Category: paris

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After 5 months of internship at Un Dimanche à Paris, I moved up the kitchen totem pole and became a full-time pâtissier at Fauchon. In its pastry department, Fauchon has been graced with a string of extraoridnary chefs such as Pierre Hermé, Christophe Adam, Christophe Michalak, Sebastien Gaudard, etc. Even Dominique Ansel, who created the famed cronuts that had New Yorkers lining at up 6am in the snow, spent years at Fauchon before moving to the US. You see, this is no ordinary pastry kitchen.

Getting a job here happened rather serendipitously. I happened to see an opening on Fauchon’s website and submitted my CV, but pretty much forgot about it right after. We all know that with big companies like this, sending a CV online can be like dropping a pebble in the ocean – you just don’t expect to hear back. Then one day, as I was dozing off in the late summer sun at Jardin du Luxembourg, I got a call from the head pastry chef at Fauchon, who spoke to me in an ultra rapid French that I could barely comprehend in my half-conscious state (and I were to find out later that even in my fully awake mode, I sometimes have trouble understanding him). Then I went for an interview. Then I did a trial day in the kitchen. Then I was hired. Boom. What?!

But somehow it happened, and I ended up spending six very rewarding months at Fauchon. I was (again) very lucky to be working with chefs and colleagues who are talented and generous in sharing their pastry knowledge. It probably sounds cheesy to say that I feel remarkably fortunate to have met and worked with them, but that is the truth. 

Our main pastry kitchen space, located in Courbevoie (a short distance northwest of Paris city), is composed of two labs. The “grand labo”, or big lab, is responsible for making all the products for our boutique at Madeleine, and smaller lab is in charge of all the items sold to corporate clients. I worked mostly in the small lab, but also spent roughly one day per week to help out at the big lab.