Drawing inspiration from mums for dainty treats
CHEESE tarts with pink chocolate swans. A strawberry praline shaped to look like lipstick. Mousse cakes decorated with little hearts, ladies’ hats and dainty flowers.

These are the eye-catching elements featured in high-tea sets to celebrate Mothers Day.

Designed to appeal to the eye as well as the palate, these whimsical treats are served in a miniature chest of drawers at the OneSixFive Lounge in InterContinental Kuala Lumpur.

Sweets are arranged on the chest top. In the first drawer are spiral vegetable ratatouille tarts and baguette slices with tiger prawn topped with chilli and tomato salsa.

Smoked salmon and smoked duck sandwiches are in the second tier.

English scones and strawberry ones are in the third, with clotted cream and jam in the last drawer.

In charge of creating the sweets are the pastry kitchen’s junior sous chef Nyon Pei Shan, 28, and demi chef Jessie Chew, 26, who have been working in the team of the hotel’s executive pastry chef Chan Eng Hua, 55, for the past eight years.

“As the high-tea set is for Mothers Day, we decided on a theme that will appeal to the ladies.

“This explains the feminine touches and colourful finishes that are achieved with sugar glazes and cocoa sprays for the pastries,” said Nyon.

Dainty savoury pastries and sweets.

Complementing the cheese tarts and lipstick-shaped praline are three more mousse creations using double chocolate, coffee-flavoured mascarpone with yuzu curd and a pistachio mousse with cherry compote filling.

The scones in this set are from a recipe which Chan learned from an Austrian chef while he was working at a five-star hotel in Miri, Sarawak, in his youth.

“I’ve kept this recipe because the result is soft, buttery and moist.

“These scones can be kept for two days and will still remain just as good,” said Chan.

To go with the scones are two types of jam – strawberry and orange marmalade.

The savoury pastries in the first and second drawers were conceived by chef de cuisine Muhammad Hafizi Mahmud.

Incidentally, the smoked salmon and duck sandwiches were created in honour of his 64-year-old mother, who lives in Melaka.

“My mother loves salmon and duck. She makes assam pedas with salmon and a coconut curry with the duck.

“For this high-tea set, I deconstructed her favourite dishes and shrunk them to canapé size,” said 36-year-old Muhammad Hafizi.

Designed to appeal to the eye as well as the palate, the high-tea set is served in a miniature chest of drawers.

The ratatouille tarts by the chef de cuisine are definitely worth a try.

Composed of grilled zucchini, carrot and eggplant ribbons, they are seasoned with salt, pepper and rosemary then placed on a bed of tomato coulis in a tartlet.

A complimentary petit cake, lychee mocktail as well as free flow of Ronnefeldt tea or Illy coffee come with every purchase of the Mothers Day high-tea set which is priced at RM268+ and available until May 10.

To get the lipstick-shaped praline, ask for the True Devotion Hidden Gems High-Tea Set, which is priced at RM288+ and only served on May 11 and 12.

OneSixFive Lounge,

InterContinental Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

Tel: 03-2782 6173.

Business hours: 8am to midnight.

This is the writer’s personal observation and is not an endorsement by StarMetro.
Mothers' Day,high tea set,pastries,savouries,canapes
High-tea set served in miniature chest of drawers for Mothers Day.