Whisk | Dessert Bar
All my life I’ve been told that desserts can only be obtained after I’ve eaten my main meal, which must be healthy and nutritionally balanced. But what if I could just go straight to dessert?
Whisk is a three-course dessert tasting menu that challenges you to rethink desserts as more than an afterthought to dining. Run by Chef Patissier Simon Jenkins and co-founder Randon Burns, they have brought back this innovative new dining concept after a brief and flavoursome eight days last year. Much to everyone’s delight, Whisk will be staying for longer this time around and is located in a much bigger space that overlooks the Angel Central shopping centre.
I visited late on a Saturday afternoon with Lynz, aka my partner-in-fun, just as it opened for the day. We purposefully chose to go early as we both wanted to be able to enjoy the experience without too much bustle around us. The dishes arrive with either tea or wine pairings, and regardless of whether you are choosing the three- or four-course dessert, you really only need to select a main from the 6 options, as each set menu starts with an amuse-bouche and finishes with petits fours.
Amuse: soft set strawberry jelly, Gariguette strawberry, vanilla yoghurt mousse, lime foam
I wasn’t sure what to expect. The only other time that I have experienced experimental dessert was when Molecular Gastronomy was doing its rounds a few years ago, and I had the opportunity to create unique-flavoured mousse and fruit like caviar droplets for drinks. Whisk’s menu made it really easy to choose what flavours to focus on and the pairings were really well matched. I definitely wouldn’t have been able to create something as good as what I had for my chosen dessert.
Dark chocolate crème (68%), parsnip ice cream, orange granita, fresh horseradish zest, orange puree
“Banoffee” banana with shortbread, lime, caramelised milk, aerated coffee, banana ice cream
Both of us couldn’t be happier with the deserts that we had and the accompanying wine pairings. I went with the dark chocolate creme (68%), parsnip ice cream, orange granita, fresh horseradish zest with orange puree and the recommended pairing of Quinta de la Rosa LBV 2014 port, while Lyns went for a more traditional flavouring of ‘Banoffee’ banana with shortbread, lime, caramelised milk, and aerated coffee with a glass of fortified wine, Maury Solera 1928.
Petits fours: milk chocolate truffle, petit four du jour and fresh lemon madeleine
It was a really nice touch that Randon Burns was managing the floor and explained what they hoped to achieve with their pop-up, which was to redefine how we see dessert: no longer as some after-thought but taking centre stage of dining. I would definitely want to go again to try another sweet pudding and pairing - maybe the avocado and white chocolate mousse, or the roasted rhubarb and vanilla crumble.