Getting to master the art of pastry making for a living might seem like a sweet deal to most, but the amount of precision, inventiveness, and nerves required to do so can be easily overlooked. The executive head of pastry at London's storied department store Fortnum & Mason, British chef Roger Pizey has dedicated nearly half a century to nurturing all three inside some of the world's most influential restaurants. After a two-year training stint under French restaurateur Albert Roux at Mayfair's Le Gavroche, he joined the trailblazing Marco Pierre White (the first UK chef to be awarded three Michelin stars) behind the kitchen pass of his iconic restaurant, Harvey's, in the early 1990s, crafting desserts for the very eatery that, to cite The Good Food Guide, would go on to inspire "a new generation of chefs".
An award-winning pâtissier and author of two books, World's Best Cakes (2013) and Small Cakes (2011), Pizey is part of a British vanguard whose worldly-inspired, daring approach to cooking successfully reshaped the public perception of English cuisine around the world — as demonstrated by his triumph at the 1992 Egon Ronay Dessert of the Year award, which he earned with his reinterpretation of the Tarte Tatin. While it's undoubtedly his first love, Pizey's career wasn't constrained to the baking side of things, but also saw him take up head chef and executive head chef roles at establishments including London's opulent Criterion Restaurant and Marco Grill at Stamford Bridge, another one of Pierre White's hits, respectively.
