Jessica PRÉALPATO
Jessica Préalpato imagines the Goûter at Les Confidences restaurant in the Hôtel San Régis in Paris. Her book will soon be joined by a boutique-tea room where you can discover her recipes.
Although she grew up in a family of bakers, Jessica Préalpato initially steered her career away from the oven. " I was fascinated by the human brain ", she confides, referring to her studies in psychology. But she wasn't very rigorous at school, and decided to join some friends at the Lycée Hôtelier in Biarritz. During her BTS, she discovered haute gastronomy with Philippe Labbé at La Chèvre d'Or in Èze. She went on to work with Philippe Etchebest at Hostellerie de Plaisance in Saint-Emilion, before joining the Ibarboure brothers in Bidart. It was here that she chose to make pastry-making her profession.
Dessert cook
In 2010, she joined Frédéric Vardon's brigade at 39V in Paris. he's a chef who loves cooked pastries," she says, "and that's where I started having fun. After a stint at the Park Hyatt in 2014, she returned to 39V, but conventional patisserie no longer spoke to her. " Frédéric Vardon talked to me about Naturalité and sent me to Monsieur Ducasse ". After a three-minute interview, she was hired at the Plaza Athénée, under the direction of Romain Meder.
It wasn't an easy start, as she had to create a new pastry shop, far removed from what she knew. " I had to relearn everything and make a dessert around the product. Gone was the sugar, replaced by acidity, bitterness and vegetal flavors. From now on, the raw product is valued. Success followed: in 2019, Jessica Préalpato was crowned " Pastry Chef of the Year " by the Gault&Millau guide.
Since 2023, the pastry chef has been in charge of the Goûter at Les Confidences, in the Hôtel San Régis, Paris, working hand in hand with the hotel's Head Pastry Chef, Théophile Bonneto. The projects have not ceased: Che e has just signed a collaboration agreement with Eurostar and, in 2025, will open a tearoom in the Louvre, where her pastries will be finished before the eyes of customers.
