It takes a considerable amount of French swagger to turn up in London and rebrand afternoon tea, but if anyone can do it, Cédric Grolet is the man. Grolet is one of the greatest patissiers currently walking the Earth. I say one of, because the maker of the world’s most exquisite Paris-Brest or best mille-feuille is a highly contestable matter, but Grolet is definitely in the frame.
Having started out at the age of 11 in the kitchen of his grandparents’ hotel in the Loire valley, Grolet was winning awards for sugar art by 15, before going on to work at Fauchon and Le Meurice, both in Paris. This diminutive, sugar-fuelled powerhouse was soon taking on the globe with his increasingly famous trompe-l’oeil artistry. I’ll translate: his specialities include a lemon cake that resembles a lemon and a hazelnut tart that looks remarkably like a hazelnut. He was deemed best head patissier in France in 2015, 2016 and 2017, and a year later won the title of the world’s best pastry chef at the 50 Best awards.
