Philippe Conticini

French pastry chef Philippe Conticini has spent decades building a pastry language shaped by texture, memory, and contrast as much as sweetness. Born in 1963, he developed a career that moved through respected kitchens, consulting work, broadcasting, and his own pastry project while keeping a recognisable approach to dessert across formats. Training under Alain Dutournier’s double Michelin-starred Trou Gascon and at Maxim’s Roissy outlet placed Conticini in kitchens where discipline and exactitude set the standard.

He then worked as pastry assistant at Gray d’Albion in France from 1983–1985 before becoming pastry chef at Peltier in Paris from 1985. A long and defining stretch came at La Table d’Anvers, where he was co-owner and head pastry chef from 1986–1998. That period gave him the room to shape a full pastry identity, not just individual desserts. During those years, and after them, he broadened his practice beyond the dining room.

From 1995, he served as cooking consultant at Materne, applying his point of view to a different culinary brief. From 1999, he became cooking consultant at Petrossian in Paris and New York while also serving as head pastry chef at Petrossian in Paris from the same year. These roles tied his name closely to the Petrossian restaurants and marked a polished phase in his work. He continued to move between projects as cooking consultant at Senoble from 2001–2005, then returned to work with Peltier pâtisseries in Paris and Tokyo from 2002, extending his presence across two cities and two pastry contexts.

His consulting work continued with Ferrero in 2005 and Nestlé in 2006, showing the range of businesses that sought his perspective. Conticini also moved into broadcasting as creator and host of Jeux de Goûts on Cuisine TV / Odyssée from 2006, bringing his sensibility to the screen. Since 2009, he has been founder and head pastry chef of Pâtisserie des Rêves, the most recent stage of a career that has balanced continuity with reinvention.

In that role, he continues to work in a register of precision and delicacy, where pastry is composed rather than merely assembled. His signature dishes include verrines, a format suited to a chef attentive to layers, contrasts, and visual clarity. It matches his wider reputation for structure and generous flavor. His acclaim includes a rating of 17/20 by Gault Millau, a Michelin star for work at La Table d’Anvers, Knight of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Knight of the Ordre National du Mérite, President of the jury of the Charles Proust competition, Best Paris-Brest in Paris, and coaching the French world pastry champion team.