raves!

Tamarind of London: Pastry Fit for a King!

By | March 01, 2015
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Chef Mark Medina
Chef Mark Medina with his creation Rasmalai

Located right across the Pacific Ocean’s Crystal Cove in beautiful Newport Beach is Tamarind of London. Tamarind of London known for its exceptional Indian savory cuisine but to make it a truly exceptional food establishment it is making sure there is still room for dessert. Enter Pastry Chef Mark Medina who has taken traditional Indian desserts and has added his creative culinary passion to more than satisfy the discerning sweet tooth.

You can see the exceptional passion and care Chef Medina gives in his presentations of traditional Indian desserts, but what makes it oh so sensational is his creative and personal twist he provides in his dessert offerings. My guest of honor and super star shows up, and it’s called Rasmalai.

Tamarind of London Pastry
Tamarind of London Pastry

Rasmalai has a supporting cast with that entails a few layers. It’s starts with a foundation of rose petal cream, it is topped with a rich deep blush of gelee halwa (exceptional), then the rose infused paneer cheese (think dumplings) topped with a white chocolate shaved bar and toasted pistachios. It is sprinkled with Pomegrante seeds. Its distinguished texture of the paneer cheese dumplings is complimented by the smooth texture of the gelee halwa, it flows together nicely and my mouth does a happy dance. The ponmengrantes are a nice touch along with the chocolate.

Tamarind of London Pastry

Next comes the Carrot Halwa - a traditional carrot puddinglike dessert, served warm over carrot cake bread with Godiva White chocolate cream sauce and topped off with a quenelle of frozen vanilla sabayon. Chef Mark places a waver on top to control the temperatures. The temperatures of the warm cake along with the cool cream are a perfect combination.

Chef Mark has taken me to a tropical island off the coast of India as a try his version of the traditional Tandoor Pineapple - Financier cake (a rich butter cake) topped with pineapple fired in Tamarind’s tandoori ovens. This is accompanied by chilled coconut cream, pineapple espuma and mango sorbet. The denseness of the cake, the lightness of the pineapple frost and the coldness of the mango sorbet along with the intensity of the two sauces are a definite for anyone visiting the Tamarind of London.

Everyone always says, be sure to leave room for dessert. This must be part of your dining experience when you visit Chef Mark’s Tamarind of London’s dessert menu. Your sweet tooth will thank you.

Tamarind of London
7862 East Pacific Coast Highway
Newport Beach, CA 92657
Ph: 949-715-8338
Reservations: http://www.opentable.com
Website: http://www.tamarindoflondon.com