Start the year right with A wealth of sweet indulgences | Entice good fortune to your side with Antoinette’s festive delights – LUXURY ASIA, PREMIUM TRAVEL, LIFESTYLE, TECH, WINE & DINE MAGAZINE

Hong Bao (3)

Every Lunar New Year, households stock up on a feast of good things to greet the year; it’s a symbol of hope, that starting the year with a bounty of rich sweet foods that kindles happiness with every bite will encourage blessings and joy to flow with the same lavishness in to the home. This year, Antoinette introduces a wealth of new items and brings back their classics to help usher in a prosperous new year.

Antoinette’s new offerings are a showcase of French pastry making techniques, with their signature trait – a sophisticated balance of flavours: sweet and savoury; classic French and modern Singaporean, which imbues each bite with both new meaning and perceptions for a profoundly enjoyable indulgence.

Abundantly

Consider the new cake Antoinette introduces for Lunar New Year 2019 –

Abundantly or 财源滚滚 ($38). Like its name suggests, the cake incorporates Chinese symbolism and flavours as well as a modern presentation into Antoinette’s classic French savoir faire.

Hong Bao (2)

2019’s Hong Bao 红包 ($10(S); $25(L))
continues the affectionate and whimsical incorporation of Chinese symbolism and flavours. The description is simple: a bread infused with red dragon fruit for flavour and colour is filled with mochi or nian gao made in-house with black sugar and perfumed with fried shallots, lightly candied yam and sweet potato as well as fluffy pork floss and salted egg. However, the combination of sweet and savoury fillings requires a deft hand to achieve its rich yet refined balance, and the lightly sweetened bread required using a unique combination of the French “poolish” and the Japanese water roux bread making techniques to create the delightful tender and bouncy texture that would stand up to the yielding springiness of the housemade nian gao while also supporting the flavours, textures and aromas of the other fillings.

Purplelette

For bite-sized pleasures, Antoinette’s Purplelette macarons ($3 per piece; $19 for six) will entice even jaded palates. The gently crunchy confections are infused with purple sweet potato for its distinctive, mellow sweetness; this has the added benefit of adding a regal purple colour, symbol of royalty,wealth and creativity. Sandwiched between is a ring of sweet potato cream with a delicately salty cheese centre, adding richness and balancing the sweet. To paraphrase, it’s impossible to stop at one.

Mala Chips

Snackers who prefer something with a little more élan should try the brand new item in Antoinette’s Traditionals line-up. The Mala Chips ($15) offer a sumptuous version of the numbing, spicy flavours that have been dazzling local palates over the past months. Seven different peppers including the Sichuan lantern peppers ( 灯笼椒 ) and Sichuan bullet head peppers (子弹头) have been used to create the mouth-watering aroma and tongue- tingling flavours that fill the mouth with every chip.

Antoinette’s seasonal classics including the Traditionals bestsellers such as the Chocolate Love Letters ($20), the Honeycomb fried honey cracker with sesame ($15) and Traditional Pineapple Tart ($15) and their Originals such as the Pork Floss Meringue ($10) are currently also available for purchase

The Queen's Yu Sheng.jpg

The Queen's Yu Sheng (3)

The now-classic Queen’s Yusheng ($88) returns once more to invite diners to crack the glowing golden chocolate egg resting in its auspicious nest of chocolates; almonds and cashews; mandarin orange butter cake, meringue kisses; and yam and sweet potato chips, and reveal the cache of freshly diced and shredded pineapple, Thai green mango, red dragon fruit and pomelo, ready for the dressing of mandarin orange, plum and gula melaka and the grand communal tossing for good luck in the coming lunar year.