Jessica PRÉALPATO

Jessica Préalpato creates the afternoon tea menu for the restaurant Les Confidences at the Hôtel San Régis in Paris. Her book will soon be complemented by a boutique and tea room where guests can sample her recipes.

Presentation

Although she grew up in a family of bakers and pastry chefs, Jessica Préalpato initially steered her career away from the kitchen. “I was fascinated by the human brain,” she says, recalling her studies in psychology. But since she wasn’t very diligent in school, she decided to join friends at the hotel management school in Biarritz. While earning her BTS, she discovered haute cuisine under Philippe Labbé at La Chèvre d’Or in Èze. She continued her journey at the Hostellerie de Plaisance in Saint-Émilion with Philippe Etchebest, then joined the team of the Ibarboure brothers in Bidart. It was there that she decided to make pastry her career.

Dessert Chef

In 2010, she joined Frédéric Vardon ’s team at 39V in Paris. “He’s a chef who loves creative pastry—that’s where I started to really enjoy myself.” After a stint at the Park Hyatt in 2014, she returned to 39V, but conventional pastry no longer appealed to her. “Frédéric Vardon told me about ‘Naturalité’ and sent me to work with Mr. Ducasse.” After a three-minute interview, she was hired at the Plaza Athénée, under the direction of Romain Meder.

The early days weren’t easy; she had to create a new style of pastry, a far cry from what she was used to. “I had to relearn everything and create desserts centered around the ingredient.” Out went sugar; in came acidity, bitterness, and plant-based flavors. Now, the raw ingredient takes center stage. Success followed: as early as 2019, Jessica Préalpato was named “Pastry Chef of the Year ” by the Gault&Millau guide.

Since 2023, the pastry chef has been in charge of the afternoon tea at Les Confidences, located within the Hôtel San Régis in Paris, and works closely with the hotel’s pastry chef, Théophile Bonneto. Her projects have continued unabated: the chef has just signed a collaboration with Eurostar and will open a tea room at the Louvre in 2025, where her pastries will be prepared right before customers’ eyes.