Annual Multiple Indulgence in October

Why they changed "Sugarhits" to "Let's do desserts" is beyond me (and many others). Sugarhit just has such a lovely ring to it, and so much easier to say when making a booking -

     "I'd like a table for x people for this date for Sugarhit please"
     "I'm sorry what?"
     "Eh, the dessert event, at 9pm?"
     "You mean the Lets Do Desserts?"
     "Yes that."

Change it back, organisers.

Not that it stops me at all, as you can see we organised it well in advance and had it spaced out fairly evenly so the pancreas won't be overstretched in a short period of time.

First place was Bishop Sessa, with an apple millefeuille, salted caramel ice cream, peanut madeleine and nougats, served with a glass of Brown Brothers orange muscat.

The presentation was rather 'wow' and scored big points. Of course we know the apple slices would not have been cut by hand - mandolins are a great invention - but the layering would have been done by hand. Salted caramel ice cream - good amount of salt (ie salty) and creamy. Nougat was very delicious. Madeline was fab - I love the nutty aroma.

Overall it was a very refreshing dessert. However the general consensus was, as lovely as the individual elements were, they kinda didn't meld. I'd eaten them separately as if it was a dessert medley. Not complaining as I still loved it.

Prior to our second dessert outing, we had a pre-dessert dessert (KT you must love this) at the Night Noodle Market - after dinner, that is - I see Serendipity ice cream and I can't resist. So many fab flavours to choose from, I ended up with coconut and kaffir lime (like eating a Thai dessert), and a taste of pretzel and peanut butter swirl (must have a tub of that at home), blood orange sorbet (always good), chilli passionfruit (something I'd had before and didn't appreciate). Happiness.

Then, the main dessert course at The Woods, Four Seasons, of wood-baked pear tarte tatin with smoked ice cream, with botrytis semillon.

OMG.

Angels sang at my first bite. We could taste the smokiness first thing (like smoked bacon!!) and the subtle but definite charcoal flavour in the tarte. Every second mouthful someone would say "mmm". Really amazing, it looks ordinary - upside down pear tart with a scoop of ice cream - but the flavour!! Angels continued to sing until I scooped up the last morsel. And this was after

DETOUR! This was not really a part of the SugarHits, given it is always available now at Westin Hotel (due to its immense popularity when it was launched). Mad-Hatters Afternoon Tea just sounded amazing before I even bothered checking it out, so we just looked forward to it for a whole month before the day finally came! See here for menu and prices.

Important stuff - food. Savouries - Roasted beef and asparagus roulade on mini laugen; bocconcini and cherry tomato 'catepillar' salad; Alaskan crabmeat salad on bread wrapped in cucumber. Salad was ok, beef and asparagus roulade was delicious but simple, and the sandwich was the best cucumber sandwich ever! So refreshing.

On to the sweet stuff. Queen of heart - Raspberry butter cream, chocolate ganache and raspberry jelly; White rabbit's pocket watch: Purple macaron with blueberry cream filling; Mad hatter's hat: Rich dark chocolate mud cake in chocolate icing. Consumed in this order. Queen of heart has my heart - perfect and gorgeous combination, I'll have 3 of those thank you! Blueberry macaron - most of the time blueberry flavour is rather non-descript and this was no exception. Good well made mac, though. Mud cake: Absolutely stunning presentation, gorgeous flavour and perfect size for a mud cake. Then we realised there's scones with cream and jam to come. Yikes, I'm full already! But the jams were spectacular - strawberry jam (or conserve, it was runny) and raspberry chocolate sauce were to die for! Excellent way to finish off the crazy funky mad-hatter's afternoon tea!

Final stop - Shangri-La offers a milk chocolate delice, passionfruit curd with grue cacao crunch, salted caramel and roast hazelnut, and a honey thyme pear strawberries 'n' creme graffiti lollipop. What a mouthful, we thought, and very delicately presented. Gorgeous little lollipop (except it just tasted of sweet white chocolate), yummy passionfruit curd with a crunchy centre, and very light chocolatey mousse with a flavourful base.

Verdict? Lovely. No wow. Are our taste buds getting really hard to please? Or that chefs nowadays are getting so involved with complexity and variety, and forgetting that the more element, the less focus in flavour?

I don't know. My bias remains with classics with great flavours. The Wood's smoked pear tarte tatin, for example, was so simple an idea but packed a surprise heavenly smoky flavour. Or at Mad-Hatter's, top notch and fun presentation but it's really based on classic desserts. But that's me - Surely other people will appreciate the great efforts of the chefs.

Another month of sweet indulgence done! Next adventure - Something magical, imaginative, fairy tale and finish with 'happily ever after' ... Lets do a Disney Homebake!

CS.