Whisk Dessert Bar Pop-Up

Last Wednesday, after a bit of a mix up, we headed to the brilliant pop-up Whisk Dessert Bar. Being locals, we had passed the place many times and kept thinking we needed to try it. After all, the idea of a three course dessert seemed genius, at least to CBK and RDJ who have what some might term a mild obsession with sweets. When we found out HAT and his lack of sweet tooth was interested as well, all bets were off and we made a reservation and headed down.
Whisk is the brain child of fellow local, Randon Burns, who is so incredibly welcoming we almost didn’t want to leave. He has filled his team with equally friendly people making the service feel like a super posh restaurant mixed with a visit to a friend’s house.
The concept behind Whisk is to create a full dessert experience like you would get from fine dining but with the focus on the desserts that are not your typical end of night nosh. In fact, to get the true taste we didn’t have dinner beforehand, obviously that was more driven by CBK and RDJ. The meal started with an amuse-bouche of gooseberry and cream with a biscuit crumble for crunch. The gooseberries were wonderfully tart and offset well with the cream. HAT is not a fan of tart desserts but said that he found the use of gooseberry refreshing. Kicking off the meal with something that was not too heavy on the sweet was an excellent way to ease into a three course dessert adventure.

For your main, you have a choice of one of six delicious desserts. We only wish we could have tried them all and so took an age to make our selections.
It took RDJ up to the last minute to decide on which dessert to order. She was torn between the watermelon sorbet with feta cheese and the white peach sorbet, and ended up settling on the white peach option which came with poached peaches, fresh nectarines, and a thyme granita. According to her, although we did all steal bites of each others choices, the peach sorbet was really tasty. One of the highlights of the dish was the perfectly poached peaches that were covering the bottom of the dish. The thyme granita was herbaceous, with the fresh smell of the garden as well as having a strong flavour that paired nicely with the peach. She became far too engrossed in the dish so her wine became more of an afterthought. All in all it was a good combination, and she would definitely order it again.

HAT chose the “Banoffee” banana with shortbread, lime, caramelised milk, aerated coffee, and banana ice cream. He reported that the dish was not too sweet and had a deliciously cold centre. There was no mistaking the banana and you will walk away feeling more full than with most desserts.

CBK decided to push the boat out and go with one of the more unusual sounding options on the menu. The Avocado and white chocolate mousse did not disappoint with its torched sweetcorn, chai chilli dressing and caramel cocoa nibs. Torched is how she plans to eat all sweetcorn from here on out. The mousse was soft and not too sweet as white chocolate can sometimes be. The creaminess of the avocado was just right and the slight crunch from the sweetcorn and cocoa nibs was a delightful contrast. The chai chilli was not hot, just nicely spiced. It may not have been your typical dessert but it is a clear winner of a dish.

When choosing your main, you have the option of pairing with a dessert wine or tea if you desire. We decided to go with the wines, although HAT opted for a different wine than the one that was recommended with his main, all the combinations were tasty. The three courses were finished with a selection of three petite fours; milk chocolate truffles, apricot fudge, and hazelnut and raspberry financiers. HAT and RDJ were all about the fudge where as CBK cannot say no to a well done chocolate truffle. We all agreed that the hazelnut and raspberry financiers were just too small and should probably be sold as a breakfast food, they were that good. HAT was absolutely chuffed with the petite fours as they were his favourite part of the meal.

We were just about ready for that to be the end of our dessert adventures for the night and were reluctantly discussing if we should head out when Randon asked us if we would be interested in trying some new ice cream recipes they had been working on. Never ones to turn down ice cream we readily agreed and were promptly presented with a grapefruit and campari sorbet with crushed pecans and a chocolate and rosemary ice creams with crush biscuits. The grapefruit and campari was the clear favourite drawing oohs and ahhs for all three of us on the first spoonful. The chocolate and rosemary was nothing to sneeze at either. The chocolate brought out the complex flavours of the rosemary, giving it an almost ginger taste.
Chocolate and rosemary ice cream Grapefruit and Campari sorbet
Although Whisk is currently just a pop-up, we hope that it will be come a more permanent fixture in the neighbourhood. A delicious, dangerous fixture that will tempt us on a weekly basis we are sure. However for now time is running short to experience this fantastic restaurant concept. They will only be running for two more weeks until the 3rd of August and it is definitely not to be missed.
Whisk Dessert Bar is open Tuesday through Saturday from 5pm to 10:30pm. Although the space is decent sized, it is recommended that you make a reservation by emailing Randon at randon@whiskdessertbar.co.uk.