03 November, 2010

Flor Patisserie @ Duxton Hill

Allow him to first declare that HFB is not a big fan of cake and pastry, partially due to the fact that most of them are either too sweet or too heavy for his palate. However, he is quite an ardent fan of Japanese inspired French pastry due to the fact that they are lighter and ain’t too sweet. So it wasn’t surprised that he accepted an invitation by inSing.com to drop by the amiable Flor Patisserie for their cake sampling session.

Flor Patisserie (2)

Those who come to know about Flor would came to realise that it is started by Chef Yamashita, a Japanese pastry chef that hails from Japan, and formerly of the much raved Patisserie Glacé, where he once took charge. Located along the quaint shophouses of Duxton Hill, we had the opportunity to savour Flor’s delicate handcrafted cakes. We were served sampling portions of 8 different types of pastry, but some of the cakes were so tempting that they were snapped up before he had a chance to photo some of them. Thus all that was left were as followed.

Flor Patisserie (1)

Using traditional French method of aeration which does not use any chemical leavening, Chef Yamashita creates his signature Strawberry Shortcake aka Berry Berries, which consisted of naturally soft sponge cake, fresh strawberries and cream. One of the three representative cakes of Japan (the other two being the Mont Blanc and Choux Cream), HFB loved the fact that it was really light and fluffy, and this is something he wouldn’t mind eating repeatedly, or at least that's what his brain choose to believe.

Flor Patisserie (3)

While we didn’t get to sample the mont blanc, at least we did get to try out the Waguri Millefeuille, where similar delicate strands of French Chestnut Cream, topped with sweetened Japanese chestnuts, is carefully piped over a sandwich of crisp, flaky puff pastry and pastry cream. The puff pastry provided a nice differentiating texture which HFB thoroughly enjoyed.

Flor Patisserie (4)

The Berry Choux is created using Flor's special pastry cream, fresh cream and berries. The tricky part about choux pastry is its sensitivity to moisture in the air. Too much moisture and it will go soft. Too dry and it wouldn't have the elasticity to stretch and grow in the oven. And as we would have it, Chef Yamashita managed to perfect his recipe to suit our island’s weather. It had a nice balance in terms of elasticity and the cream sure didn’t feel heavy for his palate.

Flor Patisserie (5)

The Classic Chocolate, is essentially a rich 58% chocolate cake, that is dense and moist in the center, and topped with a dollop of thick fresh cream and chocolate pearls. What HFB liked about this cake was the rich chocolatey taste that doesn’t put one off despite mouthfuls. But what he would have preferred was for the chocolate pearls to be within the cake rather than on top to give it an added texture for every bite.

Flor Patisserie (6)

The Vert, is fundamentally a green tea cake made up of a layer of green tea sponge base, followed by the harmony of vanilla cream and fragrant green tea mousse, covered by a thin layer of cold, green tea jelly. Flor uses real green tea powder for its clear and pristine flavour and aroma, and HFB thinks only a real matcha lover can truly appreciate the tint of bitterness from it.

Flor Patisserie (7)

Disclaimer: No ratings would be given, as this is an invited taste test. HFB would also like to take this opportunity to thank inSing.com and Flor Patisserie for their hospitality.


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