KOI Dessert Bar
KOI Dessert Bar is one of Sydney’s leading dessert-focused restaurants offering both a casual patisserie-style café and a fine dining dessert degustation menu.
Reynold Poernomo (from season seven of MasterChef Australia) and brothers Arnold and Ronald are the Indonesian-born trio behind the decadent dessert hotspot. They have been enjoying huge success since opening in Sydney’s Chippendale and have recently expanded across Sydney with KOI Kitchen Ryde.
We recently ventured out to the Chippendale venue to see what all the fuss is about. KOI, not to be confused with the carp fish, translates to ‘kids of Ike’ – a tribute to the boys’ Indonesian mother who taught her sons much of their extensive food knowledge. Mum would be proud of the incredible 6-course set menu they’ve come up with.
The set dinner kicks off with the Artichoke – Risotto of Jerusalem Artichoke with mushrooms. A beautiful warm dish to begin with on a cold winter’s night. This is followed by Beef Ribs (black garlic potato, cipollini onion, galbi jus and green pear) and the scrumptious Crab (Spanner crab with green curry, coconut tapioca risotto and green apple). Each portion is quite small which gives you the opportunity to really enjoy each mouthful without fear of being over-full.
The set gets sweeter as each plate comes out. The Mallow is next and comprises of torched heilala vanilla marshmallow with strawberry granita, yogurt sorbet and beetroot powder. Probably the highlight on the menu – simply delectable! The set again ends on a high with the Citrus and Chocolate (soft chocolate soil, torched mandarin, lime zest, honeycomb, caramel gel and honey rosemary gelato) and the Ginger Pear (Dulce with pear, ginger streusal, yuzu, ginger pear sorbet, pear compote and white chocolate). It’s safe to say we licked each plate clean.
According to the boys, all desserts have flavour composition as the number one priority using Asian flavours, Asian herbs and Asian dessert techniques which are uniquely adaptated to create an interesting fusion. We found it to be faultless.
Because of the smaller portion sizes, it left us enough room to also sample one of the delicious cocktails on the menu. The appropriately titled ‘Gotta Have Espresso Tini’ landed on the table to finish the night off. Mixing vanilla vodka, licor 43, espresso, mirin and maple syrup, we absolutely agree – you’ve just gotta have it! Another one worth trying is ‘Deliciousness’ – Laird’s apple jack shaken with creme de peche, egg white and aphrodite bitters. Yum!
KOI Dessert Bar is the perfect place to head for a delicious treat. There’s a downstairs area where you can kick back and have a coffee and cake in a more casual environment or head upstairs for a more formal evening where you can enjoy a savoury and dessert degustation or just a set dessert menu with cocktails. Give it a try…we’ll certainly be back!
KOI Dessert Bar, 46 Kensington St, Chippendale
@koidb | koidessertbar.com.au
