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Jessica Préalpato, Head Pastry Chef at Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée, has been named as the recipient of The World’s Best Pastry Chef 2019, ahead of the World's 50 Best Restaurants Awards, sponsored by S.Pellegino on 25 June (which you can live-stream here on Fine Dining Lovers.)
The French pastry chef has spent a lifetime in the culinary arts and honed her signature style working with Alain Ducasse since 2015, creating "natural" desserts at his Parisian restaurant, which currently sits at #13 on The World's 50 Best Restaurants List.
Préalpato’s describes her creative approach to fruit-based desserts as "desseralité is "a mixture of dessert and naturalité.” “This word perfectly describes my pastry." she goes on to say. "These are desserts with a raw visual; on the plate, everything must have a meaning.” Her signature dishes include strawberry clafoutis with frosted pine and Millason cake, and ‘figue’, which features figs cooked three ways with a fig ice cream and a light biscuit.
Strawberries and Soya
Photo Virginie Garnier
Speaking of her win Préalpato commented: “It is an absolute honour to be recognised as The World’s Best Pastry Chef. As the daughter of two pastry chefs, I have been immersed in the world of culinary arts my entire life. This award represents my life journey and the passion I have for this art. I hope this award inspires emerging pastry chefs around the world.”
“Her creativity and devotion to the world of food and the art of baking makes her the perfect recipient of this award. Her cooking is absolutely of the moment: the way she manipulates natural sugars without sacrificing flavour chimes perfectly with the restaurant’s ideology and the cultural zeitgeist to cut down on sugar intake” said William Drew, from World's 50 Best reflecting on her talent.
Past winners of the World's Best Pastry Chef include Cedric Grolet, Dominique Ansel and Pierre Herme. Prealpato will collect the award during the live 50 Best Restaurant ceremony in Singapore on 25 June 2019.
Meet her in the clip below:
