Growing up, Nina Métayer had no idea what she wanted to do, until she met a French couple who owned a bakery in Mexico. Now, she’s The World’s Best Pastry Chef 2024
Find a way back to Mexico. Whatever it takes. That's how Nina Métayer got into baking.
“At the age of 15, I had no idea what I wanted to do in life,” Métayer explains. “My sister already had a passion for cooking, but I was still looking for myself. I was neither good nor bad at school. I had no talent for the piano like my father: he's got perfect pitch, I'm arrhythmic. I loved the theatre, but I didn't have a good enough memory to act. I wasn't good at languages...”
As one of her friends had spent a few months abroad learning English, Métayer came home one day and announced that she wanted to head off too. “As everyone was applying to go to the US, I chose Mexico, just to give myself the best chance,” she says.
It worked. A few months later, still a teenager, she departed, for Puebla in Mexico – without speaking a single word of Spanish. “It was tough at first. I had to fight the urge to call my parents and go home. Then I made friends, started travelling, speaking more fluently. And fell head over heels for the country.”
The Galette des Rois filled with frangipane and roasted Ardèche chestnuts
While she was passing through Tulum, she met a French couple who owned a bakery. Her entrepreneurial spirit kicked in: why not set up a pastry factory in Yucatán? “I was sure I'd found the way to come back and live in Mexico. So I went back to France, determined to learn as much as possible about the baking business.”
There's nothing quite like baking bread
Once Métayer finished her bakery studies in France, she looked for an internship. But historically in France, baking has been a man’s world and every door was shut in her face. “All I was offered was a job as a cashier. But I never gave up,” she says.
Eventually, Denis Baron agreed to take her on, as a trainee, at Chez Paillat, a well-known bakery in La Rochelle. She worked closely with him and developed a passion for sourdough bread. “There’s nothing like creating bread simply by mixing water, flour and salt,” she explains. “It’s magical!”
To improve her English, Métayer then flew to Australia. Unable to stay put, she started making pizza which allowed her to travel and earn a living across the Australasian continent.
From pizza to pastry, Métayer trained at École Ferrandi in Paris
After pizza in Australia, Métayer briefly moved back to her hometown La Rochelle. “My original plan [after Australia] was to go to Italy with my sister to make pizzas. But shortly before our departure, I encountered Mathieu [Salomé, her now husband] at a festival… It was love at first sight and I followed him to Paris.”
In order to broaden her options, she undertook training in the art of pastry at the École Ferrandi. Her subsequent internship at the Parisian palace Le Meurice, under legendary chef Yannick Alléno and pastry chef Camille Lesecq , was a game changer. That was where Métayer fell in love with haute pâtisserie – and she has retained that passion ever since.
Her first ‘proper’ position was as a pastry chef at Hôtel Raphaël, where she worked alongside the dynamic head chef Amandine Chaignot. One of Métayer creations – an exotic ile flottante inspired by Mexican fruits – gained attention from the media, and from chef Jean-François Piège.
Noisette, Lait d'Amande Glacé, Gelée de Citron (hazelnut, iced almond milk, lemon jelly) at Le Grand Restaurant
From Hôtel Raphaël, she then joined Piège‘s team for the opening of his fine dining flagship: Le Grand Restaurant. A flurry of awards followed: Pâtissier of the Year 2016 according to French professional magazine Le Chef; Pastry Chef of the Year 2017 by Gault & Millau; World Confectioner 2023 by the International Union of Bakers and confectioners. And on 5 June 2024, in Las Vegas, at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, Nina Métayer was named The World’s Best Pastry Chef, sponsored by Sosa.
Making the move to online paid off
Since 2019, Métayer has been running her own company, spending time developing desserts as a consultant in France and abroad. Then the pandemic hit and put a stop to all her collaborations. So, in 2021, rather than opening a shop, Métayer took the risky decision to create a 100% online patisserie: Délicatisserie, where cakes are made to order and only available by click and collect or through delivery.
Luckily, her husband Mathieu Salomé is a true tech enthusiast, and she has family and childhood friends who are artists and graphic designers. Everyone close to her has been involved, in one way or another, in this adventure.
L'Ile Flottante Exotique, the first dessert Métayer received real attention for
The success of Délicatisserie has been beyond her expectations. “I started offering Epiphany cakes, then Valentine's Day cakes. Today, we've got a great range of classic cakes and biscuits, made with the finest ingredients.”
For customers, the hardest thing is choosing between her Saint-Honoré (puff and choux pastry with vanilla cream, vanilla Chantilly and caramel), lemon meringue pie, the fluffy cheesecake with a shortbread base, an irresistible vanilla flan, her seasonal strawberry cream cake… the list goes on.
“I guess this online boutique concept was perfect during the pandemic. But today I realise just how much it allows me to be in tune with my values. I spend more time with my team on the creation and sourcing of producers rather than filling a shop window. The great thing about producing on demand is that nothing is wasted.”
A playable Solitaire cake made for Valentine's Day
While telling 50 Best her story, Métayer is busy carving a piece of chocolate into the shape of a feather. “It's a trial run for the individual yule log we might produce for Christmas,” she explains. “To create the moulds for my creations, I prefer to sculpt them in the chocolate first. But this process requires precise technical knowledge, as the chocolate must have the ideal texture: slightly warm to stay malleable but not so cold that it hardens too quickly. It's a great way to unwind and clear my mind on a busy day.”
A typical day for The World’s Best Pastry Chef 2024
“When I'm in Paris, I get up around 4am so I can be at work with the teams from 4:30am.
“I do my best to be there for the team, to be attentive, to always smile and to liven up the lab with music. As a pastry chef, we don't get any training in management. You have to learn by doing. But my team is my greatest asset. They're happy to come to work really early, which is my best reward.
“We produce about 1,000 desserts a day Monday to Friday, with 2,000 a day at weekends.
Nina Métayer is The World's Best Pastry Chef 2024, sponsored by Sosa
“From 4:30am to 6:30 am, we spend a lot of time working on the finishing touches. Once the cakes are ready, we get them to the different delivery points and we're good to go for the next production.
“At 8am, it's the creative team’s turn to take to the stage, starting with Alicia Travier, who's my right-hand woman. The afternoon is all about appointments. Then I collect my little ones from school. After that, another day begins, unless there are any special events!”
Le Café de la Rose by Lancôme and Nina Métayer
Speaking of special events, Métayer recently launched Le Café de la Rose, a joint project with French cosmetics brand Lancôme at its famous Champs Élysées boutique. As ever, she wants to make sure her creations are full of fun and emotion. The new café, with a covered terrace as well as a takeaway option, has a range of Métayer-designed pastries inspired by the Lancôme rose. The signature pink cheesecake comprises speculoos shortbread, white almond chocolate, praline, almonds, hazelnut, fresh cream cheese mousse and lemon zest.
Café de la Rose is at 52 avenue des Champs-Elysées in Paris
The signature rose pastry will evolve with the seasons. For the summer it features crispy millet seeds and roasted almonds, almond biscuit, apricot compote, and honey and vanilla mousse infused with sweet clover. Traditional treats such as tarte citron and la craquante chocolate are also available.
Métayer promises that not everything tastes of roses. Instead, this dedicated creator of sweet memories has a penchant for chestnuts, the scent of elderflowers and a hint of chilli pepper – although it was a long time ago now, it seems like Mexico really is never far from her thoughts.
Now watch the video with Nina Métayer, The World's Best Pastry Chef 2024:
The list of The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024, sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, was announced at a live awards ceremony on Wednesday 5 June from Las Vegas. To stay up to date with the latest news, follow us on Instagram, Facebook, X and YouTube, and sign up to our newsletter.
