Sophie De Bernardi

The Climb

She then worked as pastry chef with François Perret on the opening of Shangri-La at Shangri-La in Paris, where opening-day pressure and structure sharpened the discipline already in place. A later pastry chef role with Jessica Préalpato at 39.5 added another point in the line, before she took the position of head pastry chef at La Demeure du Parc in Fontainebleau. Since 2017, she has been head pastry chef of Café de la Paix / InterContinental Paris Le Grand.

Today

At Café de la Paix inside InterContinental Paris Le Grand in Paris, Sophie De Bernardi works with a pastry line that favors clarity over excess. Her register is modern and floral, and when she returns to traditional pastries she does so by lifting them with lighter colors, restrained floral notes, and a cleaner finish. Fruit is often framed with plant aromas, but the structure stays intact; the result is pastry that keeps its architecture while shifting the read of flavor and aroma. The work sits in a precise middle ground: composed, legible, and built to hold up from first look to final bite.

Signature

Sophie's signature dishes include Mille-feuille and Le Mont Mille Feuilles.

In Their Words “The products from Imbert are simply indispensable in pastry. Their respect for texture and the natural taste of the fruit guarantees that chestnut will always be enhanced in our desserts and pastries.” “I got on really well with François Perret. It was his first position as a chef: he had just left George V and I was his first apprentice.”

Recognition

Her remarks about Imbert point to the same priorities that shape the work: texture, natural fruit character, and a measured hand with flavor. Sophie De Bernardi describes products that support pastry rather than overpower it, and that logic carries through her desserts. The emphasis stays on control of structure and placement, with each element kept clear enough to register on its own.