Following the success of their #keeprolling project, Dej Kewkacha, chef-patron of Kyo Roll En Group, and Supaksorn "Ice" Jongsiri, executive chef-patron of Sorn and Baan Ice restaurants, are collaborating for mooncakes for the second year running.
"It is a big challenge finding the right ingredient from southern Thailand that fits the profile of mooncakes -- we must have tried more than 100 ingredients these past two years and it came down to just two this year!" says chef Ice. "I'm used to cooking bold and fiery flavours. This is where working with my friend, Dej, really inspires me as he is very detailed-oriented."
Chef Dej concurs. "The first time I worked with Ice, I thought 'Oh, wow, we are from two different ends of the world -- southern Thai cuisine and Japanese pastry. Interesting!' But after working with him for our #keeprolling project and last year's mooncake collab, I realise we both have one essential trait -- this 'no compromise' principle when it comes to choosing the finest ingredients and perfecting the technique of each product, be it a fine dining dish or a humble mooncake. No shortcuts are taken, so each and every mooncake is made using a laborious traditional technique."
Using ingredients from the south of Thailand and drawing inspiration from Japan, the Kyo Roll En x Sorn mooncakes come in four flavours, with two new flavours. The Cashew nuts and Coconut utilises Sorn's signature "Kayu" paste, made from cashew nuts from the south of Thailand. The sweet-savoury "praline" is paired with a fresh coconut filling. "Everybody loved the cashew nut mooncake we did last year. This year, to further improve our cashew mooncake we used coconut to give the mooncake more texture, sweetness and a creamier mouthfeel," says chef Ice.
The Southern Mont Blanc is inspired by the Mont Blanc cake, a personal favourite of both chefs. The quintessential pastry has been turned into a mooncake using wild chestnuts from Pattani province, filled with chestnuts and water chestnuts. "As it turns out, both Ice and I love the Mont Blanc cake and we talked about having it every time we visit Japan. I didn't realise that in Pattani they grow these amazing chestnuts in the wild, which Ice kindly sourced for me. I made a paste out of it, just like with a Mont Blanc cake with minimal sugar, as these chestnuts are really sweet and aromatic. Ice instantly loved it! The result represents a true collaboration of my Japanese pastry background with Ice's southern Thai concept," says chef Dej.
A favourite of mine, the Yuzu Lava is an all-time best-seller and uses yuzu from Kochi, Japan. The Satsuma Imo is inspired by yaki-imo or the roasted sweet potato street snack found on Kyushu island, Japan. The finest beni-haruka or purple-skin sweet potato from Kagoshima prefecture is used in this mooncake.
Presented in a luxury gold-tinted box that opens up to a 3D pop-up story depicting the tale "Legend Of Mooncake", Kyo Roll En x Sorn collaboration mooncake set is available for B1,488 baht (limited to 100 boxes per day). Items will be ready to for collection from Aug 17. An early bird price offers a 15% discount until July 31.
"As Ice mentioned, southern ingredients are known for being bold, savoury and spicy but for mooncakes, we want something that's delicate, smooth and subtly sweet. That was the challenge! We want our mooncakes to remind customers of something -- a memory of something familiar and at the same time, present a flavour that nobody else has done," says chef Dej.
"And that's why we keep collaborating with each other. It's all about learning and pushing each other, while having fun trying and testing different combinations," laughs chef Ice.
Kyo Roll En also offers their classic mooncakes featuring the Yuzu Lava and Satsuma Imo plus Custard Vanilla, with real Madagascan vanilla beans, and Kyo Mixed Nuts, which uses five premium Japanese beans, like edamame, kuromame (black soy bean), kuri (chestnut), mung beans and peanuts. A box of four costs B488 and a box of eight costs B888. An early bird special offers 15% discount until July 31.
Call 062-226-4555, Line @kyorollen or visit kyorollen.com/mooncake.
