La Liste, one of the world's most respected restaurant ranking guides founded by the former head of the French Tourist Board Philippe Faure, recently announced a selection of winners for the 2023 La Liste Pastry Special Awards.
Thai-born patissier Dej Kewkacha.
In Paris on Sept 7, Thai-born patissier Dej Kewkacha was selected among the pastry maestros and named La Liste Pastry Talent of the Year.
With 11 categories celebrating 25 pastry chefs across 15 countries, this year's award ceremony, set at Village de la Gastronomie at the bottom of the Eiffel Tower, showcased outstanding international talents, creativity, diversity, innovation and commitment across the pastry community.
"Pastry chefs don't like to stand still and seem to lead the way in the wider gastronomy community," said Hélène Pietrini, managing director of La Liste. "They are addicted to exploring the limits of their craft, and reformulating tradition to present eager consumers with new business concepts, international expansion, plant-based evolution and seasonal novelties."
Highly esteemed French pastry chef and chocolatier Pierre Hermé received the 2023 Award of Honor for his contribution to the industry, repositioning pastry as high art, and reshaping the global pastry scene. His reimagining of the macaron, particularly the iconic Ispahan, influenced pastry chefs around the globe.
The 2023 World's Most Creative Pastry Chef was awarded to 32-year-old Las Vegas-based French-Swiss pastry chef Amaury Guichon. His demonstration of extraordinary creativity with technical skill has pushed the craft of pastry into an art form. Guichon has also built the world's biggest online community in the pastry field; his chocolate leopard alone amassed three million views on Instagram.
La Liste Pastry Talents of 2023 recognises a number of young pastry artists including Mayada Badr of Pink Camel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Tejasvi Chandela of Dzurt in Jaipur, India; Ophélie Barès of Encore in Paris, France; Eunji Lee of Lysée in New York, USA; and Dej Kewkacha of Kyo Bar in Bangkok, Thailand.
Dej was recognised for his fantastically creative menu at his dessert-only eatery. Inspired by Japanese omakase, Kyo Bar's fare is offered in an exclusive haute-cuisine, chef's table style. Among his signature creations are pear and black pepper ravioli; Zen Garden with sesame, white bean paste and cheese; and the chef's sweet interpretation of BBQ.
Often referred to as "the ranking of rankings", La Liste is an independent restaurant ranking that aims to condense the opinions of fine dining guides, respected restaurant critics, bloggers and review sites that publish consumer opinions. Its methodology is based on an algorithm integrating and weighing nearly 1,000 international sources. Depending on the country, these sources may be ratings and rankings from well-known restaurant guides, but also opinions from the international, national and regional press as well as customer ratings.
Its next annual ceremony revealing the Top 1,000 Best Restaurants in the World and special awards for 2023 is scheduled for Nov 20.
