Dessert First

Return from Hong Kong: Family, Food, and a Really Good Tart

Hello dear readers, I'm back from Hong Kong! I apologize that this won't be as comprehensive a travelogue as some of my other reports: a host of family obligations kept me from playing tourist as much as I wanted to. Here are a couple of shots I managed to capture:

Cool blue entrance into Hong Kong while on the airport express

View from my parents' apartment- yup, that is the full moon up there!

They don't do anything by halves in HK - new Coach store going up

Bet you'll never see these in the US - even Mrs. Field's is making mooncakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival!

Very exciting - I saw my book in a local bookstore! Field Guide to Cookies is international!

Honestly, though, I have to admit I don't have a ton of photos of sweets, because Hong Kong retail in general tends to frown on picture-taking. I think there is a fear of designs and ideas being stolen and copied, so even if you just want to document the cool-looking bakery display, you may be told by an employee that no photos are allowed. "Touristy" photographing of landmarks, scenery, etc, is acceptable, but I guess trying to get a close-up shot of a cake in the window means you're an industrial spy. I got to visit a handful of dessert places during my trip, but unfortunately not a lot of pictures as proof. My surreptitious-snapping skills weren't set on high this time:)

One place that didn't seem to have any qualms about my snapping away, and coincidentally one of my favorite finds, was Zoë, a chic, light-filled little cafe filled with perfectly presented pastries. The offerings are unbashedly European in flavor and styling: precisely layered chocolate mousse cakes, crisp, fruit-topped tartlets, velvety white cheesecakes. I went with a sweet friend I'd met through this blog, a HK resident and fellow dessert fanatic. When I expressed concern that she hadn't had time to eat lunch before meeting at Zoë, she reassured me, "I can eat dessert for lunch anyday." That's my kind of girl!

Between the two of us, we devoured four pastries with lychee tea - a very model of Hong Kong tea-time.

Clockwise from top left: Zoë's signature Zoë cake, a cute little square of hazelnut mousse on a crunchy cookie base; a slice of banana cream "pie", the 1459, Zoë's version of millefeuille, with satisfyingly flaky puff pastry layers sandwiching pasty cream, and cherry-chocolate mousse cake, which surprised me the most since most Hong Kongers I've met don't seem to be very fond of alcohol-soaked cherries.

Zoë is considered spendy by Hong Kong standards; each one of those lovelies cost about $4.50, which doesn't seem too bad to me, but I suppose I wouldn't be buying one every day (this would be out of concern for my waistline too!) They are also on the petite side - my mom complained that my dad would scarf one of these down in mere seconds (hmm, does he even do that with my pastries?:) ) The thing is, in Hong Kong, there is just so much to choose from - I've mentioned to many people that Hong Kongers are really spoiled for choice. I mean, look at this display from a Hong Kong Beard Papa store (a cream puff chain):

There's about twelve different choices in there - in all the SF Beard Papa stores I've been to, there's typically 3 varieties!! And you can't really make out the labels, but they've got varieties like strawberry cream, and mint chocolate, and chestnut, and even summer peach; "seasonal specials" are very big in Hong Kong, to draw customers back into stores. I love it when my mom comes to visit me in the US and she says things like, "Why do the bakeries have the same stuff as the last time I came? Don't they come up with anything new?" Well yes, but certainly not at the pace that Hong Kong does.

Bakeries are also so ubiquitous in Hong Kong and generally the quality ranges from acceptable to quite good. Maxim's and St-Honoré, two of the biggest bakery chains in Hong Kong, seem to have outposts at just about every subway stop and street, kind of like Starbucks. But imagine if Starbucks carried freshly baked breads and delicate, fancy-patisserie-like cakes, and they were only a couple dollars each? Makes it really easy to grab dessert on the way home from work - so posher places like Zoë do have to work a little harder to justify their higher prices.

In my opinion, Zoë is worth the price, and the visit. The quality was uniformly excellent, and the flavors understated but pure. Another interesting cultural note is that Hong Kong natives definitely prefer lighter desserts: I can't count how many times I was told, "American desserts are so heavy and so sweet! Can't you reduce the sugar?" From all the lovely baking blogs I know and visit, I can say that desserts definitely come in all forms and levels in the good old US (hurray!). But I guess I can see how stereotypes of our sweet preferences can be formed, especially if you look at mass advertising: foot-high wedges of chocolate cake covered in caramel goo, ice cream sundaes drowning in nuts and fudge, pies garnished with a tub's worth of whipped cream, cookies the size of a small child's head. I'd like to advise the good residents of Hong Kong to take a look at food blogs out there to see desserts the rest of us are really eating!

It is true, though, that Zoë's desserts are very light, although by no means lacking in flavor. The Zoe hazelnut mousse was positively cloudlike, very, very delicate, and very refreshing: no heaviness or gumminess at all, and very nice against a crisp chocolate base. Similarly for the cherry-chocolate cake, which looked like a version of black forest cake, but a pared-down, minimalist version - a perfectly edited bite. My favorite was the banana cream pie, which was a revelation. I have to admit I'm not a big banana fan (apologies to Tartelette, I realize she's made a similar confession not long ago!) and I always shied away from banana cream pie, because, well, it had bananas, and because it just seemed like a big pile of cream and goo.

Another amusing sidenote: my mom and I bought this cake at another bakery that was supposed to be this wonderfully light and ethereal sponge cake. Well, the sponge cake wasn't bad, but it was literally covered all around with about 3 inches of whipped cream - rather unusual excess in Hong Kong. I found my mom in our kitchen industriously scraping off all the cream from the cake before she would eat it:)

So I was curious to see how Hong Kong had adapted this very American dessert. It's actually more of a tart than a pie: you can see the neat edge of the tart shell in the photo, which definitely gives it a sophisticated French flair. Then, a layer of chocolate ganache on the bottom, followed by a very thin layer of bananas - I couldn't even tell on first bite if there were any banana slices, but there were. I was trying to figure why I could taste so much banana flavor, and I realized that the topping was also flavored with banana - quite clever! Instead of the typical pastry cream filling followed by whipped cream topping, I think they turned it into one banana-infused cream layer, which is much lighter and more to local tastes.

I certainly liked it; I preferred the way the bananas were integrated into the cream so I could taste it without having to deal with the thick texture of the fruit. I loved how it captured the essence of the dessert in a sleek and streamlined form.

So, Zoë, I promise I'll buy more banana cream tarts from you next time I visit, but while I'm stuck back here in the US, I'm just going to have to try and make my own version. I'm not sure it's an exact duplicate, but it has a wonderfully crumbly pate sablee crust spread with a dark chocolate ganache. On top, a sprinkling of banana slices, and then a wonderfully fragrant pastry cream laced with bananas, and lightened with whipped cream to delicate softness. I can also add it was such joy experimenting in a new big kitchen: the last weekend spent puttering about with tart crusts and pastry cream in my new place was a wonderful memory-making - and hopefully there'll be more to come.

freshly baked tart shells filled with ganache  - I know, I hardly ever do in-progress shots, but I had the luxury of all day to put these guys together, so why not!

Placing a layer of banana slices in the shells - you can place more depending on your banana preferences.

finale - a bite of bliss

Two last things before I go - I was asked to compile a list of my favorite dessert blogs for Blogs.com, and here it is - take a look and see what my choices are!

Also, I'm going to be at BlogHer Food 2009 this Saturday - I"m SO excited I got a chance to go. If you're going to be there, do let me know - I'd love to meet you!

Banana Cream Tarts

makes (6) 5" tarts

Banana Pastry Cream

1 cup milk

5 tablespoons sugar

3 large egg yolks

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 small banana, ripe (you can use from 1/2 to all of the banana, depending on size and how much banana flavor you want)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

 

Pate Sablee (adapted from Dorie Greenspan)

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

9 tablespoons (4 1/2 ounces) very cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 large egg yolk

 

Chocolate Ganache

4 ounces dark (62%-70%) chocolate, roughly chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

 

2 bananas, ripe

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

 

For the banana pastry cream: Combine 3/4 cup milk and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a saucepan. Heat just until the milk starts to bubble at the edges.

Meanwhille, whisk the remaining sugar and the egg yolks together in a medium bowl. Whisk the cornstarch and remaining milk together in another bowl and add to the egg yolk mixture.

When the milk has started to bubble, pour it in a steady stream into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from scrambling.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and return to the stove, cooking over medium heat and whisking constantly, until it thickens and comes to a boil. Stir in vanilla and remove from heat.

Let pastry cream cool while you cut up the banana. Puree with the lemon juice in a food processor until smooth.

Fold the banana puree into the pastry cream. You can now press a piece of plastic wrap to the surface of the cream and place in the refrigerator to chill.

For the tart shells: Combine flour, confectioner's sugar, and salt in bowl of a food processor and combine.

Add in cold butter and process until pea-sized lumps of dough form - do not overprocess into a ball of dough. It should be loose and crumbly.

Add in egg yolk and process until dough starts to come together. Turn the dough out of the bowl onto a work surface and lightly press together into a ball - if it's too loose, you can process a little more, but don't do too much - you want to work this dough as little as possible to have a light and crumbly texture.

Butter one 9-inch tart pan or six 5-inch tart pans - ones with removable bottoms work best. Carefully press the dough into the pans, working it over the bottom and up the sides. Again, try not to overwork the dough - press gently and work as quickly as possible.

Chill shells in freezer for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Usually recipes for these tart doughs involve lining the shells with pie weights. If you like doing this or have fears of burning your shells, go ahead. However, I've never had issues with just baking the shells as is - I check them halfway through and if the shells are puffing up too much I just press them down with a dough tamper or wooden spoon.

Bake shells for 15 minutes, then rotate and bake another 10-18 minutes until they are golden brown and fully baked.

Let cool on wire rack before filling.

For the ganache: Place chocolate in a medium bowl.

Heat cream in saucepan on stove over medium heat until the edges start to bubble.

Pour cream over chocolate and let stand for a minute. Stir with a wooden spoon to combine the two into a smooth mixture.

Spread a layer of ganache on the bottom of each tart shell and let cool and set. It doesn't have to set all the way, but it should be slightly firm to avoid mixing with the pastry cream.

Cut the bananas into thin slices, about 1/4" thick, and spread in a layer over the ganache.

Remove the pastry cream from the refrigerator and beat or stir with a spoon to loosen it up.

Whip the cream in a stand mixer until soft peaks form.

Fold the whipped cream gently into the pastry cream until fully incorporated.

Spread the banana pastry cream into the shells and smooth the surfaces with an offset spatula.

Chill in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes to set before serving. You can decorate the top with chocolate curls if you like.

 

Back from Asia - and a Book Event!

Hi all! I've just returned from a wonderful, entirely too-short trip to Hong Kong to visit my family and Japan for a little adventuring. I wish I could have stayed for much longer: I always feel like just as I've settled comfortably back into a routine with my sisters and parents, I have to leave them again. Not to mention that departing from two cities known globally as food meccas always makes my stomach shed a tear. I already am rifling hourly through memories of my culinary experiences: charcoal cookies with black sesame cream, pale green wasabi ice cream, maguro freshly cut from the fish moments before, Peking duck at a Michelin two-star, eggettes eaten steaming hot in the street, and macarons everywhere - in Hong Kong!

It appears the macaron craze is not confined to Paris or the blogging world. Hong Kong has definitely embraced the French delicacy, and macarons of all hues and flavors are showing in little boutique bakeries that look like they could belong on a chic Parisian boulevard. Check out these utterly adorable cow macarons made for the coming Chinese New Year (Year of the Ox, natch!)

I'm eager to share some more about my trip, but it's taking me a while to sort through my filled-full camera memory cards. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy a few shots I took while I was traveling through Wakayama, Osaka, and Kobe in Japan:

It actually snowed! Just a gentle fairy-dusting of white, but magical nonetheless.

Lobster two ways: first sashimi, then cooked into an uber-tasty broth.

Omikuji, Japanese fortune telling strips, at a shrine.

Fresh hot red bean manju - perfect on a frosty afternoon.

So many more pictures - I'm looking forward to sharing more soon! However, right now I'm eager to also share with you an event I'm doing for my book, Field Guide to Cookies. (It's also the reason I couldn't stay longer in Asia!)

I'll be speaking about Field Guide to Cookies (and serving some cookies) at Omnivore Books in San Francisco this Saturday, January 24, from 3 to 4 PM. If you haven't been to Omnivore and you're in any way a foodie, you must! A store dedicated only to books on food, you'll find all manner of cookbooks and food literature, many of them old and hard-to-find. Celia Sack, the owner, has long specialized in antiquarian books, especially cookbooks. Now her rare, precious finds can be browsed by any curious food lover. I'm honored that Omnivore Books is carrying my book and I'm pleased to be speaking there this Saturday! If you're in town, please do stop by!

Omnivore Books
3885a Cesar Chavez Street
San Francisco, CA 94131

Link to the event on their page

 

See you there - and Happy Chinese New Year!

Weekend in Carmel

This post took me quite a while to put together, mainly because I was sifting through vacation photos, and we all know how long that can take. A couple weeks ago, I went down to Monterey for the weekend, and I wanted to share my adventures there. The problem was, choosing from all the photos I took became a week-long endeavor!

Anyway, I love the California coast because it's so easy to drive even an hour and be somewhere completely different - totally new scenery, climate - even the air smells different. We decided that a little escape from the urban claustrophobia of San Francisco (also: San Francisco gets downright cold in summer!) for some more wide-open spaces and sunnier skies down south. So on an overcast Friday morning, we hopped in the car and made the hour-and-half drive down to the Monterey Peninsula.

 

Our first stop once we arrived, in true foodie style, was for lunch! We went the to Red House Cafe, a little restaurant in Pacific Grove that embodies down-homeyness to a T.

Potato leek soup. Warm and cozy, perfect eaten on the porch of the cafe after a long drive down from San Francisco.

 

For dessert, we could choose from a vast array of pies, puddings, cakes, and cookies. I went for the special of the day, a peach and blueberry clafouti. More on this later.

 

Seen in Pacific Grove: quirky and lovely, just like the town.

We took a stroll along Asilomar Beach, which is at the edge of Pacific Grove. This is typical scenery at Monterey and Carmel: overcast, chilly, the sky a pale blank and the sea a sullen grey, the rocks artistically rugged and foreboding. Whether in good or bad weather, the California coast has never been soft or gentle, but a challenging, rough-hewn feast for the eyes.

 

If you are in Asilomar, do stop by the Asilomar Conference Grounds, a sprawling retreat designed by storied architect Julia Morgan. The numerous buildings and halls scattered in carefully planned nonchalance among the pines and sand dunes are done in the classic Arts and Crafts style - gorgeously erected and detailed, sometimes eccentrically so, as you can see below:

We stayed at the Tickle Pink Inn, which is nestled in the Carmel Highlands and enjoys a view of the ocean and coves. I took this the next morning, before the fog had burned off: the mist-softened landscape and hypnotic crashing of the waves gave the scene an unworldly serenity. I'm sure all the inns and hotels in this area all boast of fabulous views, so really, all I recommend is that if you haven't visited Monterey or Carmel or Big Sur, do so because it's such an all-encompassing sensory experience. Although I did enjoy the Tickle Pink Inn very much - and who can resist the name?

 

Here's a friendly gull who liked to perch on our balcony railing. He would drop by to visit several times during our stay.

Passionfish is a restaurant passionately dedicated to serving sustainable seafood, and in Monterey, one of the epicenters of the sustainable seafood movement, there seemed no better place to dine our first night. The dining room is unprentiously elegant, the service intelligent and friendly. My hand-lined mahi in a black pepper-rum sauce was richly piquant, and dessert was equally satisfying: a white peach cobbler.

We went up to Carmel the next morning. Looks just like Hawaii, doesn't it? Except for that massive fog bank hanging off the coast. This shot isn't particularly well framed, but I like it because I notice you can see little stories going on with the people: You can see a couple strolling down the beach, a little girl running back to her mother with her father trailing behind, and off in the corner, a woman playing with her dogs. Isn't it cute?

Carmel Beach has some Hawaii-worthy white sands, and is also dog-friendly: here are a couple of canine buddies having some fun in the surf.

After the beach, we made a beeline for Patisserie Boissiere in Carmel-by-the-Sea, a classic French bistro that also offers up fabulous pastries, Paris style. Their strawberry triangle is a flaky delight of puff pastry, pastry cream, and fresh fruit, and their banana chocolate cream tart was a sophisticated take on banana cream pie. This place is also perfect for picking up a lunch to enjoy al fresco down the the coast.

We continued our drive down the coast towards Big Sur. When the sun is out, the waters turn the most gorgeous shades of turquoise, cerulean, and jade.

These have to be some of the luckiest cows ever: grazing with a view.

We made it as far down the coast as McWay Falls, one of the most famed sights in Big Sur. This 80-ft high ribbon of water is actually a tidefall, as it empties directly into the ocean. This is about as close as you can get to this transcendentally beautiful cove; public access is prohibited, ensuring that this view will remain untrammeled by the touch of humans.

This is the view of the Pacific from the Post Ranch Inn, a ridiculously sybaritic hotel perched on the edge of the Big Sur cliffs. Sadly, we did not get to stay here, but we did venture onto the property to see what the fuss was all about. And I have to admit that in a weekend full of gorgeous views, these were far and away some of the most stunning.

Standing tiptoe on the edge of the continent, I am reminded of the poem Blackberrying by Sylvia Plath:

The only thing to come now is the sea.
From between two hills a sudden wind funnels at me,
Slapping its phantom laundry in my face.
These hills are too green and sweet to have tasted salt.
I follow the sheep path between them. A last hook brings me
To the hills' northern face, and the face is orange rock
That looks out on nothing, nothing but a great space
Of white and pewter lights, and a din like silversmiths
Beating and beating at an intractable metal.

Magic hour.

This view (as well as the one above) were from our room balcony. I love how you can see the lights going on in some of the homes; it looks so lush and dreamlike, like cottages in a Hansel and Gretel forest.

Here's our gull friend again, admiring the sunset as well. Imagine! He gets to see this view every day, for free!

On our way back north the next day, we stopped by Santa Cruz, a true bohemian laid-back surfer town, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in all its glorious childish cheesiness. The west coast has never had as many of these amusement-parks-by-the-sea as the east, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is one of the few remaining ones today. The Boardwalk is celebrating its centennial, and the city has clearly done a very thorough job of polishing up the place, which may be why it looked so much shinier and spiffier than in my childhood memories.

Summer vacation was clearly in full swing when we arrived: families waited in line for the big old wooden rollercoaster or the log water ride; teenagers in swimsuits ran down to the golden beach or headed for the arcades, the smells of cotton candy, hot dogs, and grilled corn wafted our way, and our ears were filled with the cacaphony of happy people out enjoying themselves.

Notice a pirate theme in our vacation? This was one of those pendulum-style rides where you're slowly swung back and forth and finally in a full circle. I didn't go on this ride, since it makes me rather queasy.

Although you can probably guess which ride I did go on:

It's amazing to me that in the space of a weekend you can experience so many different places, all within a few hours of each other. I don't know if this qualifies as a "stay-cation", as the buzzwords seems to be, but if it is, it doesn't seem to terrible to stay at home!

One of my favorite desserts from the weekend was the peach blueberry clafouti from Red House Cafe, and once I got home I couldn't wait to replicate it. I think I got carried away and put too much fruit in there, but with peaches at their bursting-sweet ripeness I couldn't help myself. Combined with the tartness of the blueness and the creamy, vanilla bean-flecked custard, this makes for one sweet summer memory.

Peach Blueberry Clafouti

makes one 9-in clafouti or (2) 5-in clafoutis

2 ripe peaches

3/4 cup blueberries

2+6 tablespoons sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

3 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a 9-in baking dish or pie plate, or individual dishes, and place on a baking sheet.

Wash and peel the peaches, and cut into small wedges. Combine the peaches and blueberries and 2 tablespoons sugar in a bowl and let macerate for about 15 minutes.

Whisk the remaining sugar and eggs together in a mixing bowl.

Add in the milk and whisk until combined.

Sift the flour over the mixture and whisk until combined.

Whisk in the vanilla bean paste.

Spread the fruit over the bottom of the dish. A single layer is fine; don't put too much fruit in or you'll overwhelm the batter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, just covering the fruit.

Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes (if you are making individual dishes, be sure to check halfway through to see if they are baking faster) until the batter looks puffed and golden and is set in the center.

Let clafouti cool for about 10 minutes out of the oven before serving. You can also serve at room temperature - it will keep for about 12 hours.

 

The Sweet Side of New York

I've been trying to pull together a report on New York City all week, and finally came to the conclusion that I'd have to split in two -there's just too much to talk about!

Here, then, the first part: a report of all the sweet spots I visited during my time in the city. I mentioned in an earlier post that this trip pushed my sugar-ingesting capabilities to the limit - it's hard to rein in indulgence in a place where temptations are not only omnipresent but of the quality and caliber that earns them the label, "Only in New York." When there are so many wonderful places to try and desserts to taste, made by some of the most talented people in the industry, restraint and prudence and skinny jeans all get pushed to the side.

I made it through four consecutive nights of multi-course dessert tastings, experiencing the dazzling spectrum of pastry in New York, from classic French to globally inspired to avant-garde. I also visited enough bakeries, chocolate shops, and candy stores during the day to fill one of my suitcases for the trip home. Although I came perilously close to sugar shock, my only real regret is that I couldn't stay longer to try all the other places I missed out on!

As a note, for all the restaurants below, I did not have a full dinner at any other them, choosing to focus my attention (and appetite) on the desserts. I also, unfortunately, don't have many pictures of the desserts I tasted either, out of consideration of the low light conditions of most of the places. I do hope my descriptions will help you envision the creations I tasted - or entice you to try them yourself!
 

Chanterelle

Dining at Chanterelle is like having dinner with an old friend - one with impeccable taste and style. Chanterelle is a New York fixture, and its history shows; from the moment you step in the door you are treated with an effortless grace and surety that comes from long experience. The dining room is classy and refined - warm-lit walls, high ceilings, sweeping flower arrangements - but the atmosphere is  intimate and cozy, never snooty. Chanterelle is, of course, home of Kate Zuckerman's desserts and I was thrilled to finally get a chance to taste what her desserts were like made out of her pastry kitchen.

Favorites: I was thrilled to find so many of Kate's creations from The Sweet Life on the menu. Her Madagascar Vanilla and Brown Butter Cake, which has been embraced by many a blogger, is a slice of warm buttery bliss, with a tantalizing crisp exterior giving way to a soft, velvety vanilla center - divine, especially with the crème fraîche ice cream. The Goat Cheesecake in Hazelnut Brittle also made an appearance  - about as far from the traditional New York cheesecake as you can get, her refined rendition is almost soufflé-light, the slight tang of goat cheese set off by the sweetly crunchy hazelnuts and a piquant marmaladed kumquat sorbet. My other favorite was a coconut-cardamom rice pudding packaged in a crispy wrapper like a bonbon, drizzled with rose syrup, with a scoop of pistachio ice cream nestled nearby. This gorgeous interplay of colors, tastes, and textures made me wish Kate had included the entire dessert in her cookbook - she does give the recipe for the rice pudding, and it's certainly moved up several notches on my to-make list.

2 Harrison Street
(between Hudson Street and Staple Street)
(212) 966-6960

www.chanterellenyc.com


photo from www.p-ong.com

p*ong

Chanterelle may be classic New York dining at its most elegant and gracious, but p*ong is as modern and eclectic as its name, a funky, downtempo lounge of a place, with sleek white banquettes and a sweeping, angled bar - the preferred place to sit so you can watch the servers make your cocktails or plate your dessert.

Service was efficient, but the highlight, needless to say, was Chef Ong himself, who would materialize in the dining room like a mercurial firefly to exchange a friendly word or two with guests before vanishing again. We discovered that he had just opened his new bakery next door that morning - poor guy! But despite the stresses of opening day, he kindly took the time to show the bakery space to us and told us to come back the next day when they would be restocked. I must disclose here that I adore Pichet. He recounted how they opened the bakery at 11 in the morning, worried that no one would come. No one come to Pichet Ong's bakery? Hmm, right. In reality, they sold out by 1 in the afternoon. More on batch later. But Pichet is charmingly modest and slyly funny. Be warned, he has a habit of stopping by and checking on the progress of your dessert decimation. "Why didn't you finish the cake? Is it bad?" "No, of course not, it's delicious!" we'd demur. "Oh, well, you should really finish it. It's a special cake!" I don't think he's praising his own desserts so much as he's espousing the old Chinese virtue of cleaning your plate, which all my relatives always had me do. Of course, none of my relatives ever told me that I had to finish my dessert - so advantage to Pichet, I'd say!

Favorites: One of my favorite desserts from my trip came from p*ong: a warm date and ginger cake in a pool of rum toffee sauce, sprinkled with walnuts. It's like a cross between sticky toffee pudding and the best gingerbread I've ever had, the very definition of soul-satisfying. I liked it so much that I had to make it when I returned home. Other desserts that tickled the tastebuds included a chevre cheesecake and walnut croquette, a bit richer and earthier than Chanterelle's, and a grilled pear "steak" with hazelnut and caramel - again, desserts hitting that elusive combination of unexpected and intriguing and utterly satiating.

150 W 10th Street
(between Greenwich Avenue and Waverly Place)
(212) 929-0898

www.p-ong.com

 
photo from www.wd-50.com

wd-50

It seemed fitting that I'd visited the MOMA earlier in the day before I went to wd-50. An afternoon of high-concept art followed by an evening of high concept food. Be prepared to go with an open mind and you'll be rewarded with some amazing, thought-provoking plates. wd-50 is surprisingly low-key and mellow for being a high temple of molecular gastronomy; my friend and I were seated at a row of two-tops placed so closely together that by the end of the evening we felt more like we were sitting at a communal table. It was amusing to see the diners seated next to us darting sideways glances as a new feat of whimsy was placed before us, just as we could not resist doing the same to them. Eager to experience as many of Alex Stupak's creations as we could, we chose the five-course dessert tasting, but be warned: each person at the table has to order the tasting, so it's a whole lot of sweets. Make sure you leave enough room!

Favorites: Needless to say, these were some of the most exactingly plated dishes I saw on my whole trip. Every dessert was a Japanese rock garden, little hills and dunes of cake and cream in a sea of sinuous curves and undulating swirls, amidst carefully calibrated scatterings of crunchy flourishes. The desserts that not only struck me with their art-museum aesthetic but also their successful exploration of the unusual and offbeat included a delectably soft cornbread pudding in a lemongrass sauce with prunes; it was homey and exotic at once and most importantly, delicious. Another winner was a gianduja dome with ice milk ice cream, fennel, and little chocolate truffles that oozed warm hazelnut filing when you cut into them. It's pretty hard to go wrong with chocolate and hazelnut, but the flavors were used in such untraditional ways that it made the dessert interesting and new, a pleasure to explore. The little chocolate covered chicory ice cream petit fours were scrumptious as well.

50 Clinton Street
(between Rivington Street and Stanton Street)
(212) 477-2900

www.wd-50.com

Other sweet spots

Having only five days in New York City and one stomach, I could only visit a fraction of all the bakeries, pâtisseries, dessert bars, chocolate shops, and other sweet spots the city had to offer. New York demands your return, anyway, with its kaleidoscopic, ever-changing aspect - even if I'd visited 50 dessert places I'm sure another 50 will have opened by the end of this year. Here, some of the places I did get to try:

Amai Tea House
Tiny, but warm and serene.  I love that all the display cases look like they came from an old Chinese apothecary, a perfect setting for all the Asian-inspired desserts. Although their green tea cookies are their signature item, I really like their white tea and strawberry cookies, which have a touch of ginger and peppercorn, and the red vanilla cookies, which are laced with rooibos tea.

171 3rd Avenue
(between 16th Street ad 17th Street)
(212) 863-9630

www.amainyc.com

batch

This place was literally a day old when I walked in, but it already looks like it has its own quirky personality. I recognized many of Pichet Ong's creations from his The Sweet Spot cookbook - the Dragon Devil's Food Cupcakes were there, as well as the coconut-lemon cupcakes and chocolate tarts. There are also puddings, cookies, brownies, and other delights by the batch. There's Pichet serving the customers; I also got to meet one of the bakers there - hi, Betty!

150b W 10th St
(212) 929-0250

Ceci-Cela

In the excitement of visiting new dessert places, I didn't have much time to spend revisiting ones I'd been to before, but I knew I really wanted to go back here. So narrow that customers are basically sandwiched between the wall and the display case, nevertheless I love this place because of the tiny dining room in the back, a brick-walled oasis plastered with vintage posters, resembling a cross between speakeasy and secret clubhouse, where you can tuck into your tart and coffee far away from the city bustle.

55 Spring Street
(between Cleveland Place and Lafayette Street)
(212) 274-9179

www.ceci-celapatisserie.com

Financier

A perfectly apropos name, as all three branches of this pâtisserie are located in the Financial District. With its celery-green and cream-yellow decor and rattan chairs, you can almost think you are eating your pain au chocolate in Paris - until you see the skyscrapers outside the window.

35 Cedar Street
(between Pearl Street and William Street)
(212) 952-3838

www.financierpastries.com

 

Kee's Chocolates

Barely more than a storefront on a SoHo street, Kee's Chocolates is nevertheless a window into chocolate heaven. Kee Ling Tong's creations are masterpieces of flavor and texture, chocolate brought to a spellbinding zenith. I've never had any chocolates where the shell almost dissolves in your mouth to the filling inside - dreamy. Flavors I loved include passionfruit, lavender, and hazelnut praline.

80 Thompson Street
(between Broome Street and Spring Street)
(212) 334-3284

www.keeschocolates.com


Kyotofu

There are plenty of Asian-inspired desserts on menus nowadays, but Kyotofu the balance tips the other way, with Asian desserts just tempered with a French/Western edge. Their signature item is their homemade sweet tofu, which is light, silken, and refreshing, especially with a black sugar syrup poured over the top. Other sweets I liked included the chocolate matcha cupcake, sake cheesecake, and coconut-yuzu macaron. Different, and definitely worth a visit.

705 9th Ave
(between 48th Street and 49th Street)
(212) 974-6012

www.kyotofu-nyc.com/

Payard

You can't get closer to a Parisian grand café in New York than François Payard's pâtisserie and bistro. Go to admire the gorgeous Belle Époque decor, all high ceilings, coffee-colored wood, and blown-glass fixtures. Stay as you try to choose from dual counters filled with cakes, tarts, macarons, chocolates, and cookies of every sort. Or perhaps the ice-cream cart is calling your name?

1032 Lexington Avenure
(between 73rd Street and 74th Street)
(212) 717-5252

www.Payard.com

 Well, that's about it! I wanted to include a recipe for the Pichet Ong's date cake that I loved, but this post is already running long so it's going to show up in part 2! Stay tuned and have a good weekend!

Tagged with: Chanterelle + p*ong+ wd-50 + amai+tea+house + batch new york + ceci cela+ kyotofu+ kee's chocolates+ payard+ desserts new york+ bakeries new york

Bite This!

Happy New Year - A Very Sweet Trip to Hong Kong

Happy (belated) New Year - I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and are looking forward to 2008 (well, as much as I can - it's raining cats and dogs in San Francisco today). Returning from sunny, tropical Hong Kong was quite a shock to the system!

This shock was due in no small part to the indulgences I partook in while on holiday: sleeping in, a parade of family activities (I saw some cousins I haven't seen in almost 10 years - my gosh we're all grown up!), shopping that easily tripled the contents of my suitcases (not that I'm a shopaholic - well, maybe a little - but it's hard not to be when it seems like 50% of Hong Kong is retail space), and of course the eating (that would be the other 50%).

I get asked often, "How do not gain weight when you go to Hong Kong and eat so much?" Well, I actually think the answer lies in the preponderance of stores and restaurants in the city. You basically follow this routine:

1. Go to mall/downtown/outside your hotel/anywhere and start shopping. Keep shopping until you realized you've probably walked several miles and are exhausted.

2. Go to nearby restaurant/cafe/street stall and eat.

3. Go back to shopping.

4. Repeat cycle.

Essentially you will spend so much time walking around and shopping that you will burn up all those delicious calories you've ingested. A beautifully efficient system, really.

In all honesty, there are many other wonderful things to do in Hong Kong besides shopping and eating - the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens are but a handful of steps from my parents' flat in the Mid-Levels, giving us the unusual opportunity to be both close to the hyper-urban downtown Central district as well as a zoo. A little more strolling takes you to beautiful Hong Kong Park, which contains an amazing aviary and conservatory, as well as gorgeously landscaped grounds. As a bonus, it's a popular spot for newlyweds to get pictures taken, as the marriage registry is just outside the park: go on the weekend and you're likely to see a dozen beaming couples posing by the flowers or waterfalls.

You can also visit Macau, which is but a 45 minute hydrofoil ride away from Hong Kong. A former Portuguese colony, it maintains an old European charm in many parts of the islands that makes it an ideal getaway from the bustle of Hong Kong. However, it's no secret that the gaming industry in Macau is rising faster than a soufflé in an oven - and it's not likely to deflate anytime either. A walk down the Cotai Strip shows construction as far as the eye can see - construction of a Strip that will rival the one in Las Vegas (Macau's gaming revenue has already surpassed that of Sin City). My suggestion? Explore old Macau during the day  - the colonial architecture and narrow cobblestone streets will transport you to Europe - then visit the gaming tables at night for glittery hedonism at its most exciting.

All right, on to the part I'm sure you're most excited to read about - sweets in Hong Kong. What I love most about pastry in Hong Kong is the variety and innovation. You can buy a bag of eggettes (a kind of waffle) from a streetside vendor for a dollar or have high tea at the Peninsula Hong Kong. You can sample perfect French pastries or have classic Chinese dessert soups, perhaps on the same street. I also think that Hong Kong, like all major cosmopolitan cities, has a sort of ADD - the citizens are always on the lookout for the new and exciting, so stores constantly have to come up with new items to retain customers' interest. See some of the items I saw in the bakeries there:

Holiday cakes from Maxim's, a popular bakery chain. The snowman was lovely - vanilla sponge cake on crispy feuilletine over a chocolate cake base. Surprisingly sophisticated and well done for a chain shop.

The variety of breads in even the humblest of bakeries is staggering. See the "Coco Teddy" bear shaped bun filled with chocolate. Coco Teddy, you were delicious - I love you!

I will also note that Beard Papa's and Krispy Kreme are part of the culinary landscape now as well - and even these chain shops were offering special holiday items like black sesame cream puffs and tree-shaped donuts - I really wish they would do things like that here in the U.S.!

My list of great places to get a sweet bite in Hong Kong:

Hui Lau San

I've rhapsodized about this place before; the red-and-gold festooned shops are ubiquitous, which makes them the stop of choice when your feet are tired and you're thirsty. They are sort of like Starbucks, only everything is made from fruit so it's much healthier (and tastier, in my opinion). You can get anything from a bowl of fruit mixed with sago to aloe jelly with coconut juice. I always get something from the Mango Mania section, because Hong Kong residents can't seem to get enough of mango and neither can I. The mango jelly in mango and coconut juice is a favorite. The Hui Lau San I seem to frequent the most is the one in Causeway Bay, just across from Sogo and a block away from the Times Square mall - the height of convenience.

Honeymoon Dessert

Another popular series of dessert shops, this one centered around traditional Chinese desserts like walnut and black sesame soups, almond tea with tapioca, or thin crepes filled with red bean or mango. They also have items with durian, that olfactory menace of a fruit - try it but be prepared for your table companions to make a hasty departure! Honeymoon Dessert shops are scattered around Hong Kong; there's one in the ifc mall in Central and at the apm mall in Kwun Tong.

Dessert at Elements

I made a visit to Elements, the highly touted new mall in Tsim Sha Tsui (I am always amazed that they are always building new malls - the Hong Kong appetite for shopping is truly insatiable). It is elegant, modern, and occupied by every high end luxury brand you can imagine, from Armani to Versace. If your pocketbook is feeling a little light after your stops at Cartier, Fendi, and Valentino, you can get a little pick me up at PETiTs by Deschamps, offering the most couture of cupcakes, or at La Création De Gute, a swank little patisserie.

Dessert Buffet at the Tiffin, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong

Remember my dreamy experience there? Desserts with a French pedigree and an Asian flair - chestnut seemed to be the theme ingredient (I loved a chestnut and chocolate mousse) but there were many other delights to sample, from fruit tarts to cream cakes, homemade ice creams and sorbets, Belgian waffles made to order, chocolate fondue with skewers of marshmallows and fruit lined up like ornaments, sweet soups and fresh fruit. You can nibble on your plate of sweets while gazing out the floor to ceiling windows at the panorama that is the Hong Kong skyline - a true feast for all the senses.

Bambu

I'll also mention a few favorite experiences in Macao: The Bambu at the Venetian offers an excellent Asian-themed buffet with an impressive selection of desserts, including homemade ice cream.

Pasteleria Koi Kei

Go to the old districts in Macau and you'll likely find shop selling Macau sweet specialties like peanut candy, seaweed wrapped wafers, and almond cookies. You can see the baker above making them; many pastry shops have demonstrations like this outside the shop and give samples away liberally, encouraging lookers to stay and buy. Koi Kei has some of the tastiest almond cookies, especially hot and freshly made.

That just about scratches the surface of what's available in Hong Kong. I look forward to my next visit...and discovering what has changed in my absence. Meanwhile, I'm excited to back home in my kitchen baking again!

Tagged with: Hong Kong desserts + Hui Lau San + Honeymoon+dessert + Tiffin dessert buffet

Bite This!

Back from Vacation: Not-So-Good News and Good News

Interior of Dushanbe Teahouse, Boulder, Colorado

picture source   

Hello!

I'm back from Colorado, which was beautiful in a dry, stark, majestic mountains in the clouds sort of way, and Kansas, which was beautiful in a humid, lushly green, sipping lemonade by the lake as the sun sets sort of way. It's good to get away from home once in a while and see what else is out there.

The above picture is of the Dushanbe Teahouse in Boulder, Colorado, a gorgeous traditional Tajik teahouse, or choihona, given to Boulder by its sister of Dushanbe in Tajikstan. All of the parts of the teahouse, from the elaborately carved ceiling panels to the statues in the interior fountain, were made in Tajikstan and shipped over. It's a stunning, one-of-a-kind place to have a cup of afternoon tea and imagine yourself in ancient Persia - the tea list is excellent, as well as the rest of the menu.

My return from the midwest was supposed to be good news for my sadly non-updated blog, but unfortunately, bad news awaited me: I came home to discover that my computer had decided to break down in my absence (perhaps reprimanding me for my lack of care? I dote lovingly over my kitchen equipment but rather much less so on my poor computer - I guess it got tired of the lack of attention) It is in the process of getting fixed, so some of the posts I had been planning to do on my return may not make it up until next week.

In the meantime, I'll share some good news that brightened my return: I found out that Schmap Travel Guides has included some of my food photos in the new edition of their Paris guide. For those of you who haven't discovered their website, Schmap's digital guides make trip planning an interactive, surprisingly fun experience. Each city guide is linked with a Google map that shows all of the city's attractions, restaurants, hotels, and other items of interest so you can easily see where everything is located.

If you look to the right sidebar of this page, you'll see a Schmap of Paris - you can move around, zoom in, and investigate the listings on the map. If something interests you, say the ice cream shop Berthillon, you can either click on "Photos" to see some images of the store or click "more..." to go the Schmap description of the place. Pretty ingenious, no?

It was a pleasant surprise when Schmap contacted me and asked if some of my photos of Paris could be used for their entries. I am sure it will come as no shock to any of you that all my photos are of food! If you are curious, here are the photos they selected:

Dalloyau - their service is impeccable, their opera cake to die for. Even though I only bought one slice of cake, they wrapped it up carefully and thanked me as politely as the customers buying boxes of macarons and petit fours.

Fauchon - the displays at their store on Place de la Madeleine are always nose-to-the-window fabulous.

Pierre Herme - of course a must visit for every lover of pastry in Paris!

Pierre Herme again - Schmap has currently misattributed this photo to another Paris icon, fashion house Hermès. Honestly, I think I'd rather be spending my money on some of Pierre's macarons than one of those scarves...

Chez Michel - one of my favorite little bistros in Paris, just blocks away from the Gare du Nord. I had some divine foie gras there, as well as a lovely Paris-Brest.

The photos are all from my trip to Paris a couple of years ago...I was so thrilled to be there and wanted to document every pastry that I saw. The photos were also  how I met the wonderful Carol, who confessed to finding my pictures on Flickr and loving them - now I'm the one who goes to her site and envies her trips to France and the beautiful watercolors she produces! What a lot of magic Paris can produce!

And finally, I learned that the photo I submitted to the June 2007 edition of DMBLGIT won in a couple of categories: tying for second in Edibility and placing third overall!  Many thanks to Bea for hosting - if you go to her post you will see she made cute little bar graphs showing the performance of the top ten in each category - I'm pleased to note I actually did show up in all of the categories. I need to thank Helene for providing the inspiration for the St. Honoré cakes, otherwise I wouldn't have had the photo to submit!

Back to the kitchen for me...hopefully by next week I'll be able to share my creations again with you all!

Tagged with: DMBLGIT + Schmap + Dushanbe Teahouse

Bite This!

Back from Vacation

Hello all,

Just got back from a wonderful trip to Maui and the stuff paradise is made of - golden sugar-soft sands, sun-warmed waters of that perfect crystalline blue you only find in the tropics, sublimely silly palm trees waving in the wind, the fiery sun diving into the ocean every evening to the sound of conch shells being blown.

On a whale-watching trip we found ourselves almost surrounded by humpback whales, many of them mothers with newborn calves, and were delighted by the antics of a pod of spinner dolphins that followed our boat, frolicking in its wake.

We went hiking into the valleys and forests on the island, and found ourselves befriended on one trek to a waterfall by a local dog who decided to act as our guide, following us and making sure we didn't lose the trail. Thank you, Hoku! Your owner is lucky to have such a great dog!

Food was a big standout. I don't think we had a bad meal the entire time. Here are some of our favorite places:

Pita Paradise

1913 South Kihei Road

Kihei, HI

The owner catches his own fish daily and creates delicious specials, but their gyro with Australian lamb and feta cheese has earned a special place in my heart. Perfect fare after a morning at the beach.

Sansei Seafood and Sushi Bar

1881 South Kihei Road

Kihei, HI

Wonderfully fresh sushi and delicious Pacific Rim cuisine as well. They also offer an amazing 50% discount on virtually their entire menu on Sundays and Mondays before 6 PM; we got there at 4:45 since the restaurant opened at 5 and the line was already into the parking lot. But the hamachi nigiri and the miso butterfish were worth the wait.

Paia Fish Market

110 Hana Highway

Hana, HI

This really is a market: You can take home fresh fish, or they'll prepare in a variety of dishes for you to enjoy there. It seems like such luxury to be able to choose from the catch of the day and have it grilled, sauteed, or turned into tacos, pasta, or sashimi, but it's all very relaxed, unpretentious, and inexpensive here.

Mala, An Ocean Tavern

1307 Front St.

Lahaina, HI

A very chic little place just past Lahaina, with a beautiful terrace overlooking the ocean so you can peruse their organic-focused, tapas-style menu with the salt wind in your hair. Their ahi tartare was wonderful, as was a "Mexican flatbread" which was a crisp tortilla piled pizza-style with three kinds of fish, lightly spiced with curry.

You'll notice I didn't mention much about desserts anywhere...honestly, in the warm balmy weather and after many fresh seafood dishes, I didn't feel much like the gooey, chocolately desserts offered at most places. I did have some delicious shave ice, as well as some green tea ice cream at Sansei. So I definitely was ready to back into dessert mode when I returned home.

I was crushed to find that I'd missed the deadline for this month's SHF, but I'm still hankering to honor David's theme of chocolate. There will a chocolate-oriented post later this week - I'll have to get my tropical groove on afterwards!

Mooncakes in Mid-Autumn

Whenever my parents come to visit from Hong Kong, I can guarantee that at least half of their suitcases will be filled with little treats and gifts for us. They're great parents that way. When they arrived last weekend I knew that among the clothes, candies, and baked goods (yes, my mother has been known to bring boxes of custard tarts and coconut buns from my favorite HK bakeries; now if only there were a way to get dim sum across the Pacific while it's hot) there would be several beautifully decorated boxes of mooncakes to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

At its most elegant and poetic, the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates the time of year when the moon is at its fullest and brightest - the harvest moon, or the autumnal equinox. Traditionally, families will gather together to admire the beauty of the full moon, eating mooncakes under the night sky, with children running about carrying colorful paper lanterns like errant fireflies.

There is another, bloodier aspect to the Mid-Autumn Festival and mooncakes which traces back to the 14th century when China was under the rule of the Mongols. Planning a rebellion against the Mongol emperor, Chinese rebels came up with the idea of hiding a secret message inside mooncakes, which the Mongols did not eat. These mooncakes told rebels to rise up on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival. The uprising was successful, and henceforth the Mid-Autumn Festival was celebrated with mooncakes everywhere in China.

Given the mooncake's firm entrenchment in Chinese culture, it would be impossible to get through a Mid-Autumn Festival without giving or receiving dozens of these little puck-shaped pastries. Just like red envelopes are passed out to children and subordinates at Chinese New Year, so friends and family engage in a little hot-potato pass-around of mooncakes. If you are also detecting a resemblance to that dreaded Christmas fruitcake, you are not wrong. The traditional Chinese mooncake is an acquired taste for many; for me, suffice to say that it does not fall to the level of fruitcake but neither is it among my most favorite desserts. I blame my mother for this failure of my tastebuds; I was told that as a child her father offered her five dollars (quite a significant amount at the time) to eat a mooncake, and she refused.

Picture Source

The traditional mooncake is quite dense for its size, with a soft, chewy, golden crust made of flour, sugar syrup, and lard enveloping a rich filling of lotus bean paste and a whole salted duck egg yolk to symbolize the full moon. The mooncake is formed in a wooden mold imprinted with the bakery's insignia on top; since each bakery will have a different design for its mooncakes, those from the most reputable bakeries are highly coveted - orders for mooncakes are placed months in advance!

Because of its richness, the mooncake is typically meant to be cut into quarters and shared; if you can't get enough of that egg yolk, many bakeries have a "super" mooncake with four egg yolks, one in each quarter. These are considered to be some of most luxurious and expensive of all mooncakes.

So the traditional mooncake is not quite to your liking? Bakeries must have realized there was a market for an improved, less calorie- and cholesterol-filled moon cake, and today the variety of mooncakes boggles the eye and wallet - some of them can hardly be called mooncakes save some tenuous similarity in form.

Substituting the expensive lotus bean paste with cheaper and sweeter fillings was a natural; you can find mooncakes with sweeter red bean pastes, fruit fillings, even ice cream. One of the most charming versions I've seen this year is Pappagallo's Gelato Mooncakes, embossed with a design based on Saint-Exupery's Le Petit Prince. Not that I recall the little prince eating mooncakes on his asteroid...

Picture Source

A most popular variant of the mooncake is the unbaked, or snow-skin version, using a rice-flour, mochi-style wrapper around the filling. While these mooncake require refrigeration and are much less long-lasting than their baked cousins, their much more delicate texture and adaptability to a wide range of fillings have made them a great favorite among modernists. I will admit I love the rainbow of pastel colors they come in, as well the staggering heights of creativity to which the fillings have reached in recent years - everything from truffles to green tea custard to durian to birds' nest.

Picture Source

And final proof that mooncakes are adapting to the modern age: Häagen-Dazs and Starbucks have their own versions of mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival. The Häagen-Dazs sounds clever if not particularly moon-cakeish: The egg yolk has been replaced with a ball of mango sorbet, the filling with ice cream, and the crust with a chocolate shell, but the Starbucks coffee mooncake is one I think I'll pass on.

I'm pleased to see that this ancient delicacy that could have been easily mothballed has instead benefited from the innovation of pastry chefs, evolving to suit ever-changing times and tastes.But however much I think I would enjoy a mooncake-shaped ice cream, I still smile when my mom uncovers those traditional glossy brown mooncakes that she brought all the way from Hong Kong. To me, they represent the real meaning of Mid-Autumn Festival and the exchanging of those little pastries: to celebrate family and being together, under the warm light of a glowing moon.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is always on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month. This year it falls on October 6th.

Tagged with: mooncake + Mid Autumn Festival

A Taste of Sadaharu Aoki

edited on 1/24/07: I regret to say that as of today I will no longer be giving out the recipe to the matcha opera cake. Thank you to everyone who has expressed such interest in this creation and written me. I have to say that this is a deeply personal recipe for me, as I learned the original recipe in pastry school and later adapted it myself to include matcha. When I got the first couple of requests for the recipe, I decided to make a couple of exceptions because the e-mails were so sincere, but since then the e-mails have become a flood. Unfortunately, I just do not feel comfortable making this recipe so public - I hope you all understand about treasured family or "secret" recipes. If you would still like to try making this, I suggest you find a recipe for opera cake (they are easily found on the internet) and experiment with adding matcha powder to the components. Thanks so much for understanding, and I hope you take advantage of the other recipes on this site!

My visit to Paris last September was my introduction to Sadaharu Aoki and his gorgeous interpretation of French pastry. While the Japanese have been almost frighteningly adept in their ability to replicate classic French pâtisserie, I am more intrigued when they find ways to impart their cultural sensibilities into their pastry making - after all, creativity and innovation is what keeps the culinary world from staying fresh and interesting! At Sadaharu Aoki's sleek little boutique on rue de Vaugirard, I found, alongside such classics as opera cake and lemon tarts, black sesame fondant - covered eclairs and green tea chocolate bars. Every single pastry was delicately made and, of course, picture perfect. Naturally, I wanted to buy everything, but, as I recall, we had already been to three other pastry shops that day, my boyfriend manfully eating his share of pastries so that I could try as many creations as I could, and with dinner reservations but an hour away, we settled on *just two* to carry away with us and eat with lip-smacking pleasure in one of Paris' ubiquitous little squares, pigeons at our feet, pedestrians strolling by, streetlights coming on in falling twilight, conversations in French all around us, Paris above us, around us, in us.

Sadly, this trip occurred before this blog was up to document it, but my Paris photoset is on Flickr, and there is Bea's rhapsodic entry about her encounter with Sadaharu-san.

I was inspired last week to replicate the two pastries we took away with us from the boutique: one, the famous Matcha Opera Cake, with layers of green tea genoise, chocolate ganache, and green tea buttercream. I believe Sadaharu Aoki's version also has coffee buttercream, but I preferred an emphasis on the clean, sharp taste of green tea with the rich, bittersweet chocolate to round it out. Making opera cake is both therapeutic and nervewracking for me: the components are not particularly difficult to make, but it's the skill in assembling the layers that determine whether you'll have nice parallel stripes of color or wavy layers. When it comes out well, it's always a heady rush of pleasure.

The other item, a Yuzu Tart in a pâte sucrée crust with a sprinkling of praline on top. I first fell in love with this Japanese citrus at, appropriately, a Japanese spa where they used a yuzu-scented lotion. Assertively tangy, it is reminiscent of grapefruit with hints of mandarin orange, and can be used similarly to lemons in cooking. Yuzu fruit is fairly difficult to find in the U.S., but yuzu juice, fortunately, can be found in Japanese markets, and was used to make this smooth, delectable yuzu cream in the style of Pierre Herme's famous lemon cream.

Alas, making these has only increased my appetite for Paris. I'm feeling the need for a return trip...

Tagged with: Sadaharu Aoki + matcha opera cake + yuzu tart + paris pastry

Pastries on Vacation

 

Last week I went on a brief baking hiatus and took a little trip down to southern California, where palm trees, beaches, and Hollywood awaited. Even though I can't complain about the weather in San Francisco, the blue skies and endless sands down there fulfilled my vacation requirements perfectly. Maybe it's also the ubiquitous presence of those sublimely silly palm trees - how could you stay serious looking at them?

Of course, no baking = dessert research. I took it upon myself to find what sweet things southern California had to offer. Since I wasn't planning on eating at any fancy restaurants this time around, my research was limited to the bakeries and cafes  - and there were quite a few delicious ones to be found!

First stop in San Diego: Michele Coulon Dessertier, tucked away on a little street in gorgeous La Jolla. I have to applaud anyone who has the job title of "dessertier"! The place serves both lunch and dinner along with a full selection of cakes, tarts, and cookies.

My sister and I shared two of their miniatures: a "lemadamia" tartlet, which had lemon filling with a macadamia and white chocolate topping, and an Amareno cherry cakelet with cherries and chocolate.  It's difficult to tell from the picture but the top of the cherry cakelet was actually dusted with iridescent powder that shimmered gorgeously in the sunlight. Both of them were quite moist and tasty; I especially like the tang of the lemon tartlet. A great place to stop by after strolling downtown or going to the beach.

Michele Coulon Dessertier

7556 Fay Street, Suite D

La Jolla, CA 92037

858.456.5098

Back in downtown San Diego, we stopped by another popular dessert spot, Extraordinary Desserts. There are two outposts of this bakery, and we visited the one near Balboa Park, which is a collection of parks, gardens, and many of San Diego's museums, and a great place to go on a weekend.  The Fifth Avenue location is the smaller of the two, and is a cozy, intimate space with one side of the room completely lined with Karen Krasne's creations.

The first thing you notice is the generous use of flowers in decorating the desserts; everything is almost bursting with vibrant color.

They have a very wide assortment of pastries, and also an intriguing selection of teas and coffees. Definitely a nice place to have afternoon tea!

Even the brownie we got had an elaborate crown of chocolate curls; I almost couldn't bear to eat it!

Extraordinary Desserts

2929 Fifth Avenue                     1430 Union Street

San Diego, CA                           San Diego, CA 92101

619.294.2132                            619.294.7001

Onto Los Angeles and beachfront views that make you wish you lived here year round. I was told that actually in June and July it can get cloudy-hazy near the beach, so I was lucky to get a postcard-perfect day when I arrived.

So did I run out to the beach to enjoy the glorious sunshine? Of course not! I went looking for more pastries instead! And in Beverly Hills, I found cupcakes elevated to haute couture. Sprinkles Cupcakes is one of the most successful manifestations of the cupcake trend - it was amusing to see a long line of skinny-trendy Los Angeles natives in their sunglasses and chic clothes waiting to snag one these little dietbusters.

The store is sleekly cute and there is a quite a variety of flavors to choose from. We chose a strawberry cupcake with strawberry frosting and a dark chocolate cupcake with bittersweet chocolate frosting. The chocolate one was better: very moist and rich dark cake, and the frosting a nice complement. I found the cake for the strawberry cupcake a little soggy and bland, but the frosting had a nice strawberry flavor and was not overly sweet. I also thought the ratio of frosting to cake was good; many times I find the amount of too-sweet frosting on cupcakes overwhelming. But for $3.25 a cupcake, you would have thought they could at least pipe the frosting out instead of just spatula-ing it on...

Sprinkles Cupcakes

9635 Little Santa Monica Boulevard

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

310.274.8765

The next stop was not a bakery but a must-visit for any foodie: La Sanctuaire, a gourmet's boutique filled with rare cookbooks, cooking tools, and ingredients. The space is spare and clean, and filled with all sorts of things to catch the foodie's eye, like a gorgeous green clay teapot from China, or a chalkboard listing dozens of exotic spices for sale, or El Bulli's latest cookbook, ceremoniously displayed in a glass case.

The picture is unfortunately fuzzy but hopefully gives an impression of the dazzling selection of cookbooks from around the world - my kind of bookstore, indeed! The whole store, for that matter.

La Sanctuaire

2710 Main Street

Santa Monica, CA 90405

310.581.8999

Another must-visit is Jin Patisserie, which is almost exactly the kind of place I would like to have myself if I ever opened a pâtisserie. Kristy Choo's gorgeous creations are served in an elegant, Zen-garden-like patio for the most relaxing of afternoon teas. The kitchen and retail shop are in what looks like a converted cottage, adding to the charm.

I was impressed by the craftsmanship of the pastries and by the unusual flavor combinations - there is a definite Asian influence to Choo's flavors, from green tea to jasmine. Choo is also known for her chocolates, which were displayed beautifully in silk boxes - unfortunately, because of the hot day I was afraid to take any home for fear they'd melt!

We had the "Afternoon Tea" set, which is perhaps not showed off to best advantage in this photo but which let us sample a variety of her creations. Scones with cream and orange marmalade, quiche, orange pound cake, mousse cakes in flavors of passionfruit, raspberry, and green tea, and a bit of chocolate made for a quite a bit of decadence. I liked the passionfruit and green tea cakes the best - very light texture and surprisingly intense flavors. I wanted to try more but alas I was sugared out for the day!

Jin Pâtisserie

1201 Abbot Kinney Boulevard

Venice, CA 90291

310.399.8801

One of the other things I like about Los Angeles is how lush it is. Everywhere you see trees and bushes flowering - like this street filled with purple blooms that smelled like summer.

Just around the corner from one of those flower-filled streets is Boule, a very modern pâtisserie in pale blue. Opened by pastry chef Michelle Myers, it offers an array of chocolates, candies, pastries, and ice creams.

One of their signature items is their fleur de sel caramels, which come wrapped in pretty iridescent paper. Soft and chewy and just the right bit of salty tang. The sweet saleslady offered me one when she heard I hadn't tried it!

What I got was a little cake of passionfruit mousse with coconut dacquoise. I was amazed by the texture of the mousse - it looks like solid cake, but yields to the fork and just melts in your mouth! I'm not a huge fan of coconut but it went very well with the passionfruit. Very nice!

Boule

420 N. La Cienega Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90048

310.289.9977

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Last stop: Susina Bakery, a beautiful little cafe with a mouthwatering array of pastries to offer. They also have a lunch menu, so it's possible to spend a lazy Sunday morning here, as many people were doing.

I really like their neatly wrapped bags of candies on the counter. The entire decor of the place is very warm and elegant. And those fruit tarts!...mmm.

Susina Bakery

7122 Beverly Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90036

323.934.7900

All in all, a very sweet and satisfying vacation with sun, surf, and sugar. I'm ever more inspired to get back in the kitchen now!

Tagged with: Los Angeles bakeries + San Diego bakeries