SugarPlay Patisserie

1430 hours, December 19, Monday, Powai

The Prelude:

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SugarPlay is a brand new patisserie in the vicinity. It specialises in some uber premium, fancy, exotic pastries with experimental and startling mix and match of ingredients. The focus is to pair unusual ingredients with the desserts, often drawing inspiration from the savoury kitchen (kokum, poppy, bayleaf, etc). Still a new born cub (it is going to be officially launched tomorrow), it has positioned itself as a pure play QSR focusing on servicing its patrons only in Powai and South Mumbai to begin with, with plans to spread it's wings all out once the test marketing is through.

The Personality:

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SugarPlay is the brainchild of Amit Mehta, a first generation entrepreneur. Having studied Hotel Management from DY Patil Mumbai, he followed it up with a diploma from London’s Cordon Bleu. Amit has been into cooking and confectionery for the last seventeen years, with a few marquee brands behind him. He started off as a Pastry Chef at Company of Cooks, London (which was contracted by the Royal family). Then a Sous Chef / Chef Instructor at the Park Hotels. An R and D Chef at General Mills. A Consultant for Eat Drink Design, Mumbai. The Executive Pastry Chef for Boathouse Restaurants, Singapore. A consultancy project with Yuatacha. Cut to his newfound entrepreneurship venture here. Whew!

He is ably helped by his wife Bharti – a PhD in BioTechnology no less - who is in charge of researching flavour options and creating a flavour pairing bank for SugarPlay, which creates the foundation for the chefs to develop their menu and recipes.

The Program:

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As Amit put it “As an ingredient type, no one single ingredient is superior or inferior to any other for me. I try my hand with both the exotica and the everyday. Qualitywise, however, I can vouch for our best quality ingredients.

Our chocolates are Coverture chocolates – pure chocolates with cocoa butter. These chocolates are not extremely sweet and caramel-like, they are dense rich cocoa chocolates of the finest variety. 

We use pure fruit pulps minus the artificial essences or flavourings. 

We use Lake colouring, which needs extremely low dosages to give the right hues and also doesn’t leave any stains on fingers or palate. Unlike the usually used cheaper (at least twenty to thirty times cheaper) water soluble colours which in fact carry a lot of harmful metallic elements. 

Our sponges are homemade - a hybrid of biscuit and sponge - and are made up of exotic nut flours instead of plain refined flours. The regular sponge has to be soaked with sugar syrup. Ours are ground almond jaconde which absorbs its own moisture and don’t need an additional sweetening agent. As an offering, I intend to give the maximum value to my patrons”.

The Pleasure:

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The patisserie serves its patrons only in the vicinity. However his creations travelled all the way to me at a much farther distance.

The beauty is in the detailing. The first thing strikes you is the fine packaging. Thick cardboard boxes instead of the usual thinner ones. Tied with smooth strings. Perfect enclosures for each pastry within the boxes. Each packed item inside stuck strategically with a duct tape on the board sides such that it doesn’t fall down or smudge the box. And despite the long journey, the items arrived intact in mint condition.

The Painkiller (3.5 / 5):

This was a Passionfruit-Bayleaf Mousse, with raisin insert. Sitting on a bed of mint biscuit with a dash of vodka. The passion fruit was tarty and the mint biscuit refreshing. Overall the combination was unique, a wee bit startling, and the new taste kind of grew on you.

A Beautiful Mess (4 / 5):

Give me coconut delicacies anytime. This was a thick glob of Raspberry and white chocolate Mousse. What was stunning was the presence of mustard Béchamel sauce, which further elevated the flavour. The addition of coconut (a wee bit more please, a wee bit more of coconut) was, of course, one of the most welcome elements too.

The Konkan Opera (4.5 / 5):

A multi-layered chocolate Jaconde, topped with tender Kokum Cremeux and honey Cremeux. The kokum was magically not so jarring as to stand out as an oddity, rather the whiff melted so well in the overall affair that it created the perfect symphony, yet stood out on its own too. The jaconde was fluffy, spongy and stacked up artistically.

Paradox (5 / 5):

An exotic creation. A coconut Pannacotta with a layer of pineapple - black pepper compote atop. Sprinkled with chocolate crumble, and a few hazelnuts encased in caramelised jaggery strewn further for good measure. Whoa! The black pepper was a marvel, the multiple beds creating a fantastic play on the palate and the coconut pineapple flavour is my personal favourite. Maybe a dash of rum and the Malibu experience would have been complete.

Original Sin (5 / 5):

Decorated like a tiara. A tart with Belgian dark chocolate and clove ganache. Sprinkled with poppy seeds and topped with a mesh of sea salt caramel. The richness of the chocolate was evident and again the hint of Indianness salutary.

Serendipity (5 / 5):

The best of the lot. Religieuse (a French pastry made of two choux pastry cases) with ginger-chocolate créme and olive oil custard. The crumbly crust was biscotti-like, and the gooey, creamy chocolate crème kissed with ginger was a super neat touch. A perfect recipe for transportation to nostalgic lands.

The Postlude:

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SugarPlay, with all its elan, is not your usual run of the mill outlet for purchasing a mediocre birthday cake. Sugar Play is five-starrish, oomphy, opulent and unapologetic. Like you would call for from at one of your luscious soirees. Like you would find delights at to perfectly complement your cheese and wine celebrations. Like a go-to place when someone is going down on his one knee. Rich. Authentic. Glamorous. SugarPlay is that kind. Which, despite its multitude of innovators and aspirants, is still a rarity in the maximum city.

The Prescription:

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Too early days to define any.

The Parameters:

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The Food Quotient : Food Quality 5 / 5, Food Choices 5 / 5, Food Portion 4 / 5, Food Presentation 5 / 5

The Other Determinants: Location 4.5 / 5, Cleanliness ---, Warmth 5 / 5

The Hygiene Factors: Ambience ---, Space quotient ---, Delivery time 4 / 5

The Conclusives : Food Price 4 / 5, Overall Experience 5 / 5, Will I Visit again 5 / 5

The Ps:

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