Sinful desserts at the Waterfront Hotel

It was my first time to partake in a dessert buffet. And I mean bite sized chocolate truffles and pralines to nibble or bite, colorful macarons with different and interesting flavors, creme brulee, mousses and the like. But no, there were no cakes. Just these gorgeous little desserts on sticks, on shot glass or pica-pica.

This was Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino’s event at beautiful Treff in introducing their new pastry chef, Chef Schihab Ahmed, a Maldivian whose expertise goes a long way and whose experience is something worthy of respect. And it was indeed a gorgeous night of desserts served. Sinful yet memorable.

Pastry Chef Schihab Ahmed, 32, or Chef Adam, as he’s popularly addressed is an energetic fellow that not only charms his audience with his creations but his bubbly character as well can enlighten a moody evening. He has been employed in various world class hotels in three contintents for the past ten years.

This french educated chef can whip up interesting desserts incorporating native ingredients. His passion for creating food maybe at par with his enthusiasm for travel and exploration. And in just the short time he has been here in the country, he was already studying ways of making desserts with ube, saba and other local ingredients and sweet things.

Among the desserts that I really liked is the creme brulee. Now, it is quite a common dessert fare found in many shops but only a few can get it right. I like the caramelized and hardened top shell (with a pistachio on top). Break it and you can savor a very creamy, not overly sweet custard that just seem to melt in your mouth.

The raspberry mousse is another favorite. These delectable sweet morsels on a shot glass has different layers and textures that titillates the tongue. It has raspberry, cream and jam layers with the base a mixture of different fruit.

The caramel-banana truffles were delectable. It just looks like ordinary choco bits but bite into it and the taste of ripe bananas married with caramel is something new to my taste. Chef Adam says the trick here is to use Cavendish bananas at the peak of ripeness.

Amongst the bite sized chocolate bits, there’s these pair of big chocolate bears in white and brown that, as what Chef Adam said, weighs around 1.5 kilos! I bet you will have more than a month to nibble on these monsters!

One of the interesting chocolate on sticks were these bumblebees. Some just want to look at it because of its delicateness and at first glance, you might think that its just chocolate formed into a bee. After you’ve eaten the wings, bit into it and you will just discover a very interesting filling.

I was surprised that the chocolate is actually a thin shell. Inside is a mixture of chocolate ganache and moist choco cake. The result? A beautiful sensation in the mouth: sweet and moist. It is just damn good that you would want to go back to the buffet table and get more. Alas, there were none.

Perhaps the star of this dessert buffet are the macarons. Surprisingly, these are the few best that I’ve tried. Smooth surface with nary a bubble whole. Bite into it and the macaron just break beautifully into your mouth. The inside is chewy and delicious.

There were several flavors, mostly local but the coffee and ube were winners. Too bad, I wasn’t able to taste the coconut macaron. And the best thing? Each macaron is sold at only P35, cheap for something that is found in a premier hotel’s confection shop compared to some shops that are quite expensive but badly prepared.

Want to get these desserts? Visit Madeleine, its the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino’s pastry shop at the ground floor. You won’t be disappointed.

Madeleine
G/F Gourmet Walk
Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino
(32) 232 6888 loc 8629