A Life Made Sweeter
For over 28 years, Pierrick Boyer has been a pastry chef. His distinguished career has led the Frenchman to southern California, Boston and the Plaza Athenee hotel in Paris. His skills as a patissier and in the culinary arts were further honed by working with other greats, such as Alain Ducasse, master patissier Christophe Michalak and Belgian chocolatier Pierre Marcolini.
Boyer’s renown also saw him offering expert consulting in setting up the Madeleine Cafe & Patisserie at The Spring Shopping Mall in Kuching, Sarawak.
My dad was a plumber and my granddad was in the coal business. I didn’t like the work they did but was captivated by our neighbour – who was a pastry chef – from the time I was five years old.
In my 20s, I served as a UN peacekeeper in Yugoslavia before going on to work as a chef – first in the US and then in Paris. The latter was one of my most amazing professional experiences; I was inspired by how they were truly at the top of their game, managing everything and being so creative while opening overseas franchises at the same time.
I’m now based in Melbourne and am excited to open Pierrick Boyer Cafe Patisserie in Prahran, outside the city. I like rustic cooking in general and this new place will offer good, honest food – with both savouries and sweets. It will be a true reflection of what I like, such as burgers done in my favourite way.
Life is short and now that I’m 43, I realise I have some good years to go hopefully. So I enjoy the moments with family and at work. To relax, I unwind with a good cigar; it’s a very complex experience given that these cigars start off as tobacco plants and are harvested, dried, aged and rolled. So many things could go wrong and it takes years of experience to get it right. My favourite cigars are from the Kauai Cigar Company, which reconnects me with Hawaii, a place I’m very fond of.
I’ve just welcomed a new baby girl and called her Charlotte Tiffany Grace. I’ve been lucky to have been granted a chance to buy the Tiffany & Co-stamped Patek Philippe 5711/R Nautilus to commemorate my daughter’s birth. This watch becomes a personal story for me and I’ve included her name on the ownership papers.
What I’ve learnt as my most important career lesson is that in the process of chasing success, we always do things for passion, not to get something back. It’s in my personality to give to others and I do lots of charity work all over, from Malaysia – where I held my first international overseas charity dinner – to Australia where I work for the RSPCA.
