Manis! by Maryam

Dubai-based. Chef turned student once again; pastry, sweets and photography.

[manisbymaryam]

Taste of Abu Dhabi is back!

https://gulfnews.com/food/taste-of-abu-dhabi-guide-to-food-festivities-and-headline-acts-1.67628440

Taste of Abu Dhabi is back! I always get so excited when it comes to food festivals happening in the country. After seeing the lineup and upcoming events happening at this year’s Taste of Abu Dhabi, it reminded me of when I participated and volunteered back in 2015 for both Taste of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. 

It was after I had graduated from International Centre for Culinary Arts Dubai (ICCA) and volunteered with my classmates in preparing for the daily demonstrations and classes. I was super psyched but over-the-moon when I met my favuorite pastry chef, Eric Lanlard. I was a total fan-girl and requested to take a photo with him as soon as we finished our cooking class.

For those of you who don’t know what Taste of Abu Dhabi or Taste of Dubai is, it is a food, drink and music festival where the top restaurants in the country showcase their food alongside celebrity chefs, cooking demos and various music acts.

The Taste of Abu Dhabi this year is from November 7th to November 9th, meaning today’s the last day! But fret not; Taste of Dubai will be on March 5th to March 7th 2020 at the Dubai Media City.

The best parts about these festivals are of course, the food you get to eat! Tickets started from Dhs 70 for this year’s Taste of Abu Dhabi and as soon as you enter, you’re welcomed by the array of food stalls left, right and center. The events that are taking place are music acts UB40 and Boyzlife, headlining this year’s Taste of Abu Dhabi. For the first time, they also set up an ‘International Food Sampling Pavilion’ for visitors to devour various delicacies from all over the world.

There are a number of celebrity chefs attending and I’m so bummed that I’m missing out this year! Masterchef UK judge John Torode is attending alongside Assia Kitchen’s Assia Othman, Masterchef India judge, Kunal Kapur, best-selling author Annabel Karmel and my other favourite artisan pastry chef, Karim Bourgi! 

Other events include ICCA hosting ‘The Big Baking Tent’ alongside Eric Lanlard and Crate & Barrel’s Chef’s Theatre where you can pick up some tips and tricks for your home kitchen. Visitors can also participate in ICCA’s Big Bake Off Competition to win patisserie courses worth Dhs 25,000 at ICCA.

There are so many events and you’re bound to spend a whole day there just enjoying good food and drinks, amazing music and with the right company, you will definitely visit again for the next one in Dubai. I know I will! I hope Eric Lanlard and Karim Bourgi will be attending once more so I get to meet my favourite pastry chefs again!

[manisbymaryam]

3Fils: Innovative desserts & new dessert bar opening soon!

[October 16th, 2019]

It’s my Mama’s birthday week! And boy, were we fed with such goodfood for the past few days. 

This week’s dessert highlights goes to 3Fils! 

They are an award-winning Modern Asian restaurant in Dubai, lead by Singaporean Chef Akmal Anuar, and are always delivering high quality dishes with quality ingredients. 

Currently, he is working on a new addition to the 3Fils family, ‘Brix’ which is going to be a dessert bar, right next door to 3Fils at the Jumeirah Fishing Harbour. 

We always come here for special occasions or just to have a bit of relax time near the fishing harbour, while sipping their signature cold drinks and devouring their mouth-watering desserts.

Below are three desserts we tried from 3Fils; unfortunately my Dad’s favourite - African Powerhouse: Ghana Dark Chocolate & Madagascar Vanilla Ice Cream was sold out by the time we got there (must try!)

Karak Ice Cream: Karak tea ice cream, butterscotch, tea crumbs and milk foam. Karak tea is traditionally a hot drink or chai made from strong black tea leaves, spices such as cardamom or saffron and milk. 3Fils has reconstructed it to make it a signature cold dessert of theirs. Makes you want to have a whole tub of just the karak ice cream and tea crumbs! 

(also, there’s a bit of theatrics as well, so best to go there as soon as you can!)

Tooth Fairy: Saffron meringue, sour violet curd and blackberries. My personal favourite. I love saffron and I love berries so I usually fight over this dish with my sister. The crunchy and sweet aromatic meringue with the smooth and sour violet curd really balances each other’s flavor profiles so well. Crack a spoon on top of the meringues and make sure you get a spoon of everything together!

Matcha Chocolate: with tea crumbs and milk foam. Another addition to the desserts menu. The tea crumbs (slightly sweetened) really added texture and an overall nice balance to the smoothness of the matcha chocolate. If you’re a fan of green tea, this is the one for you!

Other than the desserts, 3Fils also specialize in sushi (no soya sauce required!), various get-your-hands-dirty kind of food such as their chicken wings and spiced lamb ribs which are literally fall-off-bone goodness! And if you love your Indomie, you’ll love 3Fils’ version of Indomie.

Keep your eyes out for news about Brix soon as they’re still working on new menu items before their opening. I can’t wait and I’m super excited to see what they have in store for us sweet tooths!

Literally, everything is just so good. You will not and never be disappointed. 

[manisbymaryam]

Valrhona releases new app!

[October 8th, 2019]

[Photo courtesy of: Valrhona]

If you know Valrhona, you know this is a huge deal! 

I re-tweeted the news on my account here.

Valrhona is one of the premium chocolate manufacturers from France and leading chocolate distributors to many cafes and restaurants. 

Having worked with Valrhona chocolate in my previous workplace, this really excited me. Though it’s only released for iOS phones and not Android yet (boohoo!) means there is definitely a lot of new updates and future announcements to look forward to. 

The app includes recipes, tips and tricks, baking essentials and has demos for both amateur and professional pastry chefs! This a great way to access any information that you need before or whilst baking at home or work kitchen, as you can see in their first promo video on their Twitter handle. 

Check it out if you’re an iOS user, let me know if you’ve tried it and your verdict!

[manisbymaryam]

Pau/Bao: more than just a steamed bun!

[August 2019]

Have you ever seen such cute Pau or Bao designs before?! The first time I saw these and tried them, my mum brought these back from a Chinese New Year dinner at Han Shi Fu’s restaurant at Aloft Hotel. 

Pau or Bao is a steamed white bun and varies from savoury to sweet. Back home in Singapore, I grew up eating red bean filled pau or kaya pau that my mum used to buy from the market. It was considered a special snack for me growing up because we weren’t able to buy them here in Dubai, but it could really be a full meal for others. I remember buying these from 7-Eleven stores in Singapore, and fought over buying the kaya pau and spicy chicken pau with my sister. 

Read more about pau/bao at:  https://www.foodrepublic.com/2016/07/12/what-is-a-bao/ by Tiffany Do. 

But these, from Han Shi Fu, I LOVE THEM! Each Pau/Bao has different fillings, from red bean, salted egg yolk, chocolate and taro. Served hot from the basket, they won’t disappoint. How can you resist from devouring something so cute?! 

If anyone sees these being sold anywhere else in Dubai, let me know! 

[manisbymaryam]

Keki: have a coffee and get cake too!

[September 12th, 2019]

We were in Abu Dhabi for a staycation, and my cousin introduced us to this really cute Japanese cafe and bakery in Al Bateen! Look at the cute table decor of pandas. I really wanted to ask them where they bought their decor from. 

So, my cousin had gone ahead and ordered the above. My parents and I were expecting, hmm, two or three desserts. We ended being served six plates of desserts!

(clockwise from top):

Pastry Cream Horn: honestly one of my favourite pastries. It reminded me of when we used to experiment with making these in the place I used to work in. Makes me really appreciate bakeries who make croissants and pastry horns as such. It’s like a croissant, but its dough is being wrapped around a mold to resemble a cone. Once all baked and golden, it’s filled with luscious pastry cream. The outside was buttery, flaky and was warmed up for us. Just as we like it! 

Japanese Cotton Cheesecake: my dad’s favourite! As expected, light and fluffy as they promise, not so sweet and it’s sponge-y like texture makes it easy for us to keep going back for more. 

Cream Cheese Danish: my personal favourite as well. The crispy, buttery and flaky danish with slight sour but creamy cream cheese is a super combo! It may sound heavy to some people, but in reality it really isn’t. A nice pairing with a cappuccino. 

Cinnamon and Walnut Cake: it was slightly dry for my liking, but if paired with coffee or tea of your choice, dunk it! The classic pairing of brown sugar and cinnamon was nice to welcome the ‘Autumn’ season. 

Japanese Pancake with Mochi and Red Bean filling: I was expecting one large piece of mochi, but I was welcomed with small pieces of mochi covered in not so sweet red bean filling. The pancake texture is similar to something we have back home called ‘Apam Balik’ or ‘Martabak Manis’ in Indonesia. (I will introduce these in my future blog posts!) The pancake itself was dry but the mochi and red bean compensated it, and it was flavored with matcha powder (another favourite ingredient of mine!)

And my favourite from Keki, was the Vanilla roll cake with fresh strawberries and cream! Classic combination; super light and moist. The strawberries gave that nice sweet and sour hit that is needed with a light cake and whipped cream. It’s the type of cake that makes you want to go back for seconds or thirds, possibly fourth servings!

If you’re ever in Abu Dhabi, do visit Keki for some nice quiet time with a book, or meet up with a friend or when you’re there for a staycation. It’s a nice gem and definitely as they say, Instagrammable! Dainty cute Japanese aesthetics and comfortable warm ambiance.

[manisbymaryam]

Welcome to Manis! by Maryam

Hello! 

Welcome to my blog, Manis! by Maryam. 

This is where I post all my sweet adventures, from classic pastries to ice creams and chocolates. 

Manis! By Maryam was created through my love for pastry and photography. I hope to share my journey from my kitchen life to being a university student with you. 

I’m open for suggestions and comments and would love to hear from you; Be it a suggestion of recipes for me to try or places to go in Dubai to check out! 

To know more about me, click ‘Get To Know Me!’ under my avatar!