Pastry chef
Julien Aboutmad
- Discipline
- Pastry chef
Portrait of Julien Aboutmad
i. Biography
Julien Aboutmad is co-founder and executive chef of The French Bastards in France, where pastry sits inside a larger brief: build a house style that can carry humor, discipline, and consistency at once. The work reads as modern, but it is still kitchen work in the old sense, repetition, timing, and a clear point of view on what should come out of the ovens. A nickname can show something about a kitchen’s culture. In Australia, a head baker once called Julien Aboutmad “French Bastard,” and he remembers it as affectionate. That exchange lands where so much craft identity is made: in close quarters, under pressure, with shorthand that only makes sense to the people on the line.
The Path
Today, Julien is co-founder and pastry chef of The French Bastards. The title signals irreverence, but the role points to structure: pastry as a core practice, not a side note. Aboutmad’s place in the business suggests a chef working at the level where product, pace, and standards have to hold together every day. In Australia, the remark that gave him a memorable nickname came from the same kind of working environment that shapes many chefs: long services, shared labor, and a vocabulary built in the room, not outside it. Julien Aboutmad comes out of that world, where a name can stick because the brigade has already decided they belong.
The Work Today
Today, Aboutmad is co-founder and executive chef of The French Bastards in France. That position puts him in charge of both output and tone, with pastry carrying as much weight as any other part of the kitchen. The task is not only to make, but to set the standard the room works to. The French Bastards name carries a blunt edge, and Julien Aboutmad’s role within it suggests a chef comfortable working with contrast. The work can be exacting without turning stiff; that balance matters. In a kitchen like this, personality is not decoration. It is part of the system.
Career - Co-founder and pastry chef, The French Bastards, Paris
Signature
Julien's signature dishes include babkas, cruffins, and Saint-Honoré. They all sit on the sweet side of the board, but each does a different kind of work. Babkas bring braided richness; cruffins sit in the hybrid register, crossing pastry forms without apology; Saint-Honoré anchors the list in classic French pastry language. Taken together, they show a chef working across comfort, structure, and recognizable form.
Acclaim
Aboutmad is co-founder and executive chef of The French Bastards in France. The title is straightforward, and that is the point: a chef defined by pastry, by leadership, and by the working context that gives the name its force.
FAQ What is Julien Aboutmad best known for today? He is best known today as co-founder and executive chef of The French Bastards in France.
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