I am a fan of Patisserie Chanson (you can read about it here: http://www.foodlovergirl.com/patisserie-chanson/). I learned during my first visit to Patisserie Chanson that they have an evening/night face that is even more exquisite and sexy, with tasting menu of nothing but high end, unique, creative desserts! The entrance is located right next to Patisserie Chanson, but the waiting area is actually the front part of the closed up Patisserie Chanson.
They have reservations for 7pm, 9:15pm, and 11pm, and we got their 9:15pm reservation. We received a text from theme earlier in the day, asking us to make sure we arrive on time because they start right at 9:15pm. But, when we got there a few minutes before that, they were not ready to receive us. They still had a couple of people from the previous session… A staff told us that they have to clean up and “reset” the mood perfectly to provide the first impression and experience perfect for customers. So, we were told to wait upstairs at Patisserie Chanson. When they were finally ready, they came and took one or two couples at a time. That was around 9:25pm, so, even thought the text said they start right on time, they really didn’t…
Anyways, the inside is quite small, with about 10 or so bar seating, and three sofas that can seat total of six. With that, the reservation gets booked up, better to plan early. The seat at the bar counter is where the action is, you get to chat with the chef, and also you get to see all the dessert creations right before your eyes.
When we sat down, we were giving a small ball of popcorn. It was Chili and Lime Sesame Popcorn, which is intended to make you crave some sweets. It was quite spicy!
Then, we got what I thought was some kind of plants in a pot. But no, they were some veggies and cheese, disguised as plants! How cool is that? They only had a few things in here, but these are just another little appetizer before the real dessert tasting course.
They had crispy carrots, beets and cheese croquet (?) which were fun to eat. During we were enjoying these, we were told a few rules. First, anything that is on the silver grate, they are not ready to be eaten yet. They are in-progress state, as they make the dessert in front of the customers. Another thing is the use of flash photography. They encourage everyone to take as many photos as they want, but without the use of flash.
Another thing we were told is that the main chef, Chef Rory Macdonald was in Paris, and that another chef will be leading a show. Since we were not notified of this, we were quite dissapointed…
Anyways, the show must go on… They will serve us Six-Course Dessert Tasting Menu ($68/person), for two full hours. There was an option to add Cocktail and Wine Paring (additional $58/person) to go with it. We decided to get the full experience, so we got the pairing as well.
The first course of the night was Gin & Tonic Sphere, which is a cocktail on a plate. Wow! It is wrapped in cucumber with finger lime. This item is to refresh your pallet and get your ready for this sweet culinary journey. You need to put the entire thing in your mouth, and keep your mouth closed as it will pop a little bit with Gin & Tonic in the inside. Let the flavor to flow among your taste buds… It was quite a fun item to start off with, refreshing and it was strong too!
Second course was EVOO Eucalyptus. They first brought out a container with eucalyptus in it. Then water was poured under it.
Then a bowl with olive-oil gelato was brought on top. A small amount of premium quality olive oil was drizzled on top. It was Venta de Baron EVOO.
After that, it was garnished with lemon zest and white chocolate crumble. It sure was interesting to see them create the dessert in front of us. And it does take a while before you can eat it, since they have to do with with every customer, few of them at a time.
And it was not over. She then poured liquid nitrogen on the bottom, which released nice, cool smoke from below. With that, the aroma of eucalyptus came to greet our noses and senses. It is to relax our body and soul, as we prepare for the first real sweet dessert of this production.
During the dessert creation process, the sommelier came around to pour the cocktails.
Then it was all set and ready! The dessert plate was finally off the silver grate, and ready for consumption! The pairing was called Firr 75, which is a twist of French 75. It is made with gin, absinthe, Strega, fir tincture, champagne, and lemon. It was sweet and a bit bubbly with champagne. The lemon flavor of the cocktail went well with the lemon zest on gelato. The gelato was super duper creamy with EVOO, just melt in your mouth!
The third course was Honey Rice Pudding. They are increasing the sweet level with this one. We each got this cute little white honey jar with wooden dipper. The first thing that went into the jar was bits of honey comb.
Then some honey on top. They get local honey that is made two blocks from here, on rooftops. Pretty cool… Then some bee pollen, pearl barley ice cream, kumquat orange, yogurt pop rocks…
Topped off with yogurt meringue. Then it was all complete!
The wine to be paired with this dessert was Moscato D’Asti. It is a dessert wine with a nice honey flavor, which of course was perfect with this dessert. We were told to have a sip of wine first to cut to little of the creaminess and bring the sweetness to the same level. It played well with the pop rocks, and also with kumquat orange.
And this is what the dessert looked like in the inside. We were told to stir them nice and well, When I tried to get some on the wooden dipper, not much came with it… Let me try again…
There! I got a good lump of the dessert on the dipper! But then at the end of the day, it was much easier to have it with a spool. LOL. It had fun popping sensation from the pop rocks, and barley had texture similar to rice, which make sense with the name of the dessert. I think Pooh would have enjoyed this.
The fourth course was their version of Ferrero Rocher. It started with a hazelnut mousse, then pieces of thin chocolates were carefully placed around it. It was garnished with edible gold on top.
And this is how it came out to be. The edible gold shiny like a crown, supported by different hue of mocha below. They also had some golden powder right by it, as if the shine from the gold extends onto the plate and beyond. The hazelnut mousse was more firm than I thought it would be, and the caramel crunch added extra texture. It had a very good hazelnut flavor with hazelnut mousse, toasted hazelnut, and caramelized hazelnut. The concept was interesting, it is their “deconstructed” Ferrero Rocher, with the edible gold being the gold wrapper of the candy,
The wine to be paired with this dessert was Barolo Chinato, which we were told is like an Italian version of Port. It had strong enough flavor to fight the strong flavor of chocolate, and the same time compliment each other. It had beautiful deep amber color.
The course number five was Miso Pink Grapefruit. Yes, a bit strange combination. They had a block of Himalayan pink salt which is lit up from the bottom. They put some droplets of Grapefruit concentrate jelly. Then a spot was marked for pink-grapefruit sorbet with (I think) small pieces of cashew cookies.
Then, marshmallow fluff was put on top of miso pudding tart on a turn table. She was pretty quick at it, each one just took a few seconds.
Then the marshmallow got toasted just a bit with a torch. Nice! Gelato was place on it at the last, to prevent it from melting.
The pairing part of this course was very interesting. It was called Diluvio. They brought out a coffee siphon, with herbs and spices like cardamom, rosemary, Vietnamese cinnamon on the top, and then sake, gin and elderflower liqueur on the bottom. They put the burner below the liquid mix, and it started to do its magic.
As the oxygen got sucked out from the bottom, all the liquid went up to the top container. The liquer will then get infused with all the herbs and spices, and then slowly goes back into the bottom pot.
It was fun to watch the hot sake cocktail being made right there, while enjoying the aroma of the herbs and spices. It was poured into a tea cup, as this is a unique “hot tea” cocktail.
There you have it, the completed dessert and the hot cocktail pairing. They paired this with miso since miso and sake goes together according to them, but hmmm, I am not sure if that is true… It was good to have a hot cocktail to change it up though, and the hot cocktail and miso is a good mix, I think.
The dessert is made with miso pudding tart with flourless cashew cookie on the bottom, and toasted marshmallow on top. Concentrated grapefruit jelly drops were super powerful. I thought it was a bit too strong in flavor. Miso was not overpowering but just right. Himalayan salt block added powerful salt flavor to gelato. Overall, it was very interesting but somehow didn’t quite work together.
The last course was indeed the most impressive when it comes to performance. This one was called Spiced Bosc Pear / Tonka. The light got dimmed quite a bit before this course was served, and we totally understood the reason behind it as soon as it started… A staff came around and poured brandy on fire over a pear! Oh yeah, he got some flare!
They infused the pear with brandy, and served it with a side of tonka beans gelato. They explained the tonka bean is a family of vanilla beans. It was very creamy and velvety, with nice vanilla-y flavor.
The spiced and caramelized pear was pretty good. Nicely infused with brandy, juicy, flavorful, warm and just soothes your body and soul with each bite…
The last pairing of the dessert was Dr. Frank Late Harvest, a Riesling from up state NY. It was very strong and sweet. Nice one to end the course.
They had a surprise seventh course for everyone, which was super awesome! It was a series of alcoholic gummy bears, four cute little boozy bears per person. They were in after dinner digestif flavors drinking spirits like Italian amaro, Scotch liquer, Madeira French wine, and yellow chartreuse.
It was super cute! We enjoyed the cute guys… They were chewy, plump and fluffy! Great flavor with a little kick to it.
They have bathroom all the way at the back, marked Gymnasium which is funny. This spot used to be a real speakeasy back in the day, so it does come with rich history.
The inside was very pretty and clean, well lit and spacious. It had those infinity mirrors around it, kind of fun.
We had a good time here, everyone was super nice and polite, friendly and took care of all customers really well. The one thing was that the music was way too loud. It made it difficult to hear the explanations of the desserts and drinks. Also, we were told to ask questions and have conversations with the chefs, but they were just busy making desserts and not very friendly… The desserts were good and again, fun to watch them make them in front of us. But at the end, none of them really stood out. I wanted to be wowed by their creations, but they didn’t quite live up to my expectations. They were mainly some kind of gelato, small portion and not very exciting flavors. So, good but not unforgettable. The experience itself was really fun though, it sure is memorable. Their tasting menu do change seasonally, so you can get different kinds of desserts from here.
Dessert Bar – 20 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010