Thursday, February 19, 2009

When mad dessertarians celebrate V-day II

Since Isaphan is available at Carousel (all the time), I wasn't keen to purchase one for Valentine. When I saw CentrePs' Sweetheart on the UOB bronchure, my curiousity was stirred to find out how our favourite macaron pâtisserie will fare when it comes to isaphan.

Anyway, the pastry chef of CentrePs did not call this an isaphan since this name was originally given by Pierre Herme. Though it was not trademarked, she felt that it would be ordinary if CentrePs follow suit to sell them. Also, her training in France makes her realize some of the popular creations Pierre Herme has were actually old recipes and the combination of lychee and rose makes no exception. Bottom line, most of his desserts are old recipes but he changes alittle to incorporate a comtemporary feel and since these recipes have been well-accepted over the years, it is not surprisingly that taste so good to be true.

Sweetheart

According to Kim Boon, there is a story behind this isaphan. This was designed and made by CentrePs pastry chef Steven Ong to woo his ex-girlfriend aka his wife so Kim Boon was confident that this unique heart-shaped macaron is able to melt the hearts of many females. Though Yuan has praised Center Ps macarons on various occasions, he didn’t enjoy this one as much as Macaron L'amour for 2 reasons. namely, the sugary bits that were sprinkled over the shell and the layer of extremely sour raspberry jam in its filling. Although the texture of their macaron shells remain good, the above 2 points made Yuan decide that Canele’s V-day creation was better.

Raspberries!!!

For me, I felt that CentrePs was pretty adventurous with the ingredients used in this creation. Unlike a typical Isaphan with lychee bits and rose macaron shells, this has a layer of sponge with a custardy texture and a thin piece of white chocolate, making it less cloying when compared to Canele's version. So for bakers out there, based on our experience with the Valentine Isaphans, apart from the conventional lychee cream and raspberries, one can consider introducing jam innards, raspberry jelly, sponge cake, custard and white chocolate into Isaphan.

Sweetheart costs $33 nett and it comes with a stalk of red rose.

Centre Ps Pte Ltd
78 Guan Chuan Street
#01-43
Singapore 160078
Tel: 6220 1285
http://www.centre-ps.com/

Operating hours:
10am to 8pm (Mondays to Thursdays)
10am to 9pm (Fridays and Saturdays)
Closed on Sundays

4 comments:

bossacafez said...

still got story behind the ispahan? i tot its a pierre herme creation, period. but what amazes me is the ability to come up with different designs for this heart shaped ispahan. both are nice in their own ways actually. i like canele for using pistolet chocolate (sprayed on choc) to create that velvety effect. but centreP's is nice oso.

btw there's a le bon marche @ chuan guan st, they selling those french gourmet stuffs. hv u been inside b4?

Fen said...

Haha, if you drop by CentrePs, Kim Boon will tell you lots of stories behind their creations... There are quite a few but I didn't have the photos of their creations to share with you guys...

Yea, saw a lot of designs for the Valentine ispahan and I would say some are nice while some are ordinary but they are expensive...

Yup, the Le Bon Marche is just beside CentrePs and they don't really sell pastries but rather ingredients, meat and cheeses... The crushed rose biscuit can be found there near the entrance (left hand side upon entering).

Saw your salted caramel macarons on your flickr... As usual, both the macarons and photos look amazing...

bossacafez said...

wahaha so u & kim boon very good friends now izit? :p :p

the biscuits roses de reims i wanna buy is not crushed rose biscuits. its actually like sponge fingers but pink, like this :

http://www.latartinegourmande.com/2007/05/03/birthday-girl-with-a-red-charlotte-anniversaire-et-charlotte-habillee-de-rouge/

pretty right? yea i know le bon marche sells gourmet food stuffs like cheese, meat etc so i wanna go hv a look. at the same time can drop by centreP's oso :D aiya, or r u going again? den maybe u can help me buy the biscuits hehe

Fen said...

Not really, he has a very friendly personalty, I guessed this is a form of motivation that keeps him going...

Don't miss out Grand Cru Royal when you are at CentrePs...

I see... Red Charlotte is so lovely... I doubt I will have time to drop by CentrePs... I am so dead tired and busy recently but if I decided to pop by, I will let you know...

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