Pret-a-Portea is both beautiful and delicious.
London has no shortage of amazing places for enjoying afternoon tea but the one I return to time after time is the Pret-a-Portea at the Berkeley, where Executive Pastry Chef Mourad Khiat creates gorgeous pastries based on the season’s hottest runway looks.
Like most traditional afternoon teas, Pret-a-Portea includes a variety of finger sandwiches and a choice of teas from an extensive menu. But then, with a glint in their eye, your server brings you a three-tiered tray of Chef Mourad’s eye-popping sweet treats that are anything but traditional. And the party begins.
The undisputed stars of the show, the fashion forward desserts – this season featuring Insta-worthy creations including a Moschino-inspired banana and passion fruit set on a Sable Breton biscuit and topped with a meringue flamingo – are a joy to behold and to savor. It’s impossible not to smile throughout this experience, as evidenced by the guests at every table. The mood is lighthearted but sophisticated and it’s fun to watch everyone “ooh”-ing and “ahh”-ing over the pastries, taking photos and struggling between their desire to bite into them and not wanting to ruin the beautiful pieces of edible art.
Because it’s been almost a decade since I first interviewed Chef Mourad, I decided it was time to catch up — mainly to remind him I’m still hoping for a San Diego pop-up. Here’s what he had to say about his unique runway-to-table concept:
You’ve been doing Pret-a-Portea for 34 seasons now. How has it changed since the beginning?
Like anything, it has evolved! Looking back at early collections makes me forever proud but also amazed at how far we’ve come with the level of detail in each cake.
Were the fashion designers onboard with the idea of Pret-a-Portea from the beginning? What has their reaction been?
The designers are great and when they learn they’ve been featured in a Pret-a-Portea collection you can really tell they see it as a badge of honor, whether it’s Jeremy Scott from Moschino or Harris Reed posting their cakes on Instagram, Anya Hindmarch and Stephen Jones coming to Pret-a-Portea proudly holding what we’ve made in homage to them, and a recent favorite was Michael Halpern of Halpern. He came to see his cake – a sharing showstopper emulating one of his gowns – and loved it so much he brought back his whole family who was in town from the States. These are such special moments.
Tell us a little about the inspiration behind a collection. Do you personally go to the runway shows?
I’ve been known to sketch from the front row and, of course, these have been particularly standout memories for me! But we also spend time trawling through the collections online: Ready To Wear, Couture, Resort … the lot. And of course, we may see a look from a show go viral on Instagram and very much take note for next season.
How do you choose which specific pieces you’re going to include?
We always look for new trends, an excellent shoe or standout bag. And we specifically mix the big established brands with next gen labels. This is really important to us, not only to show support for smaller brands but to introduce our fashionista guests to them.
Executive Pastry Chef Mourad Khiat
What is the creative process like for Pret-a-Portea?
We’ll select the cakes based on the representation of the catwalk look, and how they sit together as a whole collection color, shape and height wise. From there, of course, it’s all about taste, taste, taste. We’ll pull out the colors and ensure the flavors reflect them – a red gown cake in the summer must be strawberry, for example, or we’ll use seasonal autumnal fruits for the collection we launch in October. And there is always a chocolate cake and a biscuit – those are non-negotiable!
How far ahead do you plan a collection?
We plan a collection three months ahead and are perfecting the looks up to the final few days before we launch – rather like a fashion collection!
Of all the pieces you’ve replicated, what have been some of your personal favorites?
When we partnered with Dior to do an entire collection dedicated to the brand to coincide with their major exhibit at the V&A, the Bar jacket and the Cannage handbag were the two most iconic designs. I loved the pattern of the handbag and the fact that Christian Dior got the inspiration from the rattan caning that exploded in the mid-18th century and was synonymous with furniture design throughout Western Europe during the reign of Louis XV. What a fabulous backstory!
And the Jacquemus Le Petit Chiquito – the world’s smallest designer handbag – was a blast! The Berkeley bought one and we measured it to the millimeter, ensuring our cake was exactly to scale. The team in The Collins Room would take the bag around to all the guests to show them it in comparison to the cake, which of course went down very well. Then we saw a flurry of guests bring their own Chiquitos to tea. It led to some great Instagram moments.
Are there pieces you wanted to do that just didn’t work?
I remember the collections of Prada S/S 2012 and Jean Paul Gautier A/W 2015 – there were BEAUTIFUL dresses featuring a lot of patterns. They were just too difficult to interpret.
Yes, this Moschino-inspired mousse tastes as good as it looks!
Can you share some thoughts about the specific pieces in the current collection?
We’re just about to say goodbye to the current collection to make way for Autumn/ Winter, but it’s been a great season and the guests have really responded to it. I love the playfulness of the Moschino cake and the interpretation of the Loewe design as a chocolate and coffee caramel cake complete with an edible Anthurium chocolate flower. That dress was a viral sensation — we just HAD to do it!
Tell us about the extra little touches guests can expect at Pret-a-Portea.
Every guest is presented with a little magazine tucked in their napkin on arrival titled, The Front Row. This is where we show guests the catwalk looks that inspired the cakes so they can compare and contrast, but we also fill it with additional fashion editorials – our show of the season, the accessory of the moment and more. We put so much into every detail of this afternoon tea and seeing guests take the magazines home along with our beautiful lilac hatboxes filled with cakes if they can’t squeeze them in whilst with us at The Berkeley … well, those sights make this the best job in the world.
How do you see Pret-a-Portea evolving in the future?
We will continue to be utterly and entirely dedicated to fashion and delivering our guests epic, whimsical, fun, delicious collections. When guests get their phones out to take photos, you know you’ve done something right. We’ve done a Pret-a-Portea book, we’ve delivered to Vogue House more times than I can count and, yes, we’ve taken it around the world. Bergdorf’s was a favourite.
I’ve got my fingers crossed for a San Diego pop up.
There’s always room for more travel!
It would be also be amazing if you could create a collection around Taylor Swift’s Eras tour costumes when she comes to London next year. What do you think?!
Yes, there are certainly some Swifties in the building. We will see!
Are there any iconic pieces you still want to do?
Anything by Alexander McQueen. He was a genius, and his legacy continues. Watch this space for the Autumn Winter collection …