Soooo, i changed job. Nowadays im changing job quite often… seems for me as well. But this change was so quick, i could even write a blog about the other award winning vegeterian place, the Terre a Terre.

Cut the story short: officialy i left because of a fire in the kitchen – we closed down for a while (around 2 months) doing nothing. They have been trying to keep us busy with silly small jobs, it just couldnt work.

The truth? That place was not for me – the fire just came as a very good excuse to leave. Im really thankful for everything i learnt there (especially for the umeboshi mayo, edemame pesto and miso tahini recipes) – it was hard work no doubt, and thanks to show me the way, how i dont want to organize my kitchen in the future. I had horrible times next to the deep fryer blanching chips every day for hours and hours. I had beautiful shifts in the pastry section playing with the bread, icecream, biscotties etc etc… unfortunately i had no chance to show myself with my knowledge truly – i can blame nobody just the system. Thats ok – im happy to be out wishing good luck for the brand new kitchen to my old team!!! :)

Im at Yum Yum now. The story is not that new – “years and years ago” ive got a job offer when we’ve been working at Due South and Yum Yum was just a plan on a pure white paper…. i was a silly silly girl with no patience so missed the chance at first. But back now. And its good, i feel just like at the old times (dont know if anyone remembers the blog post Asian Invasion – was the time we ve been experimenting new dishes for this new place)…

So yes, lets jump to the interesting section: the food.  Pan-asian kitchen and Izakaya (japo pub with sake, sake and a bit more sake). Having a cool bar upstairs with a few talented guys making amazing cocktails with an asian twist using stuff like a dream (jasmine syrup, lychee liquire, agave, rose etc etc…) – I have to say, really nice. And i can use everything, everything from there what i might need.

The idea of the place is an asian tapas bar. Small portions of food coming as ready, one by one, so u always have something new on the table to try – thats really cool from the service point of view, dont need to arrange and manage to send all the food at the same time. LOTS OF MEAT. LOTS AND LOTS OF MEAT… (lets forget being a vegeterian… :)). Half of the menu is just Dim Sum (lovely little bites filled with a bit of this and a bit of that… prawn, pork, scallops, veg etc etc…), the other half… hmmmm… kind of main courses, but smaller version. Duck leg with pancakes, beef tataki, crispy pork belly, tori-kara chicken etc etc… and the lovely homemade sauces just like in the heaven (but spicy like hell). Seafood in every way, any type of sashimi, seabass in banana leaves, miso black cod, prawns, scallops, crabs, lobsters, oysters bla bla bla… but my favorite thing is, u can have your own private party in a separate function room (japo style) and order massive amount of food (tonns of dim sums, half of a saam beef with plenty of kimchi etc etc) enjoy just with your friends and family. U can even order your birthday cake – hahaha, i just made my first one yesterday night… was pretty cool…

So becoming the pasty chef… the team is good (not talking about the cleaning proccess) but i have the real passion for desserts. Since i started im working on something new.

Reading 24hours since then, brainstorming about new interesting fruits, methods, technics, spices and aromas… just to make really funky but keeping it traditional in a way. Crazy ideas coming and going all the time (tamarind granita, smoked nuts, pandan mochi cake, curry-mango curd etc etc…) just need to fit the pieces together.

Not easy because it needs to be easy to make for everyone and be quick – but i want quality in the same time. Even if the dessert mainly a hidden part of this type of “tapas dining” and most of the people having just savoury food  – always gonna be a few, who has a sweet teeth…. and i want to surprise them. We have three desserts on the board at the moment plus icecreams&sorbets. Its gonna change for sure.

1st dessert: deep fried apple pie with cinnamon sugar and clotted cream icecream

2nd dessert: chocolate won-tons with sweet chilli sauce

3rd desserts: lemongrass mousse with lime gel and coconut sorbet

The homemade icecreams are: milk chocolate, white chocolate, vanilla…

Sorbets are: coconut, lychee, raspberry, mango…

They want to make a proper menu for this with some special flavors and a small sexy garnish, so just for the start  i made: black sesame seed icecream, rose water icecream, wasabi pistacchio icecream, miso, avocado, matcha etc etc… And about the three desserts…. fingers cross i can win everyone:

1st – umeboshi creme brulee, coconut sorbet and tuille

2nd – tofu&dark chocolate mousse, passion fruit curd, senbei

3rd – japanese cheesecake, lotus seeds ganache, miso icecream, yuba

With the proper recipes would be so easy to make and serve all of them even in the busy saturday night…

with lots of love. xxx