Just Desserts: The Zacapa Sweet Pairing at Migas

The earrings of Migas’ young pastry chef, Pol Anter, don’t match. In an earlier era, this small black plug and silver ring would be a statement of controversy, and though this is not so anymore, they hint still at a proclivity for provocation. Anter’s desserts only reinforce this – challenging, though not aggressive – as does the impish grin which he flashes generously.

But for a man who refuses to match, he certainly knows how to pair. He demonstrates this with artistry and grace in The Zacapa Sweet Pairing (RMB 58; RMB 108, served with a glass of Zacapa rum) where flavors and textures tumble in the form of pineapple, cake and salted caramel across dark chocolate netting and billows of cream.

A pairing though it is, this is the dialectics of dessert – an argument of texture and flavor worked out through conversation. Anter’s too deliberate, meticulous and mischievous to leave the pineapple plainly a pineapple. It’s a far more complex world than that. He’s infused the fruit with Zacapa rum and tonka bean – the simple bright flavor of the tropics instantly matured by smoky undertones of vanilla and cocoa. These rich notes now embedded into the tropical fruit are complemented by those of caramel and salt, and this totality by one beguiling scoop of tart rosemary-lemon ice cream.

But if this sounds too challenging, rest assured it is not. What words make cumbersome and overwrought, by taste is nuanced, elegant and successful. And anyways, if this is still too overwhelming, to hell with the thoughtful pairing: Down the glass of rum and get on with demolishing the dessert.

Migas
Daily noon-2.30pm, 6-10.30pm. 6/F, Nali Patio, 81 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District (5208 6061)
朝阳区三里屯路81号那里花园6层
900m northwest of Tuanjiehu station (Line 10)

Photos: Ken