The great thing about dessert is that you always have room for it. Whether it’s a slice of ever-trendy Basque burnt cheesecake, or a pint of the good stuff while lounging on your sofa, the only real problem with dessert is making sure you aren’t getting too much of it. Some days though, dessert isn’t just about satisfying a craving: it could be as complicated and as drawn out as you’d like, and all the better for it.
(Related: Object of Desire: The Drinksworks Home Bar by Drinkworks)
Enter dessert bars. The chefs and artisans at some of Singapore’s best dessert bars take your classic comforting dessert items and put their unique spin on it. Think saccharine treats scooped, spun and plated before your very eyes, with all sorts of culinary gadgetry. Sure, caramel spirals and lattices aren’t really that complicated to make, but showmanship counts for something (not to mention a killer photo).
(Related: Jigger & Pony takes the top spot on the Asia’s 50 Best Bars 2020 list)
At some of these places, you’d even get to hear the chef’s thought process behind his mercurial desserts – which after all, is part of the fun. It does mean you’d have to set aside a generous chunk of time while patronising one of these bars, but trust us: it’ll be one of the best dessert experiences you can get in sunny Singapore.
https://www.thepeakmagazine.com.sg/gourmet-travel/dessert-bars-best-singapore/
Dessert bars best Singapore
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If you come across House on the Moon at Great World City, the first thing that hits you is its strikingly elegant design that’s all angles, lines and tight corners. Next, of course, would be the artistically crafted desserts. Turkish chef Huseyin Turan’s cut his teeth alongside culinary greats – including three-Michelin-starred chef Juan Amador, at his eponymous restaurant. In fact, it was watching Amador prepare innovative desserts that inspired chef Turan’s love for dessert. He’s carried that into House on the Moon, crafting desserts that are experimental, complex and always pretty. To that end, every dessert plate at House on the Moon is crafted a la minute, with the chef explaining his philosophy behind the dishes. His signature is Moonwalk, which features a bevy of Milky Way-inspired, well, planets. These planets include mascarpone cheese mousse on vanilla sponge, yoghurt ice cream and shards of white chocolate, all atop stellar dust-esque buttermilk nut and yoghurt crumble. Every dish comes with its own tea pairing, so this is definitely a dessert experience that’s meant to be savoured.
#01-K101 & #02-K103, Great World City. Tel: 6235-2657.
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Another dessert restaurant with some serious celebrity appeal, Tarte by Cheryl Koh is led by the Les Amis alum, who held court as the pastry chef just a couple of doors away. There’s nothing quite like daily from-scratch cakes, tarts and confectioneries, especially when there’s been so much thought and care behind them. The winner of Asia’s Best Pastry Chef 2016 selects fine seasonal ingredients in peak season: from exceptionally sweet Roussilon white peaches, to wild Korean mountain berries (known as San Ddalgi), a rare varietal characterised by its mild acidity and strawberry-like aroma. Prepared with finesse atop the requite French pastry, chef Koh balances the flavours of her tarts perfectly to allow the appellations to shine in their own right. Naturally, her menu changes with the seasons.
#02-12, Shaw Centre. Tel: 6235-3225.
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Headed by homegrown culinary darling Janice Wong – whose accolades include earning the title of Asia’s Best Pastry Chef in 2013 and 2014, awarded by the San Pellegrino Asia Top 50 – 2am: dessertbar brings to bear the weighty culinary skills of the consummate patissier. Her restaurant’s chic modern design is underpinned by tutelage from some of the world’s great chefs, including Spanish chocolatier Oriol Balageur and French pastry chef Pierre Herme, as well as plenty of research. Her latest menu came about from her recent trip to Italy for the Top Chef Season 17 finale (where she was a guest judge). The menu simultaneously celebrates the 12th anniversary of 2am: dessertbar, and features a slew of Italian ingredients including amaretto, pistachio and white truffle. All of these are used in Dolce Vita, a luxuriantly plated dessert which celebrates the joie de vivre. Expect Amaretto-spiked vanilla ice cream shaped into faux-cacao seeds, along Rocher chocolate mousse, pistachio white truffle crumble and salted caramel with vibrant green, white and red notes decorating the dessert (as if it needed to be any more Italian). As a bonus, $10 from every dessert sold at 2am: dessertbar will go to Community Chest to raise funds for those who need it.
21A Lorong Liput. Tel: 6291-9727.
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Chocophiles rejoice. The Dark Gallery is Singapore’s first artisanal dessert concept that’s thrown in its lot with chocolate – and lots of it. You’d excuse them for being a tad snobbish about their chocolate: after all, they’ve got a bevy of dark-chocolate themed desserts and ice-creams that best showcase the heady aroma and acerbic bitterness of the beans, which The Dark Gallery has sourced from the likes of Venezuela, Ecuador and Tanzania. You’ve got a tasting-menu-like option with their Single Origin Cholate platter, while The Chocolate Rhapsody plates a trio of dark, milk and white chocolate ice cream scoops over a mess of chocolate soil, completed with chocolate meringue, tuile and mousse. Else, there’s always liquid comfort from their frozen chocolate cube latte, which is exactly what it sounds like: a tall glass of warm milk and a double expresso shot to be poured into a glass of frozen chocolate cubes of your choice.
Various outlets.