Aux Merveilleux de Fred, Lille

Frédéric Vaucamps was born in 1963 and lived with his family in the north of France. Aged 14 he began his apprenticeship as a pâtissier and opened his first traditional pâtisserie in Hazebrouck in 1982.

Fifteen years later, he inaugurated his first store in Lille - “Aux Merveilleux de Fred” - on Rue de la Monnaie. It was here that he perfected the Merveilleux recipe for which he has become so renowned: meringue coated in chocolate whipped cream, covered with shavings of dark chocolate.

The chain has since spread as far as Tokyo, Toronto and New York, yet retains four pâtisseries in Lille.