Ann Reardon

Pastry Chef Polyvoui & Chu Dessert Degustation

pastry chef sydney dessert

A dessert degustation is every dessert lovers dream.  Six over-indulgent courses of amazing desserts each consisting of intricate elements carefully balanced and beautifully plated. I suggest that you skip your main meal and save all the room for dessert.

The pastry chefs that prepared the feast for us were Anna Polyviou of the Shangri La Hotel in Sydney
pastry chef sydney
and Bernard Chu from Luxbite in Melbourne, made famous by his ‘lolly bag’ dessert on Masterchef.
lolly bag cake masterchef
 They turned the pastry kitchen at the Shangri La Hotel into a dessert restaurant which allowed us to see them making last minute preparations and plating up right in front of us.  Both chefs walked around and chatted with guests which is what set the night apart.

Dessert Course 1.  Anna goes Asian Malaysian (by pastry chef Anna Polyviou)

dessert degustation sydney
 
Black sesame ice cream, raspberry sponge, white chocolate powder, lychee pearls, micro herbs, chocolate coconut and black sesame disc,  raspberry brûlée, white chocolate mousse infused with rose tea, covered with a white chocolate glaze and topped with a white chocolate disc.

Absolutely divine… what more can I say.

Dessert Course 2.  Banoffee Hot v Cold (by pastry chef Bernard Chu of Luxbite and lolly bag cake fame)
degustationdessert

 
Banana souffle with salted caramel at the base and a banoffee opera cake decorated with a chocolate curl.
degust
 
I loved the concept of this dessert but the opera was a little too salty for me.  Salt is a difficult one for chefs to balance because the more salt you eat the less you taste it.  If you have a diet low in salt for six weeks then your taste buds become more sensitive to salt, so using less will give the same saltiness.  This makes it very difficult to know how much salt to add as the saltiness will vary depending on the typical diet of the person tasting it.

 

Dessert Course 3.  Passionate about yellow (Anna Polyviou)

pastry chef sydney

Passionfruit posset, pineapple champagne jelly, passion fruit curd, ginger sponge, mango passion fruit sorbet, coconut tapioca and lemon balm micro-herbs.

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Beautifully refreshing, every element of this dessert was brilliant.

Dessert Course 4.  Tooth Paste
dessert restaurant sydney
 
Lolly toothpaste in a tube, apple pearls, crumble, apple sorbet and sherbet.

General consensus around our table was that this course would have been better without the toothpaste.  Both tasted great on their own but didn’t compliment each other.  The tangy apple sorbet was my favourite part of this dish.

Dessert Course 5.  Drunken Sake Baba (Bernard Chu)
dessert restaurant sydney nsw
Rum baba soaked in sake, chestnut sorbet, green tea crumble, marshmallow with green tea powder and chocolate sauce.

By this stage I was starting to feel very full, but I soldiered on and managed to eat this dessert too.

Dessert Course 6.  Everyone thinks they are a master chef
dessert restaurant sydney
Lemon tart served nude on a plate.  Guests are given a generous range of ingredients to plate their own dessert.

This was a great fun twist to the night, as well as allowing people to indulge their creative side it also highlighted the plating skill of the pastry chefs.

Take Home Bag
A wonderful touch, take home a goodie bag to share with friends or family. It included the famous lolly bag cake by Bernard Chu of Lux bite, two macarons and a jar of Bernards salted caramel spread.
lolly bag cake recipe master chef

 I sliced this serve of lolly bag cake into five, so that everyone at home could have a taste and it was enjoyed by all.

by Ann Reardon How To Cook That

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

4 Comments View Comments

  1. 1extreme

  2. Hi Ann
    I love the look of the passionate about yellow dessert as well – it would be a great way to finish an Asian meal (which we eat a lot of) and also looks like most of it could be pre-prepared – always important to me when doing a meal as I want to enjoy my friends and not be stuck in the kitchen. I am looking forward to your upcoming blogs as I am sure you will have been inspired!! You lucky duck!

    • Thanks Kerryn, It was a great night and that one was one of my favorites, so hard to choose an overall favorite.

  3. Hi Ann,
    What a feast of all senses!
    I especially love the ” Passionate about yellow” in a glass jar! It looks so brilliantly ” yellow” lol~ and refreshing. I am going to try to recreate! Thanks for sharing!

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