Glen Sharman’s rise in modern French pâtisserie

around strawberries. It’s become a tradition here, guests look forward to it, and the team does too, but with a bit of nervous excitement. It started off quite simple, and over the years it’s evolved and evolved. First, it was just the set custard, then we added a marshmallow element, then a gel, then another texture.

“Before you know it, it’s got 14 elements on the plate. But that’s part of the challenge and the joy, refining something year after year, seeing how far we can take a flavour that everyone knows, and still surprise them. It’s one of those dishes that says: spring is here, and so are we.”

Adapting World Cup-level complexity into a restaurant setting

Glen also spoke to The Staff Canteen about his experience crafting a dish at the Pastry World Cup. He added: “When I competed at the World Cup, I created a dessert with raspberry, sakura and vanilla – it was visually complex, shaped like a butterfly, and it took a lot of time to execute. Stunning for a competition, but not something you can roll out for 70 covers a night without losing your mind. So when I came back to Le Manoir, I wanted to take the essence of those flavours, that delicate, floral sweetness paired with a little acidity, and translate them into a pre-dessert. It’s not the same dish, of course, but it’s got that DNA.

“It’s a nice way of bringing something new to guests, while staying rooted in something personal. Like something new, something old… almost like a wedding.”

the hidden, heartfelt layers within his dishes

Glen explained: “Inside the raspberry and sakura dish, there’s a rice pudding – but it’s not just any rice pudding. It’s Benoit’s mum’s recipe. And we’ve been making that rice pudding for years at the Manoir. It’s familiar, it’s comforting. So that dish becomes this really layered thing – you’ve got this very polished exterior, light and elegant, and then inside is something deeply nostalgic. There’s meaning tucked inside it. That’s what I love – building dishes that taste incredible, but also tell a story or have a personal connection. It’s those little details that make something truly special.”

the discipline of sugar work at a world-class level

He also mentioned the technical difficulty on working with sugar, adding: “I got into sugar work a few years ago, mainly through Jamie Houghton, who’s now head pastry chef at The French Laundry. We worked together here and became good friends. I really started going deep into sugar ahead of the UK Open and then the World Cup, and I mean properly deep. I was training until 4am, every night, doing crazy structures, melting and pulling sugar, trying to get it perfect.

“I trained with some of the top sugar guys in London – the best of the best. But the thing with sugar is, it doesn’t care how tired you are. You burn yourself, you lose skin, you’re there for hours just to get one component right. It’s painful, physically and mentally, but when it works, it’s magic. There’s nothing like it.”

written by Abi Kinsella