such as pizza and sandwiches. Viva Italia!
NÈULO
Jean-Pierre Quinonero
Paris, France
France
Parisian pastry shop Nèulo is the creation of pastry chef Pierre-Jean Quinonero and entrepreneur Gauthier Rosario. The name Nèulo comes from the Provençal word for waffle, reflecting the shop's ambition to rediscover the authentic flavors of Provence. The young and talented Quinonero has won numerous awards, including Best Apprentice in France in 2014. His expertise shines through in his signature Flan creations, which come in various flavors such as Vanilla, Marble Vanilla Chocolate, and his Lemon Meringue Tart-inspired Flan. Gauthier Rosario, originally from Aix-en-Provence, carefully sources artisanal and organic products from the region to complement Quinonero's creations. Together, they have created a pastry shop that celebrates the flavors of Provence while showcasing the chef Quinonero’s exceptional talent and creativity.
BONBON CAFÉ
Angelo Musa
Dubai, UAE
UAE
Angelo Musa’s outstanding Dubai opening is a tribute to exceptional pastry and hospitality. The world-renowned Executive Pastry Chef at the Hotel Plaza Athénée brings his experience and expertise to Bonbon Café at The Lana from the Dorchester Collection, occupying a picturesque location by the marina where guests can enjoy sandwiches and salads alongside Musa’s renowned viennoiserie and signature pastry, surrounded by elegant interiors in natural materials and tones. Alongside his many prizes and honors, Musa has been awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in recognition of his contribution to French gastronomy. “My vision is to create a pastry destination that will redefine the culinary landscape of Dubai, one sweet creation at a time,” he says of his new opening....and more https://www.laliste.com/en/awards2024-pastries
