Two Asian desserts taking on new life at Hong Kong restaurants – try Monsoon’s Vietnamese coffee crème caramel and Café Malacca’s Malaysian onde onde cake

Oct 22 , 2020

Monsoon’s Vietnamese crème caramel with coffee granita. Photo: Monsoon

Chef Will Meyrick was inspired by a crème caramel with coffee granita that he tried in Hanoi, while pastry chef Chan Chun-shing bakes the best onde onde cake in town

Don’t mess with the classics, some might say. But even when an authentic recipe is best, there’s still room for boundary-pushing chefs to add their own unique spins to dishes. And that’s exactly what these Hong Kong-based chefs have done with two popular Southeast Asian desserts: the Vietnamese crème caramel and the Malaysian onde onde cake.

Monsoon chef Will Meyrick’s crème caramel

Heavily influenced by French cuisine, Vietnam produces some truly delicious desserts. Scotland-born, Bali-based chef Will Meyrick has his own interpretation on Vietnamese crème caramel with coffee granita.

“This is an authentic dessert that I had in Hanoi a few years ago, and I can never forget it,” said Meyrick, who recently opened Asian restaurant Monsoon at Elements mall in West Kowloon.

Chef Will Meyrick recently opened Monsoon at Elements mall. Photo: Monsoon

“The crème caramel is like a velvet pillow of sweet and bitter with the soft light touch of creamy milk,” he said. “Topped with coffee granita and drizzled with condensed milk [– that] just takes it to a whole new level. The lovely bitterness from the coffee mixes with the sweet and lightly sticky condensed milk; then you have the crème caramel, which is soft and sweet. The taste is unique and leaves you wanting more.”

As for his own go-to sweet treat, he is a “simple guy, so my favourite go-to dessert is old school Cadbury chocolate, the classic Quality Street pick and mix bag – don’t laugh – think Crunchie, Twirl, Flake, Turkish delight. Heaven in a bag!”

Onde onde cake at Café Malacca. Photo: Chen Xiaomei