Pastry chef Pascal Clair puts his hotel oven gloves down and decides it’s time to go solo. He speaks exclusively to Caterer Middle East prior to the launch of his first cafe in Dubai
After a string of successes working as a pastry chef in top-end hotels including Atlantis and the Ritz-Carlton Doha, Pascal Clair has decided it’s time to go solo.
His experiences have led him to front his first standalone cafe in Dubai, but, Clair tells Caterer Middle East, all credit is due to the sweet blood running through his family.
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Brought up in France among a family of bakers Clair started his career working for his father’s bakery.
“My father is still one of my biggest influences,” he begins. “To this day, I follow the recipe for his bread; his croissants; brioche – all my recipes are based on his original recipes,” he says.
As he speaks to us in his new cafe based in the European Business Centre of Dubai Investment Park, trays filled with an array of brightly coloured macaroons and oozing with chocolates that glisten with a spectrum of coloured glitter dust are presented on the table before us.
“Of course the recipes are slightly retouched,” he continues, with an example. “French pastries in France use a lot of sugar, here I cut sugar – the pastries are tasty but with reduced sugar.”
We’re struggling to believe a cafe can be run unless fuelled by sugar, but Clair stresses that it’s important to look at what else can be your focus. He has gone for flavours that will get people talking instead of the extra sugar.
One of the flavours that will undoubtedly set tongues wagging is the coconut curry flavoured chocolate. One would be accurate in presuming the furthest many people’s chocolate experience goes is chilli chocolate.
It’s no surprise that the Caterer team was slightly hesitant when it came to trying this particular flavour. But, the strong taste of curry combined with the sweet balance of coconut, followed by the dark chocolate kick at the end were, admittedly, pleasantly surprising.
“It’s kind of a melting pot,” says Clair when asked about the influence of the flavours, which continue to get more unusual with lemongrass and ginger and fresh mint and strawberry.
“The chocolate has some Indian influence,” he adds.
But a lot of the influence he talks of has come through the experience he’s had working with some of the world’s top hotels, including Claridges of London and the people surrounding him.
He has a lot of inspiration, he tells us: “My first mentor who I did my apprenticeship with; my father for his bread of course; the big chefs in France such as Pierre Gagniere and the top, top elite chefs – all the guys who have been doing so much for the pastry business, helping it to grow and passed on their knowledge to the people.”
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