Meet Hippolyte Adounvo
Pastry Chef
Certain places inspire and make one grow. For Hippolyte Adounvo, it was the Royal Teas in Lagos (Nigeria), where he began working as a pastry cook at the age of 22 (1994) and by 2005 had become the Executive Pastry Chef!
- Insatiable curiosity and multiple talents
- Certain places inspire and make one grow. For Hippolyte Adounvo, it was the Royal Teas in Lagos (Nigeria), where he began working as a pastry cook at the age of 22 (1994) and by 2005 had become the Executive Pastry Chef!
He found his calling in life the day his father taught him that every meal should end with a light dessert! He was still just a boy, but he already knew the path his life would take!
Ten years later (1991), he began work as an apprentice at the Sheraton hotel in Cotonou (Benin) where his father was the Maitre d’; at the age of 21 (1993) and with his CAP (vocational training certificate) in pastry making in hand, he was put in charge of making the Viennese pastries.
In 1994, he joined the team at the Royal Teas, which Saada Elias Moussalli had just opened in Lagos. This impassioned woman had but a single motto: “Pleasure to receive is pleasure to serve”, which Hippolyte quickly adopted because “a satisfied customer is a returning customer!”
Saada Elias Moussalli also wanted her establishment to become “the Fauchon*” of Africa. Courageous, ambitious and enthusiastic, the young pastry chef thus made several trips to France, where he took an impressive number of practical training courses taught by renowned professionals. Confections & macaroons; puff pastries, meat pies & quiche; sweet & savory Viennese pastries; traditional French breads; French cooking techniques and their application…
His thirst for learning was unquenchable!
He even took a side trip to Italy to learn all about glazed desserts!
His goal: to introduce a new dessert culture to Nigeria by offering innovative creations uniting Europe and Africa (ex: chocolate mousse with bananas!).
Today, as the Executive Chef of all the Royal Tea establishments (the Chocolate Royal delicatessen and the Café Royal and Métisse restaurants), Hippolyte manages his team of 70 people with virtuosity in the bakery, patisserie, chocolate, ice cream and kitchen departments!
What’s more, Chocolat Royal is considered the best patisserie in Nigeria, and it’s rumored that Hippolyte Adounvo’s Brownie Cheesecake has a lot to do with this! “It’s a crunchy dessert, rich in chocolate and accompanied by a silky smooth cream—it’s absolutely delicious!” he unabashedly confesses!
Strengthened by his success, Hippolyte Adounvo is now thinking of sharing his experience with others: “I wish to train a new generation of African pastry chefs and also catch up in this culinary field.”
To accomplish this, he envisions creating a training and development center for pastry & chocolate making in West Africa.
*a French gourmet delicatessen