Food with a Bell and a Shell

Food: Our basic necessity for survival can be found in one too many forms. With restaurants and fine dining, comes the very evolution of this same food striving to look unique, stunning and interesting. The ones in ‘search’ of food, (scouting for various cuisines and restaurants defines today’s era of ‘food search’ not the caveman concept of food hunt) are not only pleased to find something new and delicious but intrigued and awed when something surprising is served. The surprising element is not about what is served, it’s the ‘how’ element that can garner a lot of attention. I would like to recount a visual feat that I witnessed for a dessert serving, which was a one-of-a kind experience for me. I promise you it’s fun!

With the amount of intricate detailing in flavour, taste and colour, Asian food has umpteen to offer. Hence, the visual treat I had was also in one such restaurant that offers Pan Asian food, predominantly Chinese. I am going to jump right into the dessert detailing because that’s where I was wowed ; a dessert by the name ‘Buddha’s Fu’. 

As religious as the name sounds, it has nothing to do with Buddhism (or Kung Fu!). The first thing that came to my mind when it was served was,”Wait, is that a bell and a shell.?” Buddha’s Fu is a dessert that is served on a wooden type of flat plate with the protagonist being a yellowish custard textured dessert. It is surrounded with droplets of coloured cream/gelatin with edible Thai leaves.Next to it is placed a big white shell and a bell, the kind you use during a Hindu prayer or worship. But wait, the shell and bell are not placed for decoration alone (I was expecting it to serve as a design prop which was in theme with the restaurant). I was obviously mistaken. It has a purpose too. The purpose resonates a typical deity worship. The server holds the shell, which contains chocolate syrup and pours it over the custard, something like an ‘abhishekam’ (a Hindu type of worship where water or sacred liquids are poured over a deity). After it is poured, the bell is held by its stem, over the custard, and a slight circular motion is enacted which results in cocoa powder, which was stuck to the base of the bell, to sprinkle over the custard. Wow!

The colours of the different components used in the dessert resembled that of the components found on a Hindu worship plate: I could think of vermillion powder, sandalwood paste and tulsi leaves.The whole act was visually beautiful and the dessert tasted good. A memorable experience. The fact that their concept clearly took inspiration from an existing custom was brilliantly replicated in their presentation. Aesthetic and fancy is what it was. Looking at this I wonder where concept cooking and presentation is headed. Inspirations are galore, I guess we need to look at things with a different perspective to pull off something like this. Isn’t it fascinating that we literally worshipped this dessert!