who are the best pastry chefs in Yvelines this year?

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The concours of the best pastry in Yvelines 2024, organized by the Federation of bakery-pastry of Yvelines and Essonne, dedicated, in September 2024, to Sonchamp, two artisans who come to us from the south of the department.

Daniel Agil, promising pastry chef in Méré, won gold in the “employee” category. Kévin Lahaye, based in Perray-en-Yvelines, won the prize in the “employer” category. They were judged on the Paris-Brest and the apple pie.

• Daniel Agil, the promising “employee” who refused the Ritz

Last year, Daniel Agil had already climbed onto the second step of the podium, which shows his consistency. His new price makes his boss proud, Amilton dos Santosat the helm of the Gare O Pain bakery, in Méré. The latter also participated in the competition in the “employer” category and ranked 2^e.

“What has certainly made the difference with our competitors is the fact that the praline in our Paris-Brest is homemade. »

The winner took care of the decoration and presentation of his apple pie using the apple-shaped cookie cutter. “The homemade compote gave a taste of tatin”, also specifies Daniel Agil, thus revealing a little of his secrets.

The pastry chef already displays a hell of a journey. Originally from Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), Daniel Agil arrived in Méré a year ago, after refusing, excuse me, a position as sous chef de partie at the Ritz, a famous Parisian establishment which is among the best restaurants in the capital.

“By coming here, I would be able to have a total freedom of creation”, adds the man who cut his teeth with chef Carl Marletti in Paris, before continuing his training at Lenôtre, in Plaisir, surrounded by numerous MOFs (Best Workers in France). He then went to the CFA (Apprentice Training Center) in Versailles, where he worked in alternation for the Jardins Sucrés pastry shop, in Cernay-la-Ville.

When he was a child, he remembers, “at home, we rarely had cakes, except on our birthdays.” ” In my opinion, cake is synonymous with friendliness and joy,” summarizes Daniel Agil.

With the two prizes of his pastry chef, without forgetting the 4^e recently obtained prize for the best tradition and the best croissant, Gare O Pain is on the way to becoming an essential address in Yvelines.

• Kévin Lahaye, “the employer” who collects victories

For the second time, Kévin Lahaye – who runs the Perro’Pain bakery and pastry shop, located in the Forêt verte shopping mall in Perray-en-Yvelines – won the competition for the best pastry shop in Yvelines, in the “employer” category. “. In 2022, he had already won the competition on the theme of lemon tartlet.

Originally from Saint-Arnoult-en-Yvelines, Kévin Lahaye explains: “We did a classic Paris-Brest with a sinking heart. » The Yvelinois dessert was also composed of “pieces of hazelnuts that crunch in the teeth”, as he likes to say.

Her cake was decorated with feuilles d’orjust like the apple pie he entered in the competition. “We made a rose to attract the eye,” says Kévin Lahaye.

In his bakery and pastry shop, which collects entries in competitions, quality remains primordial to take it away. “Romain, my baker finished 4^e of the best traditional baguette, a few months ago,” he recalls.

Chez Dog’Painwe are already planning on the next competition which will take place before the end of the year on the theme of the Galette des Rois.

Marie Vermeersch and Stéphanie Petit

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