For the last six months the Ritz Paris’ pastry chef François Perret has called a small, makeshift shop at Place Vendôme home. It’s a rather unexpected sight for a chef with a new cookbook, a new Netflix documentary series called The Chef in a Truck as well as the most recent titleholder of “world’s best pastry chef.”

Out of the shop’s ephemeral quarters, the renowned champion of desserts plates up his marvellous concoctions like Proust madeleine with chestnut honey, Parisian flan, lemon cheesecake as well as his famous trompe l’oeil marble cake (a surprising concoction of cocoa and vanilla mousse) to pastry-craving passers-by. His creations are likened more to art and fine wine than, say, a maple glazed cruller. An obsession with juste sucre sublimates some of his favourite desserts from his childhood in Bourg-en-Breese into haute cuisine.

Credit: Bernhard Winkelmann

Credit: Matthieu Cellard

“At the base of every creation lies an idea or a product,” said Chef Perret in an interview with Centurion Magazine. “It normally takes several attempts and perseverance to create a new pastry. For a successful result, you have to be honest with yourself.”

Credit: Matthieu Cellard

Credit: Matthieu Cellard

“I always try to make a pastry that’s mine, in its generosity, its size, its shape and that it is clear in taste. To achieve this, I try to elevate my main ingredients to work with top-quality products from the region, while also retaining the sensuality that emanates from a pastry shop.”

Credit: Matthieu Cellard

Credit: Matthieu Cellard

“What inspired me to become a chef? The love of pleasing people. And what could be better to please than pastries?”

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