Julie Leyder grew up in Narbonne before embarking on a brilliant career in the capital. At the age of 23, she now works on the most famous avenue in the world since she joined the Fouquet’s teams to become the first chef de partie in pastry. Portrait.
Passions sometimes reveal themselves very early. What do you want to do later? “Astronaut”, “Football player” or “Archaeologist”, Julie Leyder would certainly have answered without hesitation: “pastry chef”. Originally from Loir-et-Cher, the young woman grew up in Narbonne. Cakes ? A family story. “I have always cooked, with my parents or grandparentsshe recalls. I always like to eat, salty or sweet, I enjoyed it from the start”.
So her college years pass with a very specific plan in mind: that of moving, as soon as she has the opportunity, towards the kitchen. She enters a professional high school in Montpellier. “I obtained my professional bakery-pastry baccalaureate in three years, she lists. Then I continued with a certificate of professional aptitude (CAP) chocolatier-miller for a year in Argelès-sur-mer, then a technical trades certificate (BTM) pastry chef in Paris”.
From the palace to Fouquet’s
Here she is launched for good in the bath of the big city. She then embraced Parisian life by spending a year in business, at the Royal Monceau, a prestigious palace in the 8e arrondissement.
At the end of her studies, Julie starts looking for a job in the capital. In vain. She returns to Montpellier, to spend six months in a new pastry-chocolate shop for Christmas and then Easter. She meets her boss there. A turning point in her life, when, after a year, she finds herself following him to Fouquet’s, in Paris. In this top-of-the-range brasserie located on the Champs-Élysées, she discovers a new universe with this passion for pastry always in her body. “Today, I’ve been at Fouquet’s for a year.she says. Now, I am the first chef de partie in pastry”.
We learn every day
A life at two hundred miles an hour that does not make him forget the simple things in life “What I prefer is the vanilla flan, or the strawberry, they are classics, but I always take the same pleasure in eating them, she explains. Maybe it’s related to family memories.”
“There is no routine, you can do plated baking, boutique type, or many other things. I don’t get bored, and that’s mainly what I like in my job, welcomes the ace of strawberries. Then in each new company, we discover pastry differently, all the chefs have a different vision. We learn every day, constantly, everyone can bring a different technique, a new approach“.
A passion that may lead the Narbonnaise to the title of Meilleur Ouvrier de France… who knows?