Buzzy Parisian Pastry Chef Looks Set to Finally Open Debut London Store in Mayfair

Mayfair is getting a new destination for Parisian pâtisserie

A Parisian pastry chef best known for elegant, beautiful interpretations of pâtisserie tradition and also having a pet fox looks set to be opening his debut London store after a series of delays. Yann Couvreur, who did a short residency at iconic hotel Claridge’s in September 2019 — also in Mayfair and itself delayed — will open his eponymous pâtisserie at 44 South Audley Street in Mayfair, according to planning and design documents filed with Westminster Council.

The store was originally to open in late 2019 / early 2020, but its already delayed arrival was pushed back further by the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on restaurants. Couvreur’s signature pastries include a buckwheat version of the Breton kouign-amann; a Paris Brest, which had a short resurgence on London menus in the year of his residency after experiencing a New York City revival last year, and a fig and shiso tart.

Couvreur, who has amassed almost 250,000 Instagram followers thanks to the singular combination of photogenic patisserie and his pet fox, has four stores in Paris — the first opened in 2016. Alongside the likes of Claire Damon, Cedric Grolet, and Mori Yoshida, as well as the longtime leaders Claire Heitzler, Pierre Hermé, and Jacques Genin, he is currently at the forefront of Paris’ legendary patisserie ecosystem. In the interim, world-famous innovator in the field Philippe Conticini has made a shock return to London — Couvreur will hope to follow his lead.

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