Escoffier/Storyline

Escoffier is a famous Fontainian chef. Formerly the head chef of the Hotel Debord, she currently operates a restaurant in the Fleuve Cendre.

Profile

Personality

Escoffier is the owner of an unnamed restaurant that frequently places orders with the Collective of Plenty for Varesa's fruits. She is very strict with the quality of the food she uses and her dishes; she examines her orders meticulously, rejecting it completely if she discovers even just one imperfection in the order.^[5] These standards have resulted in her being extremely strict and gathering a reputation as the "demon chef", with even the tiniest lapse of judgement resulting in a quick and harsh scolding from her.

Despite her ferocity, Escoffier is more considerate to those she sees as her friends, such as Furina, Navia and the Traveler. While still criticizing mistakes, Escoffier takes the time to go over them and directs them in improving their dishes. She also acknowledges talent whenever she sees it, reassuring those under her tutelage that they have the capacity to do better and meet her standards. Much like Xiangling, Escoffier does not stop in creating the perfect dish, taking failures as a moment of reflection to consider what she did wrong and continues to refine it until it meets her standards. Escoffier is also shown to respect Xiangling due to her adventurous spirit, using unorthodox ingredients in her dishes and most notably, showing her that she still had a lot to learn.

Appearance

See also: Sorbet Honey Pie

Escoffier uses the medium female model. She has pale skin, and bluish cyan eyes with pink heart-outlined pupils. She has long, hip-length curled, light ginger hair with a small white chef hat with ruffles and a dark teal ribbon wrapped around the chef hat and a gold heart-shaped metal design and black part with gold rims along with two small teal blue bows. Attached to the bow is her Cryo Vision.

History

Past

In her youth, Escoffier's parents were chefs who had a somewhat modest life. She was enamored by the kitchen and her parents, taking note of her curiosity, would allow her to play in the kitchen. Escoffier would quickly develop her skills in her home kitchen and eventually offered to make her parents dinner, creating a Golden Trinity Roulade. While her parents praised her skill, Escoffier tried it herself once they left and was disappointed by the result.^[6]

Seeking to refine her talent, Escoffier would later find a job as a chef in a simple restaurant in the Vasari Passage, quickly working her way up to a "petit chef." She used the Mora from her job to sample food from other restaurants, memorizing everything down to the roots. Eventually, she learned of the Gateau Debord, and while she had tasted many replicas of the dish, she wanted to try the original even though the chances of doing so were unlikely, begging her parents to at least bring her to the hotel if she couldn't eat the cake herself. While waiting outside the hotel, an exquisite hat fell into her hands, and Escoffier traced down its owner, Navia. In gratitude for returning her hat, Navia offered Escoffier a piece of the cake, though when Escoffier tasted it, she found that it was the same as every other Gateau Debord she had tried.^[7]

After tasting the cake made by the Spina di Rosula, Escoffier set to work creating her own version of the Gateau Debord, which became a massive success across Fontaine. Even Furina heard of it and paid a visit to the restaurant Escoffier was working in. At the time, she did not know about the Archon's visit, but when Furina asked to see the head chef, Escoffier was surprised to see the Archon dining in her restaurant. She immediately prepared a Lily Sugar-Glazed Opera Cake for her, which Furina enjoyed and praised. Escoffier was unable to sleep that night, believing it was a dream, but the following day, Furina sent a letter to her asking her to be her Patissiere Supreme.^[8] Escoffier accepted the request, but as the Palais Mermonia needed a budget to uphold, she had to find a restaurant to make her food. Fortunately, the Hotel Debord offered their services to her. In a friendly cook-off between her and the restaurant's assumed successor, both the previous head chef and successor agreed that Escoffier was best to run the restaurant. Escoffier soon found herself serving both Furina and other upper class Fontainians at the same time. As the hotel's head chef, she was also entrusted Modeste's original cookbook. She soon realized that her talents were peaking and considered resigning, but soon a serious case of lumiline poisoning struck the hotel. Although the case was considered to be rather light and no culprit was found, Escoffier took responsibility and was sent to the Fortress of Meropide to serve her sentence.^[9] In reality, Monica had caused the crisis in order to acquire the cookbook in her possession.^[10] Before she left, she appointed Savanna as her successor.

At the Fortress of Meropide, Escoffier sampled the Coupon Cafeteria's food and found Wriothesley to be a true old-school gentleman.^[11] She also got along well with Sigewinne, sampling her milkshakes despite not enjoying the taste due to how Melusines perceived items.^[12][13] During her stay, both Furina and Navia visited her with a music player. The player gave Escoffier significant inspiration and upon her release from prison, she secluded herself once more to discover a new peak of gastronomic pleasure. In fact, she had secluded herself so long that she was unaware that Furina had stepped down as Archon and no longer lived in the Palais Mermonia.^[14]

Escoffier would later obtain her Vision while acquiring rare ingredients from both Mondstadt and Natlan, having close encounters with the Cryo Hypostasis and multiple Avatars of Lava.^[15] She also met Xiangling, whose unorthodox ingredients and her adventures to obtain them instilled her with a similar mindset.^[16] She also had the Fontaine Research Institute create the Mek Multi-Purpose Gastromek Assembly in order to help her out better in the kitchen.^[17]

Present

Escoffier is first seen in-person during the Whirling Waltz event, serving as the amusement park's head chef. Although the staff's quality was questionable, Escoffier was still able to make elegant food for both the staff and visitors.

During the events of Escoffier's Story Quest, Dulciaria Structura Chapter: Act I - Treasured Above All, Escoffier is prompted to return to the Hotel Debord after Navia asks her to, as the restaurant appeared to be having trouble with Savanna as their head chef. Escoffier confronted Savanna over her attitude, becoming surprised to see how foul-mouthed she had become in her absence. Savanna then challenged Escoffier to a bake-off by creating a Gateau Debord; if she won, she demanded Modeste's original cookbook, while if Escoffier won, she would step down. In the ensuing contest, Escoffier lost and handed the book over, but an aftermath analysis quickly resulted in her discovering that her equipment had been sabotaged at the start. After realizing that Monica was the actual culprit and had sinister motives, Escoffier and the Traveler pursued her to an underwater ruin from Remurian times, finding that she had taken Savanna hostage. At the end of the domain, Monica was shocked to discover that nothing was in the domain and attempted to take Escoffier down with her, but Savanna knocked her out and they left her behind in the collapsing domain. Outside, Escoffier gave Savanna some words of encouragement before demanding a rematch due to the sabotage, which Savanna accepted. Escoffier easily bested Savanna in the rematch and told her that she would not return as a head chef, but as a visitor to ensure the hotel's food was up to her standards.^[18]

Escoffier would later make her way to Nod-Krai and placed a commission with the Curatorium of Secrets. When she arrived, she was surprised to see the Traveler and Paimon, believing they had fallen on hard times. Escoffier revealed that she had visited Nod-Krai to look for a young robot lady to ask her for her recipe for simple pancakes, as they were hard to come by. The Traveler and Paimon told them about Ineffa and her creator Aino. Escoffier was shocked to learn Aino's addiction to sweets and planned to make some less sweet snacks for her to eat. She found the trip productive, as she found both new ingredients and a recipe.

During the Soulblazers' Snowbound Journey, Escoffier was invited by Xiangling to come to Wanmin Restaurant.^[19]

Trivia

Etymology

• Given her role as the owner of a restaurant, Escoffier is most likely named after French chef, restaurateur and culinary writer Auguste Escoffier.
  • Escoffier's idle animation where she sculpts an ice swan is a reference to Auguste Escoffier's first iteration of the Peach Melba dessert, where an ice swan sculpture was used as the container.

References

Navigation

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