Asked about his stratospheric rise on social media, he says: “That is not life – and life does not change because of that.”
For his first venture in Asia, the French master pâtissier partnered with the Como Group, created by global luxury fashion entrepreneur and luxury hotelier Christina Ong.
A month ago, Grolet convinced the fiercely private and media-shy Ong to clink champagne flutes with him in one of his Instagram videos teasing the opening of the Singapore patisserie and his offerings.
When we meet, Grolet had flown into Singapore from Paris the night before, and is dressed casually in T-shirt, cargo pants and Nike trainers and looking suave and relaxed.
A lot of my creations do not stem from an idea in my mind, but really they came out of 20 or 30 years of my life
When one of his chefs had a meltdown, Grolet told him how excited he was to open this new shop and to have a croissant there. And that immediately put things back in order.
Nevertheless, he admits to being stressed out himself.
“Every time I open a shop, I get nervous and have this worry that no one will come,” he says.
Grolet’s Singapore bakery, near the Orchard Road shopping street, is his fourth worldwide, after the wildly successful Cédric Grolet Le Meurice and Cédric Grolet Opéra in Paris, and Cédric Grolet at The Berkeley in London.
On the first floor of luxury hotel Como Metropolitan Singapore, also known as Como Orchard, Cédric Grolet Singapore occupies 250 square metres (2,700 sq ft) and seats 40 people.
In the intimate and cosy dining area, designed by Paola Navone of Otto Studios, spherical aluminium lamps hang from the high ceiling. Guests sit facing the kitchen and a counter displaying desserts..
The patisserie opens for booking 30 days in advance and all the seats for September have been snapped up already.
Online orders for its click-and-collect service (which allows customers to make purchases online and collect them at the store at a predetermined time) began on August 29.
On the first day alone, 800 pastries were ordered for collection.
Hundreds of Grolet’s Singapore fans have been making a dash for the Lychee and the Dragon Fruit, two never-before-seen trompe l’oeil marvels Grolet has created especially for Asia.
The Dragon Fruit, with its vibrant magenta hue and hand-fashioned scaly spikes, reveals, when cut, a multilayered filling of dragon fruit gel, fresh dragon fruit and passion fruit, and light vanilla ganache.
Other offerings include a Vanilla Bean pastry, Paris Brest Flower and an exotic-looking Mango Ginger Flower.
He tells us a story from when he was six years old, which explains his fascination with fruits and flowers.
“It was Mother’s Day, and I had nothing to offer to my mother. So she told me that I could go freely to the garden and return with a bouquet of flowers, and that this would always work. The flowers and fruits in my shops tell this story of my life,” he says.
Ducasse became Grolet’s close friend and mentor, and has influenced him throughout this career.
“One of the most important pieces of advice from Mr Alain Ducasse is to remain myself and to be who I am,” Grolet says. “So I stay focused on what I’m good at.”
Over the years, he has popularised French patisserie with his artistic interpretations, which blend beauty, precision and exacting standards.
“It is no longer just [about] the recipe or execution, but the right butter from Normandy, flour from Auvergne, the heat of the oven,” Grolet says. That attention to detail extends to the dine-in experience at his patisseries.
Grolet has been praised for the creativity of his pastries, but ask him if he considers himself a success in life and he demurs. “I am first and foremost proud of the fact that I am a happy person, above all else,” he says.
“I am happy because of many small things in life, such as seeing and making people happy. I enjoy spending time with people I love and trust, such as my family and close friends.”
Grolet emphasises that his parents taught him about making time for things, and that this has made all the difference in everything that he does.
“They told me to work hard if I wanted to succeed. They taught me manners, how to respect others and to value relationships.”
He says he considers his work his life, and that the way he approaches making pastries on a daily basis is like actively finding the things that make you happy every day and doing them.
“I’ve wanted to be a pastry chef ever since I was born,” he says, his eyes sparkling. “Pastry makes me happy and I love to make people happy. For that, I give thanks to life, every day.”