Winner of Iron Chef Thailand Pastry Edition, James Beard Nominated Author, Jason Licker, is pushing pastry to another level. His passion for pastry, life and travel has taken him across the globe for a true culinary experience. His first internship was at Union Square Café in New York while training at the French Culinary Institute’s Pastry Arts Program. Offering to work for free at first, Jason earned a pastry cook position in the world renown Jean Georges Restaurant, an experience which prepared him for his first Pastry Chef position at Metrazur for Charlie Palmer at the age of 23. Jason, then opened the The Shore Club in Miami Beach, where he was promoted to Executive Pastry Chef, overseeing all Food and Beverage Outlets including Nobu Miami Beach, where Jason was first exposed to Asian Cuisine.
Jason utilizes sweet, salty, sour and bitter, while combining textural contrasts and temperature difference, to create his own style of Asian inspired, palate-challenging pastry. In 2004, as Executive Pastry Chef of The Peninsula New York, Starchefs.com named him a Rising Star Chef. Jason left the United States for a life and series of professional adventure in Asia helming Executive Pastry Chef positions at The Westin Bund in Shanghai, The Venetian Macau Hotel and Resort, The JW Marriott Hong Kong and was the former Corporate Pastry Chef of Cé La Vi restaurants (Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore). With over twenty years cooking including twelve years in Asia, Jason is debuting his greatest achievement, his first cookbook, Lickerland: Asian-Accented Desserts by Jason Licker, which was the only self-published cookbook nominated for a James Beard Award in 2017. Lickerland was also named #2 Asian Cookbook in the world, at The World Gourmand Cookbook Awards in May 2018, in Yantai, China. Jason released his second self-published book, “Baking With Licker,” fusing his love for home baking with his passion for Asian ingredients.
