Raspberry Delice, $12. Though it looks like an artwork made of burgundy suede, this chocolate cake is filled with mousse made from single-plantation Madirofolo chocolate and raspberry-lychee gel. That’s lychee-raspberry sorbet on the far-right corner of the plate.
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Raspberry Delice, $12. Though it looks like an artwork made of burgundy suede, this chocolate cake is filled with mousse made from single-plantation Madirofolo chocolate and raspberry-lychee gel. That’s lychee-raspberry sorbet on the far-right corner of the plate.
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Apple-vanilla choux, $12. This flaky cream puff is filled with tart apple pie filling sophisticated enough to deserve its crown of Saturn-like white chocolate rings. Buttermilk sorbet assures that the flavors are far from saccharine.
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Apple-vanilla choux, $12. This flaky cream puff is filled with tart apple pie filling sophisticated enough to deserve its crown of Saturn-like white chocolate rings. Buttermilk sorbet assures that the flavors are far from saccharine.
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How many kinds of chocolate can you handle? The Chocolate Pebble ($12) made us lose count. The chocolate mousse tart, made using single-origin Alto el Sol chocolate, has a liquid center that oozes into a pool of… chocolate that holds a tiny brownie. There’s caramelized white chocolate, too.
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How many kinds of chocolate can you handle? The Chocolate Pebble ($12) made us lose count. The chocolate mousse tart, made using single-origin Alto el Sol chocolate, has a liquid center that oozes into a pool of… chocolate that holds a tiny brownie. There’s caramelized white chocolate, too.
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Hakkasan executive chef Ho Chee Boon is hard at work teaching his complex recipes to the Houston kitchen staff.
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Hakkasan executive chef Ho Chee Boon is hard at work teaching his complex recipes to the Houston kitchen staff.
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The sweet venison puff is a light, game-focused take on the more traditional pork pastry served at dim sum houses.
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The sweet venison puff is a light, game-focused take on the more traditional pork pastry served at dim sum houses.
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Do you prefer to order with Instagram in mind? The crispy fried duck-and-pumpkin puff (it will remind you of a taro puff but with a smooth exterior instead of a rough one) is the obvious choice.
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Do you prefer to order with Instagram in mind? The crispy fried duck-and-pumpkin puff (it will remind you of a taro puff but with a smooth exterior instead of a rough one) is the obvious choice.
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Crystal dumplings are topped with goji berries and filled with morel mushrooms.
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Crystal dumplings are topped with goji berries and filled with morel mushrooms.
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Hornigold insisted that we try the delicately flavored jasmine-smoked pork ribs. Imagine the sticky, oversweet take-out ribs you’re used to, prepared instead by a Michelin-starred chef, and you’ve got the idea.
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Hornigold insisted that we try the delicately flavored jasmine-smoked pork ribs. Imagine the sticky, oversweet take-out ribs you’re used to, prepared instead by a Michelin-starred chef, and you’ve got the idea.
Graham Hornigold is the longstanding executive pastry chef for the international Hakkasan Group, but traveling the globe making cakes doesn’t mean that he has a sweet tooth. “I don’t like desserts,” he admits. But his distaste for sugar dictates the flavors of his streamlined patisserie. “You don’t taste sugar,” he explains. “You taste what you should taste.”
And beginning this Wednesday, March 29, lots of Houstonians will be tasting his wares. Long-awaited Yauatcha, part of the London-based Hakkasan Group, opens its first location in the continental United States in the “jewel box” building in front of the Galleria this week in a space adjoining the Webster. Diners should certainly be excited about the savory delicacies about to become part of Houston’s gustatory fabric, but the desserts are notable in their own right.
When diners enter Yauatcha, they’re greeted by Hornigold’s pastries (made in a kitchen to be led by local pastry chef Dory Fung when he returns to London), ready to be taken to-go, or enjoyed in the restaurant with some genmaicha or jasmine tea.
But the cakes were designed to follow the flavors of Chinese food. Hornigold tastes a spoonful of garlicky chile oil before sampling his pastries. The goal, he says, is to immediately erase the lingering funk. “The receptors become slightly more compromised,” he says of the heavy flavors of the savory plates. But the balanced notes of his desserts restore clarity to diners’ tastebuds. The same trick works moving from dessert to dessert, each cleansing the palate while also stimulating it. “It’s not just cake. It does a job,” he says, accurately.
Which makes it easy to make an excuse to taste more than one.
Alice joined Houstonia in November 2015 and has been relishing exploring the city’s vibrant food scene ever since.
She began her journalism career at age 13 with a cult film criticism ’zine. As an adult, stints with WWE Magazine and EatingWell led to her job as senior food writer at Vermont’s alternative newsweekly, Seven Days, in 2008. In that capacity, she became one of the state’s most well-known TV and radio personalities. Her first book, Vermont: An Explorer’s Guide, was published in 2015. Alice has won an AltWeekly Award for Best Food Writing, two Daysies for Best Print/Online Journalist, and two "Top Social Foodie" awards from Burlington Social Media Day.
