The World Cup of desserts

STAYING UP all night burning with World Cup fever, you’ll be needing something sweet to boost the energy reserves. Brothers Litti and Dej Kewkacha have just the remedy – a set of clever sweet treats including a mocha tart shaped like a football and a chocolate-green-tea mousse cake laid out like a soccer pitch. 

Until July 20 these and many more delights are available at the brothers’ ice-cream boutiques Sfree and Parferio, the Japanese-style “lifestyle cafe” Kyo Roll En and the new eclair parlour Pastel.

At Sfree and Parferio, ice-cream parfaits with fruity granita are the highlight. There are also fruit, yoghurt, chocolate and crepe parfaits, bento ice cream and more than 20 kinds of cakes, fruit sandwiches and kakigori, as the Japanese call shaved-ice slurpies flavoured with syrup.

Certainly one tempting dish for any football fan is the Free Kick a la Mode (Bt145). This is the mocha tart shaped like a football. It’s served with a mini-parfait of mango yoghurt and whipping cream and dressed with yellow cards and red cards carved from chocolate. 

Your strategy might also involve the Corner Kick (Bt145), the chocolate-and-green-tea mousse cake formed into one corner of the football field. The tiny flag and a football are carved chocolate, and on the side is a cup of mango granita topped with soft cream. 

What’s that? You need the entire pitch, not just a corner? Then you want the Stadium 

 (Bt459), which weighs a whole pound. Divide your family or friends into two teams and start them eating at either end. Whoever gets closest to the opposing goal before all the mousse is gone wins the Cup. 

At Kyo Roll En, which has a famous variety of roll cake, the siblings use coffee from Brazil as the main ingredient in the new Brazilian Coffee Roll (Bt429). It’s filled with cappuccino cream and coffee jelly, while the exterior bears the classic check pattern of a football. 

If a whole roll cake is too much, get the Bt185 set with individual pieces served with fresh kiwi, mango and chocolate praline and a dark but soft cream made from edible bamboo-charcoal ash. 

Among the other choices of roll cakes, the Milky has cartoon cows printed on it. Inside is Hokkaido cream infused with Madagascar vanilla. The Valrhona roll boasts grand cru Valrhona chocolate, milk-chocolate cream and a hazelnut-praline stuffing. And the leopard-print passion-fruit roll with a touch of peach is slightly tangy.

The Parisian-style eclair is the brothers’ latest dessert. Sold at their pastry shop Pastel in Siam Paragon, it’s a long way from the dull, heavy eclairs you often encounter elsewhere. It’s stuffed with cream and fruit and the surface is glazed and decorated in charming designs. There are more than 30 flavours, from Diplomat Cream and Salted Butter Caramel to Crunchy Praline, Caramel Popcorn and Mascarpone Cheesecake. 

If you watch the World Cup or any Spanish football, you know what “Ole!” means, and you might shout it when you taste the Ole eclair, stuffed with a tangy mix of tropical fruit, mint and lemon chocolate, all done up in yellow and green. 

Then there’s the Ola eclair – “ola” means “hello”. Here you have a filling of Brazilian coffee and a green glaze on top, with a rendition of the Brazil soccer jersey, plus a football, of course. The ball and jersey are carved from chocolate. Each of these eclairs cost Bt105. 

 

 

GOAL IN SIGHT

>>There are about 30 branches of Sfree and Parferio around Bangkok and Kyo Roll En has four outlets – at Digital Gateway, Siam Paragon, the Emporium and Central Lat Phrao. Call (02) 540 4555.

>>Pastel is at Siam Paragon. Call (02) 610 7596.