Jérôme Raffaelli, the pastry chef who brings Carême back to life

The Phocaean city may not yet be widely recognized for its pastry scene, but it already has Oh Faon! to thank: launched in 2018 by Jérôme Raffaelli and his husband Kevin Yau, the establishment has done remarkable work—starting with the stunning Balade en garrigue, a cake combining rosemary mousse, pine nut praline, almond cream, and shortcrust pastry. And we’re not the only ones impressed: both Fou de Pâtisserie magazine and the gastronomic ranking La Liste have honored Oh Faon! Yet over the past two years, Jérôme’s mind has been occupied with a different mission: designing dishes and desserts for a new Apple TV+ fiction series, aimed at no fewer than 75 million users (an estimate, as the platform does not release official figures).

How does one become the culinary conductor of a major production directed by Martin Bourboulon (the filmmaker behind the recent hits The Three Musketeers)? “Martin and I, twenty years ago, were serving coffee together as second or third assistant directors,” explains the pastry chef. “He went his way, I went mine. One day, his assistant called me—probably for two reasons: our approach, rooted in traditional pastry-making but shaking up conventions with plant-based ingredients; and my 15 years of experience as an assistant director.” Among the last few “pretty decent” films he’s worked on, he mentions Populaire (2012) by Régis Roinsard, a romantic comedy praised by critics.

Eight months, Monday to Friday, in Paris.

In total, a good dozen people joined Jérôme Raffaelli’s team, including Xavier Pistol, executive chef at Printemps du Goût, and Théo Gardet, head pastry chef at Auberge Nicolas Flamel. And to think the Marseille maestro initially planned to turn it down. “What bothered me was being away from the shop for eight months—being in Paris Monday to Friday, and only in Marseille on weekends.” All the more so because they were tackling a true monument of French gastronomy—the inventor of the croquembouche, a pioneer of the modern wedding cake, a master of the soufflé, and the man who codified mayonnaise… in short, a legend. Filming took place in “practically all the beautiful châteaux of Île-de-France,” as well as at the Palais-Royal, birthplace of the grand restaurant. “We also had a lab in Montreuil (Seine-Saint-Denis) for all the prep work. Each morning, arriving on set, we had a mobile kitchen at our disposal,” Jérôme recalls.

Respect Carême’s DNA with visuals “that speak to today’s audience, raised on Instagram.”

The budget made it possible to bring in real artisans—not food design specialists—to restore a sense of "culinary truth." “I knew we’d hit some walls: elaborate creations that wouldn’t make the final cut. But the point of pride was that everything filmed would be genuinely cooked.” A food stylist once told him, “Remember that ad with the frozen pear and melted chocolate? It was actually paint.” Jérôme recalls thinking, “So the guy didn’t know how to make a chocolate sauce and keep it at the right temperature?” He admits to having gone through a moment of doubt: “Am I really qualified to take on such a monument?” In addition to online archives of drawings and menus, he relied on a historian recommended by Marseille-based chef Emmanuel Perrodin. Respecting Carême’s DNA, yes—but “with visuals that speak to today’s audience, raised on Instagram.”

When filming began in late 2023, not all the episodes had been written yet—it was a leap into the unknown. In one scene, the brief specified: at Talleyrand’s wedding, themed around femininity and eroticism, Carême makes his entrance with his “extraordinary” creation—an Aphrodite. Raffaelli imagined a cream-based statue where guests could dip profiteroles—and perhaps more, depending on the mood. The production loved it. The set designer asked, “How big is your Aphrodite?”
Jérôme Raffaelli replied, “Sixty centimeters.” “No,” came the response, “she needs to be life-sized.”

“That’s the magic of cinema: you’re not alone,” says the pastry chef. A polystyrene structure was pre-sculpted by the set designers and then covered in vanilla whipped ganache. The actors knew exactly where to dip their choux—neck, breast—where the cream was most abundant. For each filmed meal, the culinary team created a full menu: six creations per episode, totaling 48 overall. Upstream, the pastry chef relied on sketches by Sasha Nogueira (From Sketch to Plate) before moving on to prototypes and “visual testing,” where appearance alone matters—cinema, after all. Even the extras were enlisted: one who could fillet a fish, another who knew how to flambé... Unserved dishes left the fridge as doggy bags for the crew or were donated to charities. Now the real question: when will we get a behind-the-scenes making-of featuring the creations of the Oh Faon! mastermind?

By Pomélo

Portrait by Oh Faon!