Best of the City
Best Desserts 2009
The crème brûlée tyranny, we’re happy to report, is finally waning. More and more restaurants are opting for elegant takes on sweet comfort. Here are the top five
Image credit: Jack Dylan
1. After a six-year stint at Pangaea, pastry chef Joanne Yolles has returned to Scaramouche. Her passion fruit bavarois is ethereally light, with tropical flavours, cute meringue batons and a diet-salvaging dose of sliced fruit. $13.
2. Colborne Lane has concocted the world’s best chocolate bar. Glittering edible gold leaf encloses a grown-up version of a KitKat that’s rich with smooth dark chocolate and crisp wafers. The fun doesn’t stop there: chocolate ganache, lemon grass sorbet, frozen chocolate crumbs and frozen orange cells construct a whimsically sophisticated ode to childhood. $13.
3. Black Hoof’s lemon-lavender tart has a list of ingredients that sound more like tea infusions than the stuff of dessert decadence. But a layer of white chocolate fudge helps mellow the citrus edge of the lemon curd for a bright, beautifully balanced bite. $6.
4. Mistura refines a Canadian favourite with its delicate pine nut tart. Impossibly flaky pastry cradles unctuous brown sugar–butter goodness. In place of traditional raisins or pecans, toasted pine nuts add a savoury note and a fantastic crunchy-chewy texture. $12.
5. Of all the after-dinner indulgences at Didier, the banana soufflé is most likely to evoke sighs. Warm from the oven, the towering little banana bomb is brought to the table, where a server gracefully cracks its caramel-coloured crust and pours dark, melting Valrhona Manjari chocolate into its soft, gooey centre. $12.
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