Beatriz Oliveira, pastry sous chef at Claridge’s, ranked UK's best hotel

Claridge’s is an iconic five-star hotel in the heart of Mayfair in London – but just what goes into providing guests with such a memorable dining experience?

Working under executive chef Thibault Hauchard, one of the pastry sous chefs is Beatriz Oliveira.

Portuguese Beatriz began working in London in 2019, as pastry commis at The Dorchester, also under Thibault.

She then followed him to Claridge’s in 2022, working her way up from chef de partie, to heading up one of the pastry sections at what has recently been listed as the best hotel in the UK in The World’s Best 50 Hotels 2024 list, ranking 11th overall.

The Staff Canteen spent a day with Beatriz, as she talked through her role and what the team produce at Claridge’s.

WELL-OILED MACHINE

“We are one big pastry team, but we are almost 30 people, so we divide the team into sections,” she explained.

“ArtSpace Café is one section, afternoon tea, banqueting, service, bakers and the breakfast service. So it's a lot of subsections inside the team, because with such a big operation, we need to organise it in a way that is easier for us to manage and to teach as well.

“Each area has a sous chef. It's me and three other sous chefs at the moment in the pastry team.

“Being a pastry sous chef at Claridge’s is quite exciting. There's always a lot to do, a lot of stuff to organise, to create as well, which is amazing.”

She added: “I started as a lower position doing banqueting and then I had the opportunity to do the opening of the Art Café, which was a big challenge for me.

“Chef Thibault keeps pushing us and feeding us with more challenges.”

Discussing what her role entails specifically, Beatriz said: “As a banqueting sous chef, I have a responsibility to create the menus.

“We get a lot of bespoke requests, so I do get to create a lot of bespoke menus, just with the ideas from the guests, which is amazing.

“Then I have my team. Of course we do big functions. Sitting down we can reach 250 guests. Standing, it can go way more than that, to around 400 I think, maybe even a bit more.

“So some weeks are absolutely crazy.”

She added: “One of the things I love the most about my job is that I have a plan of my day, which always changes, which is very exciting.

“We always have a special request or a special guest coming, a special amenity to do, a last-minute email that comes through. We need to accommodate a special menu, because obviously we want to make every guest feel special at Claridge’s, therefore it reflects on the chef's job to accommodate the food to make them feel special as well.”

mentor THIBAULT

As well as Beatriz, pastry sous chefs at Claridge’s are Ling Li, Mi Kyung Jeong and Emilien Lardeux.

They all work under Frenchman Thibault, who started his career at the age of 16 in Normandy. He then moved to Paris and eventually London.

Discussing her working relationship with Thibault, Beatriz said: “Working with chef Thibault is a challenge. Not because he is a difficult chef to work with, he is a very fair chef, very good manager. He's a mentor to me. But he's always feeding me and us with new challenges.

“It’s never the end. There's always something to learn. There's always something to improve. There's always something new coming up with a good challenge.

“That's one of the main reasons I stay motivated, the constant challenge, the constant growth. This is what it means to work with chef Thibault.”

She added: “The biggest thing about working in Claridge’s for me in the pastry is the team spirit we have. Although we are 30, we do work very well together. It is the only way to make the magic happen per se, because if we do not work as a team, it won't be a nice place to work. This is another thing that chef Thibault instigates a lot, the team spirit.

“I absolutely love our team and it feels like I'm coming home when I'm coming to work and that's one of the best things.

“Then another very motivating side of working in Claridge’s is the creativity. I'm free to create, which is an amazing opportunity that doesn't always happen. Claridge’s and with chef Thibault, the sky is not the limit.”

standout success

Reflecting on her achievements in three years of working at Claridge’s, Beatriz said: “My greatest challenge at Claridge’s so far has been opening the Art Café. It was months of preparation and creations, and every week I would present the pastries to chef. We would do a tasting and make notes and the week after we would work on those notes and improve the pastries until we reach the first menu of the Art Café.

“That was a massive challenge where I absolutely loved it. It was amazing. It was a great opportunity for me to be able to work alongside chef Thibault to open the Art Café.”

Of course, the food offering at Claridge’s extends beyond the pastry section. Around 200 afternoon teas are delivered per day, as well as lunch and dinner services.

Asked how closely she works with the other chefs at the hotel, Beatriz said: “Although we are in separate kitchens, the relationship between the pastry and the kitchen is quite good.

“As the sous chefs for example, we try to work together and accommodate, to see the menus together as well, so the flavours go well together. When you finish a meal, you want a dessert that suits the meal you just had.

“We communicate a lot. Every day we have a briefing with all the chefs from all the different departments. If someone has a busier day, we always try to help each other and to be there for each other.”

She added: “Pastry sous chef is a hard job, but a very rewarding job as well.

“There's no way I’m done yet with Claridge’s.”