The World's Best Pastry Shop

Forbes

9 hours ago

Claridge's ArtSpace Café in London, named LA LISTE's 2025 World's Best Pastry Shop, sits beneath a ... More gallery and offers sculpted cakes in an open, design-forward setting.
LA LISTE's 2025 Pastry Special Awards celebrate 36 chefs across 18 countries—and reveal who's finally being seen in the world of pastry. From London's design-forward cafés to India's entrepreneurial stars, here's what these wins say about what we're really hungry for.
A New Story for Pastry
Claridge's ArtSpace Café in London, named LA LISTE's 2025 World's Best Pastry Shop, sits beneath a ... More gallery and offers sculpted cakes in an open, design-forward setting.
For a long time, pastry was the soft landing at the end of a meal—the final touch, often overlooked. That's no longer the case.
This week, LA LISTE—the global food guide best known for its Top 1,000 restaurant rankings—announced its 2025 Pastry Special Awards, spotlighting the chefs and shops shaping where dessert is going next. London's Claridge's ArtSpace Café was named World's Best Pastry Shop. Maxime Frédéric, known for couture-level creations at Cheval Blanc Paris and LV Cafés, earned World's Most Creative Pastry Chef. India's Pooja Dhingra was named Pastry Game Changer, a title that speaks to the reach of her work across culture, business, and identity.
These awards don't just recognize talent. They highlight shifts in visibility, ownership, and creative autonomy. And with 60% of honorees identifying as women, this year's list reshapes what recognition in pastry looks like—and who's long deserved it.
World's Best Pastry Shop: Claridge's ArtSpace Café (London)
Chef: Thibaut Hauchard
At Claridge's ArtSpace Café, guests move through a gallery before reaching the marble counter—a ... More deliberate invitation to linger and look before tasting.
Claridge's ArtSpace Café sits just below one of London's most storied hotels, but it feels less like a traditional pastry counter and more like a curated gallery. Guests enter through an exhibition space before reaching a marble bar lined with sculpted cakes, seasonal miniatures, and made-to-order crêpes. The space is designed to invite you in, not just to serve you.
ArtSpace Café reflects a broader trend in how people experience pastry. The display isn't hidden behind a fine-dining curtain. It's open, intentional, and part of the environment. It's the kind of third space where presentation, access, and daily ritual meet in a way that doesn't flatten the food or the guest.
This award isn't just about perfectly executed food. It's about how the café reframes dessert as something worth building an entire experience around.
World's Most Creative Pastry Chef: Maxime Frédéric (Cheval Blanc Paris, LV Cafés)
Known for elegant play and architectural detail, Maxime Frédéric crafts pastries that blur the line ... More between dessert and design at Cheval Blanc Paris and LV Cafés.
Maxime Frédéric's pastry work is meticulous, but what makes it resonate is how intuitive it feels. His creations are architectural but soft, elegant but full of play. They aren't made solely for visual appeal. These treats are meant to be held, broken into, and enjoyed
In a landscape that sometimes prizes visual sameness, Frédéric's recognition reflects something quieter: personal style. His work doesn't rely on scale or novelty. It builds trust with the eater—moment by moment, bite by bite.
Pastry Game Changer: Pooja Dhingra (India)
Pooja Dhingra, who brought macarons to Mumbai, was recognized for her entrepreneurial impact and for ... More reshaping what pastry leadership can look like.
Pooja Dhingra has helped define modern pastry in India not by replicating European tradition but by building something specific to her place, her story, and her community. From her bakery, Le15, to her writing and mentorship, her approach has created room for more people to imagine themselves in the pastry world.
This award doesn't just honor her products. It acknowledges the path she's built—and the many people she's helped bring along with her. Dhingra's visibility has opened doors that didn't exist a decade ago. The work is pastry, yes—but also structure, invitation, and scale.
London's Pastry Scene, Reframed
Claridge's wasn't the only name from London to earn recognition this year. Lily Jones, of Lily Vanilli, was honored for her originality and impact. Her bakery has long pushed against the familiar aesthetic of the upscale bakery—less pastel, more perspective. Her cakes have always felt lived in, rooted in people and place.
Scoff at The Savoy was recognized as one of the most exciting new openings. It blends British dessert nostalgia with a sharper, more modern edge. It's not a museum to enjoy afternoon tea—it's an update delivered with intention. London's showing us that pastry here isn't bound to tradition. It's being reinterpreted, sometimes irreverently, but always with a clear sense of who it's for.
What These Awards Reflect
More than a roundup of talent, this year's LA LISTE pastry awards read like a recalibration. They reflect a shift in both who gets counted and what counts as influence. Across the honorees, there's a shared clarity of purpose—whether it's expressed through precision, playfulness, or sheer entrepreneurial grit.
Many of these chefs aren't just producing beautiful work; they're rewriting the rules of visibility, value, and voice in a category that has long rewarded refinement overreach. That 60% of this year's winners are women is not a footnote—it's a reshaping of the frame. The selections show a growing appetite for pastry that does more than sit prettily on a plate. They show us a global field no longer tethered to the traditions of Western haute pâtisserie but open to interpretation, expression, and community-led growth.
In an era where food often doubles as language, acting as a mirror, explaining who we are, what we long for, and how we choose to show up—these wins point toward a version of pastry that's more porous, more personal, and far less willing to stay in the background. That LA LISTE chose to crown Claridge's—an open café, not a cloistered salon—as its World's Best Pastry Shop feels like part of that message. What's visible now isn't just the pastry. It's the people, the path, and the shift itself.
About LA LISTE
LA LISTE is best known for its Top 1,000 Restaurants ranking, using a data-driven system that compiles reviews, guidebooks, and expert input. Its Pastry Special Awards reflect more than technical skill—they recognize chefs and owners making meaningful contributions to their communities, cultures, and the broader conversation around dessert.
Claridge's ArtSpace Café earned the top spot this year, but the deeper story is about what that win represents: a pastry shop made for wandering into, not waiting for. A space designed to surprise and slow you down. These iconic accolades don't just recognize the best—they help redefine what excellence looks like. Explore the full list of LA LISTE 2025 Pastry Special Award winners here.