He was told repeatedly that baking was not for him. However, the American Will Goldfarb, 49, has become one of the most scrutinized sweet chefs on the planet, far from the Parisian palaces, in the heart of Bali. Crowned World’s Best Pastry Chef 2021 by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and revealed to the general public by the series, the creator of Room4Dessert today embodies the label of visionary pastry chef Will Goldfarb.
Behind this success story, however, the journey is not a straight line. Born in 1975 in Port Washington, New York, Will Goldfarb studied at Duke University before starting over in cooking, then pastry, at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. There, his teachers and chefs did not always believe in him, to the point of advising him to aim for something other than sweets. It is precisely this initial doubt that gives all its strength to his story.
Will Goldfarb, from New York to El Bulli Laboratories
After Paris, Will Goldfarb took up positions in large houses before joining the legendary El Bulli in Spain at the end of the 1990s. Alongside Ferran Adrià and Albert Adrià, he discovered a pastry shop designed as a field of experiments, where we play on textures, temperatures and emotions. This immersion in the avant-garde will have a lasting impact on his way of conceiving dessert.
The pastry chef then moved to Australia and then returned to New York. In 2006, he opened Room4Dessert, a tasting restaurant dedicated solely to dessert, a UFO at the time. Critics are enthusiastic, a nomination for the James Beard Awards is received, the address becomes cult. And then, the dream crumbles: disagreements, financial difficulties, the place closes after just a few years. For Will Goldfarb, it’s a shock and a complete overhaul.
Room4Dessert in Ubud, a manifesto garden in Bali
Exhausted, the chef also faces cancer which forces him to slow down and leave New York. He chose Bali to rebuild himself. In Ubud, he relaunched Room4Dessert in 2014 in a tiny space, before expanding it around a garden of around 3,000 m² where nearly 300 varieties of plants, fruits and spices grow. Each dessert draws directly from this plant-based playground.
Will Goldfarb’s approach then becomes clearer: less sugar, less fat, more plants, a pastry that seeks to be gentler on the body and on the earth. The tasting menu tells a story, from the garden plot to the plate, with vegetable preparations, assumed bitterness, light textures. At the same time, the chef launched the WillPowder brand of technical ingredients and created a small academy around Room4Dessert which trains young Balinese people in dessert professions.
Why Will Goldfarb is hailed as a visionary pastry chef
From 2018, his episode in shows the whole world this radical shift, from New York to Ubud, from Manhattan nightclubs to a tropical garden restaurant. The cameras also follow his way of involving local producers, of experimenting with plant extracts, of constructing a meal composed only of desserts but thought of as a complete journey.
When The World’s 50 Best Restaurants, in partnership with Cacao Barry, awarded him the title of best pastry chef in the world in 2021, the symbol was strong: a chef who had heard that pastry was not for him became a world reference by reinventing it far from the traditional circuits. Today, his work in Ubud inspires a generation of young pastry chefs who see, through his journey, that it is possible to succeed by inventing your own definition of dessert.
Who is Will Goldfarb, visionary pastry chef based in Bali?
Will Goldfarb is an American pastry chef born in 1975, formerly at Le Cordon Bleu and El Bulli, today at the head of Room4Dessert in Ubud, Bali.
Where is Will Goldfarb’s Room4Dessert restaurant?
Room4Dessert is based in Ubud, on the island of Bali in Indonesia, with a restaurant and a large experimental garden dedicated to plants used in dessert.
Why is Will Goldfarb considered a visionary pastry chef?
He imagined a 100% dessert restaurant, a very plant-based and low-sweet pastry, backed by a regenerative garden, and was elected World’s Best Pastry Chef 2021.
What role did El Bulli and the Chef’s Table series play in his career?
El Bulli formed his experimental vision of dessert, while the 2018 series brought his work to a global audience.
