Nina Métayer

Leader in women's pastry

In many ways, Nina Métayer is breathing new life into French pastry.

Having won distinctions one after the other for ten years, she decided this time to climb the summit of recognition, the institution of the competition for one of the Best Workers in France. If she wins this competition, renowned for being the most difficult and incompatible with a family life, she will be the first woman to win the title of MOF pastry chef, and will become a model for many other women who dare to take the plunge. This personal challenge clearly illustrates the ambitious and committed character that characterizes Nina, convinced that women are not recognized for their true value, having come up against misogyny in the sector. Today, she is divided between Normandy, where she lives and has installed a multifunctional laboratory, and Paris for contact with customers and the delivery of pastries in Île-de-France, for the moment. “We have plans for all of France,” confides Nina for whom nothing seems impossible.

The chef on video

Coming from a La Rochelle family who passed on to him the true taste of things, cooking is a subject of the utmost importance among the Shareholders.

However, Nina does not show any passion for cooking and sweets, she rather wants to discover the world. She had her first breakthrough at 16, during a school exchange in Mexico. It was there that she fell in love with bread through contact with a French family. She returned to France and decided to join a work-study CAP bakery course in La Rochelle. With her eyes fixed on Mexico where she wants to settle, the young woman dreams of traveling the planet with the idea of sharing French know-how internationally. Having just graduated, she left for Australia and on her return to France, she realized that she had to complete her training and chose the Ferrandi School in Paris where she would graduate top of her class.

Then, everything happened very quickly, she joined Yannick Alleno's brigade at Le Meurice as a clerk. She quickly becomes half-chef de partie. In 2015, Jean-François Piège, who was aiming for two MICHELIN stars for his new address, the Grand restaurant, appointed her pastry chef – a new challenge that she would take on brilliantly. The restaurant obtained its two stars a year later. Crowned by her peers in 2016, with the title of “Pastry Chef of the Year 2016” by Le Chef magazine, then the following year, Pastry Chef of the Year by the Gault et Millau guide, the distinctions follow one after another. lightning speed. It is the turn of the general public to discover the face of the young woman on M6, in the hit show Le Meilleur pâtissier, on France 2 in Who will be the next great pâtissier and on Teva with Sucrément bon. With a solid reputation, which makes her one of the most influential pastry chefs of her generation, Nina feels the wind of independence blowing. After managing the sweet creations of the Café Pouchkine group, she migrated for a while to London for the Mercato Metropolitano creation project, while continuing to transmit her know-how via her YouTube channel and to the 120,000 subscribers on Instagram that she keeps you entertained every week with its desserts.