For Will Goldfarb, dessert is much more than the end of a dinner. Will Goldfarb, who offers dishes far ahead of his time with his signature delicacies and sometimes even ‘incomprehensible’ for this very reason, gained the respect he deserves in 2021 and was named “The World’s Best Pastry Chef” by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants. If life is more about the journey than the destination, Will Goldfarb’s ups and downs is pretty inspiring.

Despite being a New Yorker with a great educational future ahead of him, Will Goldfarb started taking bold steps towards his dreams from day one and dropped out of Law School to study at Le Cordon Bleu in France. He studied with Gerard Mulot in Paris, Fabio Picchi in Florence and Tetsuya Wakuda in Sydney. However, although he returned to New York and found a job easily, his first few experiences were disappointing. At the same time, the El Bulli storm was blowing in Spain. Breaking new ground in the modern kitchen by winning the title of “The Best Restaurant in the World” consecutively between 2006 and 2010, El Bulli caught the attention of Will Goldfarb and had the opportunity to work with Ferran Adrià. This collaboration changed Goldfarb’s view of pastry forever. Adria’s teachings on freedom of thought fostered Will Goldfarb’s creative side and brought with him many unique experiences and the sense of escapism Adrià had taught him on his return to New York after El Bulli.

While his creative side was limitless, guests and journalists weren’t quite ready for the flavors Will Goldfarb served at Papillon, Marimoto and Cru in New York. In particular, one of their technically and theatrically far-reaching desserts, “A Day at the Beach,” was served with a small beach towel in a can containing saffron syrup, saltwater spray, crispy ham pie cream soda, grapefruit jelly, and beer, and critics dismissed their work as contrived. and criticized for being overly stylized. Goldfarb then left the restaurant and reconsidered his career. He was almost on the verge of exiting the restaurant industry entirely.

After a short leave of absence, the opportunity arose to determine the future of Goldfarb. He was asked to create a dessert-only restaurant, and so he founded Room4Dessert. After a successful venture in New York, Goldfarb moved the brand to Indonesia’s tropical paradise Bali in 2014, where it conducted a series of research on local flavors. According to Will Goldfarb, who is seen as one of the most important representatives of “botanical modernism”, the strong bond between people, nature and society brought him to Bali and reshaped his creative thinking. Will Goldfarb, who sees dessert as much more than the end of a meal and constantly impresses him with the effect it creates on his plates, was named “The World’s Best Pastry Chef” by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2021 and received an honor worthy of his journey full of struggles. Pushing the boundaries with the flavors it offers, Goldfarb likes to break the stereotypes and asks a simple question in Room4Dessert: What is dessert?