Being a pastry chef in the age of Instagram fame isn’t easy, but Jessica Préalpato is far more interested in how something tastes than how it looks on social media. Préalpato started her career at the Plaza Athénée in 2015 alongside chef Alain Ducasse, and became the first woman to be named the world’s best pastry chef by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2019. The following year, she was named pastry chef of the year by Gault & Millau. Since leaving the Plaza Athénée in Paris, Préalpato has spent two years at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in London and is now chef pâtissière at the Hôtel San Régis in Paris. It’s there that she’s taken her next creative step by designing an innovative, three-course experience called “Le Goûter du San Régis,” which is essentially a dessert-led tasting menu served during afternoon teatime.

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“I didn’t want to work in a big hotel like the Plaza Athénée again,” Préalpato tells Observer. “I wanted to work in a little hotel. When I met [owners] Sarah and Zeina [Georges], we were really in sync. They wanted to develop something new. They’re open-minded. They wanted a ‘goûter,’ but like a family goûter with a lot of pastries to share. I liked that because that’s how we eat in the South of France.”

The “goûter,” which means “to taste” in French, is an unusual offering in France, where something like an afternoon tea isn’t typically served. But Préalpato’s immersive tasting, which features a signature tea infusion and, of........

© Observer