With swaying palms and a sprinkling of frangipanis around a shimmering azure pool, Bali’s favourite Mediterranean beach club serves up one of our favourite tropical desserts with a very fitting name – The Oasis. The cuisine at Cocoon Restaurant Bar Beach Club is inspired by the idyllic surroundings of the famous Bali beaches combined with a Mediterranean flair, and this dessert from Chef Nick Philip’s Tasting Menu illustrates this concept superbly. The Oasis is served in a chic martini glass and features a layered medley of indulgent local flavours. The base is a coconut sago pudding which is cooked with a ‘kolak’ sauce of coconut cream, vanilla bean, palm sugar and pandan leaf. It has an undeniably Indonesian taste, which is then twisted to satisfy Western palates with a creamy and almost bubbly white chocolate mousse – after all, a dessert wouldn’t be complete without something a little bit naughty. The dessert is then finished on a light and tropical note with a mango gel and a sprinkling of Azuki bean biscuit crumble to add a pleasant crunch to this velvety treat.
Chef Nick Philip
“I think the first time I ever tried Sago in Bali was about two or so years ago. It was with a serving of ‘kolak mutiara’; a soup-like dessert that had the little sago caviars as well as banana and jackfruit swimming in a vanilla and pandan coconut milk. It’s still one of my local favourites to date! Ever since then I have always wanted to use it on my menu, so, when I was thinking about a dessert for my Tasting Menu, I thought BAM! Sago for sure! I knew I didn’t want something too heavy or too sweet so sago was the perfect option.
I wanted to keep the flavours simple with just the classic combination of coconut, mango and white chocolate, but I needed it to be an elegant yet smooth finale to the Tasting Menu. So I decided to plate the dessert in a martini glass, layer-upon-layer so you can see each component of the dessert. When you spoon to the bottom and take your first bite, you get a bit of everything; the caviar sago pudding, the creamy white chocolate mousse, the smooth mango gel and the refreshing young coconut granita. I finished it with a crunchy adzuki bean crumble to make the whole mouthful that extra bit more exciting.”
