PARIS – Yazid Ichemrahen is used to beating the odds.
Raised in foster care from a young age, he honed his skills as a pastry chef in prestigious establishments that included the Hotel Métropole in Monaco, even when his financial situation was so precarious he was forced to sleep on the street.
At the age of 22 he was part of the French team that won the coveted Gelato World Cup in Italy, going on to open a chain of ice cream stores with entrepreneur Bernard Blachère, the founder of France’s largest bakery chain. Now at the head of his own growing pastry empire, the 32-year-old is finally making it big on home turf.
A star on social media, with 1.6 million followers on Instagram, Ichemrahen has just inked a contract to create the dessert menus for the Royal Monceau Raffles Paris hotel, and he’s planning to open his own upscale café in the French capital later this year.
“This was a dream of mine,” he says over afternoon tea at Le Bar Long, the hotel bar designed by Philippe Starck, where he has set out three of his signature desserts for a tasting. “I started out overseas and things have been a bit tougher for me in France, given my history, so I was no longer expecting to be named chef at a luxury hotel.”
Yazid Ichemrahen and Alexandre Favre
Tuki Muri/Courtesy of Le Royal Monceau Raffles Paris
Ichemrahen is particularly proud to be a brand partner to the hotel, delegating operational duties to his executive chef Alexandre Favre.
“There’s a very big difference for me, because when you are head pastry chef, you are the property of the establishment, so to speak,” he says. “This partnership allows me to not only express myself creatively here, but also to continue working on my other projects.”
Unlike his peers, many of whom have been mentored by industry legends, Ichemrahen has carved out his own career…