A tasty piece of the island

Imagine eating not one or two, but six courses of desserts for dinner.

That is what patrons enjoyed as they took part in the Dessert for Dinner – A Bespoke Dining Experience at the Sea Breeze Beach House on Thursday night, as a scrumptious taste of Barbados was served up to tantalize any palate.

The swanky $225 ticketed event formed part of the 10th anniversary of the Barbados Food and Rum Festival.

“The whole idea was to recreate items that would typically be considered savory and recreate them as desserts with a strong focus on local cuisine,” said Patricia Affonso-Dass, Group General Manager of the Ocean Hotels Group.

The dozens of attendees started the night with a mix of hors d’oeuvres and a selection of beverages at the Maxwell, Christ Church hotel, which is a member of the Ocean Hotel Group.

Some of the diners at the Dessert for Dinner – A Bespoke Dining Experience at the Sea Breeze Beach House on Thursday night.

Once seated the guests were treated to an explosion of flavours conceptualized by UK award-winning Executive Pastry Chef Simon Jenkins and the Sea Breeze chefs and pastry team – Junior Pastry Chef Rodney Corbin, Chef de Partie Clesita Moore, Group Executive Chef Michael Harrison and Head Chef Ron Maynard.

The multicourse five-star dining experience was completed with live entertainment, lavish décor that was done by the Sea Breeze team and enthusiastic servers.

The experience started with a delectable serving of ‘rice and peas’ – an oven baked coconut rice pudding, lime and spice, garden pea puree, black-eyed pea, textures of strawberry and candied lime – which was paired with a French wine.

‘Rice and peas’ – an oven baked coconut rice pudding, lime and spice, garden pea puree, black-eyed pea, textures of strawberry and candied lime.

This was followed by the delicious ‘cou cou and saltfish’ – a cornmeal and white chocolate popsicle, saltfish and dried okra brittle, tomato sweet basil compote and Barbadian cherry coulis – which was paired with a rum-based drink.

The third course consisted of a lemon, angostura and falarnum mousse filled with mango, rum and cilantro jelly, dehydrated citrus sponge, rum punch gel. This was paired with a sparkling Italian white wine.

A popsicle shaped cou cou served with brittled salt fish.

Prior to being served the finalé, the diners had a gorgeous serving of ‘pork and breadfruit’, which consisted of an ‘eggy’ brioche lightly caramelized, apple glaze, pork crispy, maple parfait, vanilla, olive oil dressing, and breadfruit mustard, paired with a white wine.

The last of the courses was a bitter chocolate cube, layered with vanilla, ginger cremeux, crunch layer, moist chocolate sponge, a bitter chocolate mousse, sour sop sorbet and roasted cocoa nib foam, which was paired with a red wine.

It was difficult to choose a favourite on the night, which also included the sampling of a selection of local artisan cheeses and truffle petit fours infused with flavours of rum, golden apple, sugar apple and coconut and pawi and Bajan season pepper.

Affonso-Dass told Barbados TODAY the creative dishes were a reflection of the collection of unique boutique hotels within the Ocean Hotels Group.

“I think culinary is a big part of Barbados’ brand and what we are out there selling. We are considered the culinary capital of the Caribbean and certainly for Ocean Hotels and particularly Sea Breeze, we trade on the culinary aspect of the guest experience,” said Affonso-Dass.

The 122-room Sea Breeze Beach House hotel offers four different dining experiences and chef pop-up tasting evenings. There is also a rum shop where a variety of meals are served up, the whole idea to expose the guests to the food of destination Barbados.

The hotel, which employs up to 150 people during the busy periods, completed a major $22 million renovation last June, placing it in further growth mode.

Besides treating the patrons to a wonderful taste of the interesting and flavorsome twists to local dishes, the experience also provided an opportunity and exposure for the Sea Breeze team.

There is no doubt that at the end of the night everyone went home with happy palates. marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb