LA LISTE is honored to unite the global pastry community in Paris on the first anniversary of the World’s Best Pastry Shop Selection, a project developed in partnership with Cacao Barry®. The rapid growth of LA LISTE Pastry confirms LA LISTE as the most comprehensive and reliable guide for the global gourmet traveler, and complements the LA LISTE World’s Best Restaurant Selection of more than 35,000 restaurants, and just-launched LA LISTE World’s Best Hotels of 5,500 places to stay for discerning travelers.
While cake lovers across the world queue to try the latest macaron or donut, our pastry pioneers push themselves to extremes for their art, as we see in Amaury Guichon, LA LISTE’s World Most Creative Pastry Chef 2023. Even the humble croissant makes regular headlines, whether it’s a meter-long croissant in London, or a cruffin, croiffle, or cube-shaped pastry.
Why? The dedication and creativity of boundary-breaking pastry chefs has engaged vast new communities of fans online, by building social media followings, developing unique ‘must-eat’ products, and sharing expertise via masterclasses.
But despite this push towards the new, the LA LISTE pastry community does not compromise on quality, ethics, and sourcing. Its commitment to sustainability is upheld by innovators in plant-based pastry such as Harrod’s Philip Khoury and Jérôme Raffaelli of Oh Faon! in Marseille, and Lauren V. Haas who is working with plastic-free molds and packaging in the US.
“For the second time, La Liste honors pastry chefs from all over the world, and it is with immense pride and joy that we see so many of them answer our call, coming from the United States, Saudi Arabia, India, and many other places”, says Philippe Faure, President of La Liste, “At the heart of this global momentum, Pierre Hermé, whom we pay tribute to this year, shines like a star, a radiant light of French pastry. In a world of passion and creativity sweetened by sugar, his magic turns every bite into an unforgettable moment. This ‘Special Award’ not only recognizes his unparalleled talent but also the sweetness and innovation he brings to our taste buds.”
“Pastry chefs don’t like to stand still and seem to lead the way in the wider gastronomy community,” continues Hélène Pietrini, Managing director of la Liste. “They are addicted to exploring the limits of their craft, and reformulating tradition to present eager consumers with new business concepts, international expansion, plant-based evolution, and seasonal novelties.”
LA LISTE PASTRY SPECIAL AWARDS 2023
- Pastry Award of Honor 2023 to Pierre Hermé
In the 1990s, Hermé broke with convention by organizing pastry shows reminiscent of high-fashion events, seamlessly blending culinary art with runway flair. These innovative showcases reshaped the global pastry scene. Hermé’s reimagining of the macaron, particularly the iconic Ispahan, influenced pastry chefs around the globe. Through his international boutiques and the 2005 magnum opus, the ‘ph10’ cookbook, Hermé elevated pastry to an esteemed art form, inspiring and paving the way for future pastry maestros.
Owing to his outstanding contribution to the French and international pastry community, Pierre Hermé received the inaugural LA LISTE Pastry Award of Honor on stage surrounded by more than 40 cehfs who trained and worked with him.
“I am honored and moved to receive this award as it holds great significance, especially for Maison Pierre Hermé Paris, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year,” says Pierre Hermé in his acceptance speech. “Being a pastry chef today means being a creator, pursuing a profession of inspiration and passion, and fostering one’s intuition and creative prowess. An event like this contributes to the promotion of our profession, our craftsmanship, and sparks imagination about what the brilliant future of pastry will look like.”
- World’s Most Creative Pastry Chef 2023, sponsored by Cacao Barry®:
The field of pastry is a gift to experimental chefs. Whether they wish to investigate flavor or form, viennoiserie or chocolate, the landscape for invention and reinvention is infinite and invigorating. For 2023, LA LISTE honors a pastry chef who demonstrates extraordinary creativity with technical skill that pushes the craft of pastry into an art form, and who also engages legions of new fans to the world of pastry.
Amaury Guichon, French-Swiss but based in Las Vegas, regularly stops pastry lovers in their tracks with his outsized creations and outstanding creativity. He has built the world’s biggest online community in the pastry field; his chocolate leopard alone amassed three million views on Instagram. The 32-year-old prodigy from Haute-Savoie left home for the US a decade ago. Watch him as presenter and judge on awe-inspiring Netflix show ‘School of Chocolate’, where he shows others how to defy the technical limits of pastry.
As a tribute to the event, Creative Chef of Cacao Barry, Ramon Morató, shares his perspective: “Pastry Shop & Pastry Chef Awards represent a pivotal moment in the world of patisserie. For chefs, these awards symbolize recognition for their relentless pursuit of perfection. Cacao Barry has always championed creativity, where the true nature of all pastry chefs can flourish, and I am honored to witness a new chapter in our legacy unfold.”
LA LISTE PASTRY SPECIAL AWARDS 2023 cont.
BEST AFTERNOON TEA AWARD: The Connaught Patisserie by Nicolas Rouzaud in London, an impeccable afternoon tea that marries a traditional form and location with bold, whimsical pastry.
BEST PASTRY SHOP EXPERIENCE AWARD: Rocambolesc, a breakthrough ice cream concept popping with playfulness and nostalgiafrom El Celler de Can Roca’s Jordi Roca & Ale Rivas, Girona (also in Madrid, Barcelona, and Houston, Texas).
INNOVATION AWARD:Philip Khoury at Harrod’s, London for great advances in plant- based pastry and new book A New Way To Bake; Yann Couvreur, in Paris and internationally, for setting the standard in organic, natural, and seasonal pastry
GAME CHANGER AWARD:Lauren V. Haas, US who inspires pastry chefs to think beyond plastic with her recycled paper molds, and to use sustainable ingredients such as Cacao Barry’s WholeFruit chocolate.
NEW TALENTS OF THE YEAR: Eunji Lee of Lysée, New York who blends Korean flavors with classic techniques to make playful lifelike pâtisserie; Dej Kewkacha, Bangkok for his dessert-only menu at Kyo Bar; Mayada Badr of Pink Camel in Jeddah, a culinary leader and ‘macaron queen’; Tejasvi Chandela, chef-owner of Jaipiur’s first pastry shop, Dzurt; Ophélie Barès, who brings high end techniques to neighborhood bakery, Encore in Paris
ETHICAL & SUSTAINABILITY AWARD: Jérôme Raffaelli and Kevin Yau, pastry chef and co-founderof Oh Faon ! in Marseille, the city’sfirst 100% plant-based bakery, creates light, flavorful pastry firmly rooted in the region.
ARTISAN & AUTHENTICITY AWARD: Historic coffee house Demel in Vienna, Austria, with heritage bakes such as Sachertorte and Dobostorte; Bontemps in Paris, where pastry chef and co-founder Fiona LeLuc devotes herself to the sable biscuit.
OPENINGS OF THE YEAR AWARD, sponsored by Prova Gourmet: Cookie-lovers choice Crème, established in London, with 2023 openings in Paris & Bahrain; pandemic success story Tarts Anon, whose founderspastry chef Gareth Whitton and Catherine Way have opened two pastry shops in 2023 in Melbourne, Australia; Melamed sisters, chef Belu and designer Elsa for La Pastelería Belu Melamed, Buenos Aires, Argentina; new-gen Parisian pastry shop Frappe, known for its infamous croissant rolls, from Solenn Le Squer &pastry chef Thomas Padovan; celebrated Julien Dugourd formerly ofLa Chèvre d’Or opens first pastry shop in Nice, La Pâtisserie Julien Dugourd, with a second planned for Paris.
DISCOVERY AWARD: Fusto Milano, the flagship boutique, research lab, workshop, and event space from Gianluca Fusto in Milan; BRIX Desserts, a multi-sensory experience and the only dessert tasting menu in the Middle East from Carmen Rueda Hernandez, Dubai; Pâtisserie Rhubarbe, which sets the standard for pastry technique, seasonality, and creativity in Canada, from Stéphanie Labelle in Montreal; Pâtisserie Asako Iwayanagi, a must-visit sweet stop in Tokyo for Iwayanagi’s intricate, many-layered parfait; La Goutte d’Or, Parisian favorite Yann Menguy transports his beloved pastry to Fort-de-France, Martinique.
LA LISTE GARDEN PARTY AND PASTRY AWARDS CEREMONY
The LA LISTE Garden party brought the pastry and gastronomy community together with for an unforgettable evening, a pastry feast, and festive atmosphere at the bottom of the Eiffel tower in the 4 days’ Village de la Gastronomie event. More than 500 lucky guests enjoyed the pastries from French pastry maestros:
- Emmanuel Ryon, France’s most celebrated ice cream maker and co-founder of Une Glace à Paris, presents his signature ice cream and sorbet-filled mochis and marshmallows
- Frappe croissant rolls made withCacaoBarry® chocolate from Frappe founders Solenn Le Squer & Thomas Padovani
- Signature Isatis and red fruits sundaes from Paris’s pastry maestro Yann Couvreur, winner of LA LISTE Pastry Innovation Award 2023
- Rising pastry star Marius Dufay joins us from Mauro Colagreco’s Mirazur restaurant.
- Anne Coruble, female pastry chef at The Peninsular Paris
The cocktail menu complements the spirit of summer and the global reach of the garden party pastry menu, including Chandon Garden Spritz, Château d’Esclans Rosé, Volcan De Mi Tierra cocktails, 3S Shochu, and Yanghe Baijiu.
THE GOURMET SWEET GUIDE: PASTRY SHOPS TRENDS 2023
“The world of pastry is a realm where creativity meets tradition,” says LA LISTE co-founder Jörg Zipprick. “Master pastry chefs honor classic recipes, even while innovating. This reverence for the classics sets pastry apart from contemporary cuisine. The classics have a captivating charm, and enduring popularity. In the realm of pastry, both tradition and innovation are celebrated. The enthusiasm for pastries is on the rise, in part due to their profitability, positioning them as a powerhouse in the culinary world.”
Current trends show a desire to return to nature with authentic ingredients, while also seeking visual impact – occasionally using additives – to wow consumers, balancing the priorities of flavor and presentation.
Major hotel chains, like Mandarin Oriental, are investing in the pastry industry, especially in Asia, including The Philippines and Malaysia.
While French patisserie maintains its prominent position, Italian sweets and desserts, and traditional cakes from Germany and Austria such as the Black Forest gâteau and Strudel, are not far behind. This diversity is cherished. There is also plenty of cross-pollination. While French pastry chefs are incorporating foreign specialties, places like the Dav Pastry Lab in Bergamo pay tribute to French finesse.
LA LISTE calendar of event and announcements
Since LA LISTE was founded in 2015 by its current President, Philippe Faure, the ranking continues to prove itself as the world’s leading restaurant selection and to support local and international gastronomic tourism. LA LISTE selects, classifies, and celebrates the best restaurants and pastry shops in the world, as well as championing diversity in fine dining across the world. Its next annual ceremony revealing the Top 1,000 Best Restaurants in the World and special awards for 2023 is scheduled for Monday, 20 November 2023 at the Quai D’Orsay.
About LA LISTE
Often referred to as “the ranking of rankings”, LA LISTE is an independent restaurant ranking founded in 2015, but it’s also much more:
• Ranking methodology [https://www.laliste.com/en/method]: convinced that several opinions are better than one, LA LISTE aims to condense the opinions of fine dining guides, respected restaurant critics, bloggers, and review sites that publish consumer opinion. The methodology is based on an algorithm integrating and weighting nearly 1,000 international sources. Depending on the country, these sources may be ratings and rankings from well-known restaurant guides, but also opinions from the international, national, and regional press, as well as customer ratings.
“Our method is inspired by the ‘meta-classifications’ used in academia (Shanghai Ranking), sports (ATP) and other fields: rottentomatoes.com for films, metacritic.com for video games. This not only allows international coverage, we can also spot new trends and how they’re being interpreted by different media very quickly,” said Jörg Zipprick, Co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of LA LISTE.
• Mobile app: The LA LISTE app form includes around 35,000 restaurants mapped across more than 200 countries, available in 9 languages. LA LISTE is also “embedded” in 1.5 million Hyundai group cars, which brings monthly page views to 3 million.
• In September 2022, the LA LISTE mobile app relaunched to include its new World’s Best Pastry Shop Selection, integrating more than 2,250 patisseries, cake shops, bakeries, tea rooms, etc. in more than 60 countries, presented by Cacao Barry®
• Culinary events: LA LISTE organizes culinary events of international scope to reveal winners and rankings but above all to bring together the international community of chefs and celebrate the diversity of cuisines from around the world.
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About Cacao Barry® – Express your True Nature Cacao-Barry.com
Cacao Barry, founded in 1842 in Paris, has been a pioneer in the world of premium chocolate. With a rich French gastronomy heritage spanning centuries, Cacao Barry is a driving force behind the evolution of pastry arts, inspiring chefs to explore the depths of their creativity. With an unwavering commitment to quality and innovation, protecting the biodiversity of the cacaofruit and promoting its sustainable development, Cacao Barry continues to be the preferred fine flavour chocolate choice for chefs and chocolatiers worldwide.
Support for chefs is also provided through its influential network of ambassadors worldwide and its 26 Chocolate Academy™ centers around the world.
Its entire chocolate and nut range are sustainably sourced, reinforcing its leadership position for a nature-friendly present and future.
Cacao Barry® is one of the two founding brands of the Barry Callebaut Group.
Cacao Barry brand values: Flavour excellence – Sustainable nature – Open and stimulating community – Mindshift. @CacaoBarryOfficial
