Lavish Chinese New Year Treats at Antoinette
January 25, 2015
Welcome good fortune and prosperity into the Lunar New Year with Antoinette’s Lunar New Year Collection. Inspired by Chinese traditions and local favours, Executive Chef Pang Kok Keong has created a range of Lunar New Year confectionery and specialty cakes to delight the senses.
This year, Antoinette is launching Queen’s YuSheng – a reinvention of the iconic Yu Sheng. It’s a dessert; it has French elements; it comes with a hammer; and it’s eaten at the end. Its execution is bold and rich with meaning. A large chocolate Golden Egg, symbol of birth and renewal, would arrive on a ‘nest’ of auspicious sweets such as chocolate fish, ingots and coin; 5-spiced almonds and cashews; mandarin orange butter cake and meringue kisses; and yam and sweet potato chips. Available for dine-in and take away from 9 February to 5 March, and priced at $88++ each. It serves 6 to 8 pax.
Chef Pang had conceptualised the Queen Yu Sheng so that the young and old could enjoy; it would contain the same well-loved symbols of fortune and prosperity and make a wonderful gift to his fellow citizens on Singapore’s 50th year of independence. He created this so that both his girls (Charlotte and Chloe) can enjoy, and also in time to celebrate the arrival of his baby boy in January 2015.
The Golden Egg is cracked open to ‘birth’ Asian fresh fruit – pineapple, Thai green mango, red dragon fruit, pomelo. You drizzle with a lovely sauce of mandarin orange, plum and gula melaka. The customary festive tossing will then begin. It is a unique melding of cultures, Chinese motifs and ingredients would be wedded to the art of French patisserie and chocolate making. Above is the instavideo I did to show you how we crack open the golden egg! 🙂
Other Antoinette’s Lunar New Year-inspired French patisserie includes Chocolate Love Letters ($21.40) are enrobed in Valrhona caraibe 66% dark chocolate and dusted with gold prosperity dust, Pork Floss Meringue ($10.70) seamlessly entwines light fluffy French meringue pastry with traditional Chinese pork floss, Mandarin Macaron ($2.70 per piece, $16.05 for 6 pcs) that consists of white lotus paste perfumed with mandarin orange confit. There is also Honeycomb cracker with sesame ($16.05), Spiced Sweet Potato Chips ($16.05), Candied Yam Chips ($16.05) and Pineapple Tart ($16.05) with homemade pineapple jam on buttery shortbread.
New this year is Tres Blond ($10.70 per slice) – a cake that combines vanilla confit pineapple and mandarin orange marmalade with French touches of light passion fruit cream and almond sable, seasame peanut nougatine before coated in ‘gold’ webs of Valrhona dulcey blond chocolate and topped with chocolate discs that resemble golden medallions for success!
We also tried the 8 Treasures cake ($16.05 per loadf) which is a very rich butter cake infused with the flavours of eight treasures—red dates, roasted pine nuts, dried longan fruit, candied ginger, kaffir lime leaves, walnuts, goji berries, tangerine peel and spices. You can customize a collection of premium cookies and confectionery to put Antoinette’s range of Lunar New Year gift tins and boxes.
Antoinette has introduced a Valentine’s 5-course menu, as well as a selection of celebratory cakes. My favourite is obviously the pink Pavlova ($10.70) which features a cascade of pastel rose petal Chantilly rosettes, gently piped atop a rose meringue and almond cake with raspberry marmalade, lychee, yuzu cream, finished with a touch of rose petals and raspberries. Such a beautiful combination, isn’t it? Of course, if you are a chocolate lover, go for Orangier ($10.70), featuring a flourless chocolate sponge, orange marmalade, orange caramel cremeux, almond orange nougatine and Valrhona Manjari dark chocolate mousse.
Antoinette
30 Penhas Road (of Lavender Street), Singapore 208188
Tel: 6293 3121
Website: http://antoinette.com.sg
