What sweet outcomes can be achieved from a meeting of two countries? Politicians and diplomats can try to answer that question, but perhaps the best person to ask is a pastry chef on holiday.
When Singaporean pastry chef Liu Ming Kai (劉洺愷) vacationed in Taiwan, he ended up meeting his wife and planting the seeds of the first overseas location of The Patissier, which opens today.
While Singaporean eateries have made steady inroads into Taiwan in recent years — Ng Ah Sio Bak Kut Teh’s pork bone broth and Irvins Salted Egg snacks come to mind — The Patissier is a rare sweets specialist from the island nation. At home, the 19-year-old shop has built a loyal following around its innovations on classic French patisserie, adapting flavors and techniques unique to Singapore’s tropical setting.
Photo: Davina Tham, Taipei Times
Two successful pop-ups in Taipei in as many years convinced owners Chow Choon Kit (周俊傑) and Tan Siang Oon (陳湘筠) that there was a place for The Patissier here. Stars aligned last year when the couple learned that pop-up partner and now next-door neighbor, Furo Cafe, was downsizing to a takeaway-only space.
The result is a corner unit in the charming and affluent neighborhood of Siwei Road (四維路) in Daan District (大安). Customers can grab a coffee from Furo Cafe and carry it the few steps to The Patissier to sit and enjoy a slice of cake, while looking out on a quiet, bougainvillea-framed street.
After five years with The Patissier in Singapore, Liu has relocated to Taipei and leads the pastry team here. His immediate challenge was to translate the pastries, designed around Singapore’s year-round hot and humid weather, for Taiwan’s four seasons.
Photo: Davina Tham, Taipei Times
The Patissier’s signature pastry — a light meringue sponge filled with tart passionfruit mousse, fresh mangoes and strawberries — uses tropical fruits that in Taiwan are only available in the summer.
So for these colder months, Liu developed Smitten (NT$200 per slice), a meringue sponge filled instead with berry yogurt mousse, fresh strawberries and blueberries. A streak of passionfruit curd in the filling is essential, providing a nod to the original and an ambrosial hit of acidity. The meringue sponge is what makes this cake The Patissier’s calling card — the unusual airy, chewy crispness is a cross between a pavlova and a genoise.
Despite Taipei’s sophisticated pastry and confectionery scene, The Patissier may be one of the only shops in the city where you can get a croquembouche (NT$2,500 to NT$3,000) — a conical tower of choux puffs filled with pastry cream. While the show-stopping celebration confection is traditionally decorated with delicate spun sugar, the choux puffs in this version are dipped in chocolate, which does not melt as quickly. Brightly tinted chocolates, fondant decorations and the detachable choux puffs make for a terrifically kid-friendly, interactive dessert.
Photo: Davina Tham, Taipei Times
Two cake flavors have been developed exclusively for The Patissier’s Taipei branch. Be My Valentine (NT$200 per slice) pairs raspberry-milk chocolate mousse with raspberry jelly. Joyeux Apple (NT$200 per slice) comes cleverly shaped like a Granny Smith and faithfully contains green apple mousse, caramel filling and caramelized green apples, balancing sweet and sour with aplomb.
But a uniquely “Mod-Sin,” or modern Singaporean, take on dessert comes in the form of the Jade Mirror (NT$200 per slice), a composition of pandan, the vanilla of Southeast Asia, chiffon layered with kaya, a jam of pandan, coconut milk and eggs and soy milk mousse. The combination of these flavors, typical to a traditional Singaporean breakfast, is understated and seamless. As pandan leaves and kaya are almost impossible to find in Taiwan, Chow and Tan carried the ingredients over from Singapore, and the cake will be available until their stock runs out.
Photo: Davina Tham, Taipei Times
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