A story about one of the original Hotel Hotel staff member, Angélique Peretto.

Angélique Peretto is our pastry chef from Monster kitchen and bar. It’s kind of amazing when you hear someone talk about pastry with the poetry that Angélique does in her sweet French accent. Pastry chef from the French Alps, it really doesn’t get any more romantic.

“I realised the most important thing about my job is that you can give happiness with desserts.”

Oh.

“I created my first dessert menu at Le Mas des Aigras in Orange, France. I started to create and compose with what I had. Playing with tastes, colours and shapes. I started to dream about fresh fruits and cacao trees, vanilla pods asleep on a big pillow made of Italian meringue…”

Ah.

“I understand sugar like a large field of game [editor’s note – Angélique means playground but the French English translations was too nice to change] without limits.”

Yeah totes.

I feel the same when I open up a fresh word doc… Limitless… So, in comparison to this poetry I feel a bit like Eddie the donkey (careful if you click that at work…).

It won’t surprise you after these little gems that Angélique actually wanted to study literature; but was “transmitted” her love for cuisine by her papa.

Her parents run a beautiful hotel restaurant, L’ Auberge du Poncellamont, in the quaint little village of Arêches-Beaufort, renowned thanks to the “genius of my father and the high quality concern of my mother”. She helped them out one year in the busy winter season and eight years later (eight years speckled with seeing what else was out there and skiing the adjacent slopes competitively) she found that she kept coming back to work in the kitchen each winter. She started composing the menu, as her dad’s right hand lady, having a grand and boisterous time.

“I learnt a lot from my father, but especially the passion that I give to my work. His father was Italian, so you can imagine that in the kitchen if we are not noisy it is because we are sick.”

Angélique now does the baking at Monster – you can thank her for your breakfast streusels, financiers, clafoutis, muffins and buckwheat loaf… And for your afternoon tarts, macaroons, crèmes brûlées, cakes and chocolate truffles.

For Angélique the important part is when the dessert arrives…

“People after a meal, usually feel full so they need to play, they need to dream or remember. That is where we need the delicacy and the subtlety of dessert.”