The world’s best pastry chef reveals 3 secrets to making the best pastries

Acclaimed as the world’s best pastry chef, the 36-year-old french woman impresses with her finely balanced creations and has made independence her credo.

If France is reigning over pastry and bakery, it’s thanks to artisans such as Nina Métayer. Proclaimed Best Pastry Chef in the Worldat the latest World’s 50 Best Restaurants Awards, she was also the first woman to win the title of Best Confectioner 2023, awarded by the International Union of Bakers and Confectioners.

“There’s still a bit more work”, she says modestly, working from the crack of dawn to bring her “Délicatisserie” – two premises in Paris and Issy-les-Moulineaux, and an online shop – to life. At the age of 36, the pastry chef from La Rochelle had already made her mark in the history of pastry-making long before receiving this honour, with a distinctly contemporary approach, far removed from the industry’s somewhat stuffy image.

Trained by chefs (from Yannick Alleno to Amandine Chaignot and Jean-François Piège) and less focused on sugar than some of her colleagues, Nina Métayer endeavours to use seasonal fruit, guided by a restrained ethos. “When you choose the right ingredients with great flavours, you don’t need to add too much to a pastry. It’s simply a matter of finding the right texture to create emotion and considering the balance and delicacy. Pastry-making is magic: you mix sugar and fat together, but you don’t want it to be overly obvious.”

She has been self-employed for five years now after an international position at the Café Pouchkine. Coming from a “family of independent workers," she has always travelled far and wide. At the age of 16, with a passion for baking, she was already proving her determination by setting off for Mexico. “Over there, I stayed with a host family, and I had to repeat a year of school when I came back to France, but I needed to do it because I didn’t feel competent in anything. At school, I had trouble concentrating. I really opened up thanks to that experience.”

Eventually, pastry-making came to her attention and 20 years on, Nina Métayer is thriving. In collaboration with Servair, she has created for Air France three sweet treats available in the Business cabin, on long-haul flights out of Paris: a hazelnut, caramel and velvety chocolate puff pastry strip, a coconut, lime and mango version, and an individual chocolate cake. A delight for the eyes and the taste buds. As she likes to remind us, “none of the five senses should be ignored when presenting a cake.”

3 baking tips from Nina Métayer

1. For a good chocolate mousse, the egg whites shouldn’t be too stiff, or you may spoil the texture. The mousse will be better if it is almost liquid.
2. Always add a pinch of salt to your preparations. Fleur de sel can add crunch to a crumble or a biscuit, whereas normal salt will enhance a cream.
3. Don’t overwork your main ingredient. A chopped fruit will taste different to a blended fruit. The less something is handled, the better

Délicatisserie1 Rue Rouget de Lisle

92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

France

delicatisserie.com/en/