Camille DUQUESNE

Pastry Chef : Harmonie The daughter of a mechanic who has no interest in mechanics herself, Camille Duquesne, a pastry chef from northern France, worked at L'Arbre, La Laiterie, and La Salle à Manger before opening the restaurant Harmonie in late 2025.

Presentation

Camille Duquesne has always been passionate about pastry ( “my father, who sadly passed away too young, was himself crazy about pastry” ), yet she grew up in an environment far removed from the restaurant business. “My family has owned a garage in Hem for three generations. I grew up surrounded by exhaust fumes rather than the aroma of melted chocolate. And despite that background, I don’t even know where to add windshield washer fluid in a car,” she explains with a laugh.

From the Orchies Culinary School to L’Arbre, where she got in on a whim

Hotel school in Orchies, a vocational diploma in culinary arts, and a supplementary certification in restaurant desserts ( “During my years of study, I spent as much time as possible with the pastry chefs, much to the dismay of my teachers, who thought I was neglecting the rest of the program” ), a stint in Alsace and then in Brussels at a few restaurants, before returning to the Nord region. “I approached Yorann Vandriessche, the chef at L’Arbre in Gruson, on my own initiative . We met at lunchtime, and I was on the team that very evening for my first shift. I stayed until he sold his restaurant in 2017, and then I joined La Laiterie in Lambersart. Christophe Scherpereel was in the kitchen at the time.”

A Long-Standing Collaboration with Thibaut Fourdrinier at La Salle à Manger

The future wife of Jérémy Da Costa (sous chef to Félix Robert at Arborescence) then joined Thibaut Fourdrinier’s La Salle à Manger in Marcq-en-Barœul (Editor’s note: he is now the chef at L’Âme au Vert in Avelin). She spent nearly four years there, a period unfortunately cut short by her father’s death. “ I wasn’t prepared for it—it happened very suddenly. I had to reorganize the family business, dig into the paperwork, and I left the fine-dining scene for eighteen months before opening Harmonie in late 2025.”

Harmonie: The Pastry Chef’s Return to Fine Dining

A welcome return to her roots for this citrus-allergic pastry chef, who has developed a few workarounds to still adjust the seasoning when working with passion fruit or pineapple, for example. The love of the craft is priceless…