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2011-08-10
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(Relax, the following review isn't going to be in French...)Model-turned-artiste-turned-pastry chef and bride-to-be Amanda Strang's namesake patisserie has recently touched the heart of Hong Kong...Hong Kong's economy. Opening its doors (well, no doors to be exact) at the all-important International Financial Centre where split-second decisions affecting the wellbeing of HK as an international financial centre (literally) are made, you can leave all these behind when you're at Petite Amanda and
Model-turned-artiste-turned-pastry chef and bride-to-be Amanda Strang's namesake patisserie has recently touched the heart of Hong Kong...Hong Kong's economy. Opening its doors (well, no doors to be exact) at the all-important International Financial Centre where split-second decisions affecting the wellbeing of HK as an international financial centre (literally) are made, you can leave all these behind when you're at Petite Amanda and just indulge yourself in the sweet world of Amanda S.
No offense, but guys know better when it comes to Amanda S. Leaving the limelight for Le Cordon Bleu was just the beginning. Strang could have showed you her impressive CV of having interned at Caprice, and even Ladurée, home to the French macaron (now I'd love to see macarons at Petite Amanda! Please!), but looking at her dainty, elegant figure swiftly movning at the shop front at one time, and meticulously checking her cakes at another, you can see that this brainchild is really her true calling.Strang's passion for her pastries should be well-proven when she chooses to open at 8 am in the morning. I don't think any other celebrity cake shop in town opens this early. The reason? Voila! Croissants! They are on offer at breakfast only (according to a local magazine) till 11 am, so I decided to give it a try when I was around ifc the other day.
The Starbucks next door was packed, and yes Amanda was readying her cakes at the display. First things first, I got a Croissant ($15) and an 8 oz Café Latte with Organic Milk ($38). There was no seating area yet the day I went, so I had to take out and idly enjoy my late breakfast under the sun. In a busy CBD. How wickedly beautiful.
My croissant looked nice, but wasn't smelling too strongly of butter. The texture was on the dry side and lacked that little moist/buttery touch. And it could have been flakier. With the price I paid I could have got a much better one at Robuchon's nearby, but hey, how can you compare it with the Master's creations with decades of experience under his belt? Nevertheless I'm sure the next time I come, the croissants are going to be better.
The Café Latte (I guess it's better for it to be called Café au Lait, just to stick with French terminology?) was mediocre. The foam was rather fluffy and coarse, but underneath, it was still smooth and mellow. I liked the paper cup though, it was sturdy and simplistic, too bad it wasn't edible. I'd recommend it if you want an alternative to Starbucks.It wouldn't be fair if I stopped just there without trying Amanda's sweets. So later that day I was at Petite Amanda again, shocked to find that the pastry display was empty again!! Apparently the first batch of cakes in the morning had been snapped up by the lunch crowds, oh no. I couldn't wait till the next batch at 4 pm, and luckily ther was still Amanda's Verrine ($70), one of the signatures here. Amanda's Verrine is the most expensive dessert on the menu, because the secret lies in its receptacle - a black Ramekin specially made for Petite Amanda by Le Creuset. It'll surely become the next collector's item soon! As for the dessert itself, it consists of Orange Jelly, Rum Sabayon, and Orange Segments, complete with butter crumbles. It's a traditional French dessert, in line with the pastry shop's philosophy of creating authentic French desserts and pastries with French ingredients.
I wanted badly the beautiful pyramid box, but I needed another cake in order to get it. I was so glad that Amanda the owner agreed to give me the box to take the verrine home (probably seeing that I had loads of shopping in my hands ). In return I made another purchase, this time it was a Pain au Levain (sourdough bread, $28). Well that was an excuse to try out more of the patesserie's breads.When I reached home I couldn't wait to dig into the pyramid and into Amanda's Verrine. The packet of crumble sat neatly next to the ramekin and what I had to do was to open the packet, sprinkle the crumble onto the sabayon and, bon appétit!
Hmm...I love it! This time the crumble was done quite right, full of the aroma of butter, with a slightly softer consistency than the usual butter crumble. (Perhaps it had something to do with sitting inside the package but this couldn't be helped much.)
The sabayon was very light yet creamy, but was also light on the liquor. The orange jelly was probably too thin to be detectable, but the orange was sweet and fitted the summery weather perfectly. Now I'm in for the black ramekin collection! Yay!
And I left the Pain au Levain for breakfast the next day. Having eaten countless sourdoughs over the years, the one from Amanda's may not be the cream of the crop, I'd say it was one of the better ones in town. The "sourness" of the sourdough was not as prominent as the other sourdoughs I'd eaten, and it was slightly softer as well. I don't know if the recipe has been adapted to local tastes, but I guess native Hong Kongers would also love this bread like the expats do. Amanda the patesserie was just born, and Amanda the pastry chef is going on to the next stage of her life as well. Meilleurs voeux à Amanda!
张贴
