Astoria Koh has made it her profession. And even though she has never set foot in France, she knows every little secret of French pastry making, and diligently follows the field\u2019s biggest stars on social media. Precision, rigour and loyalty are probably the words that best describe her. For almost 10 years (with only one brief break), she has worked alongside Chef Guillaume Galliot, following him from Singapore to Macao, and then to Hong Kong. At Caprice, the Four Seasons Hotel\u2019 three-star restaurant, where the pastry brigade alone is made up of seven people, desserts are seen as the perfect conclusion to a meal that masterfully celebrates French gastronomy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n What was your training?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When I finished high school \u2013 in Singapore, where I was born \u2013, I started working part time in a bakery for a few months and I really loved it. I had always loved baking, but just for fun. I didn\u2019t really consider it as a possible career. So I studied interior design and architecture for three years while still working in pastry. But I soon realised I really wanted to work in this field. I did my training at Le Cordon Bleu, a world-renowned culinary school. I chose to train in Australia because I had an uncle who lived there, and because I knew the course would be in English. I soon learnt the basics and made good progress, and overall I really enjoyed my time there. I never felt like I was studying, I was really into it and having fun!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is there a connection between design and pastry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, I think my design studies helped me understand how to create something in three dimensions. I can picture the result more clearly, the colours, the shapes. Early on in my career, I used to believe these studies were a waste of time, but with hindsight, I now realise how they provided me with solid foundations for the way I work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Astoria Koh\u2019s background<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Have you always worked with French pastry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The very first pastry shop I worked in was rather Anglo-Saxon: they made carrot cakes, chocolate cakes, cookies, things like that. When I was in culinary school, all I knew was that I wanted to work in pastry making. I didn\u2019t think about what kind of cakes I wanted to make, or whether I would rather work in a shop or a restaurant… My first job happened to be in a restaurant, and that\u2019s how it all started. It was a famous dessert bar in Singapore, Janice Wong\u2019s 2am. A dessert-only restaurant, with 14 on the menu. It was completely eye-opening to me! At school, we only had one or two classes on plated desserts, and very conventional ones at that. But in this dessert bar, everything was completely different, much more artistic, with great freedom in terms of creativity, flavours and design. That\u2019s what brought me to restaurant desserts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How does your collaboration with Chef Guillaume Galliot work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Chef Guillaume was the first French chef I worked with, and I immediately enjoyed collaborating with him. He gives me great freedom to express myself; he is very open to suggestions while always giving his honest opinions and advice. I\u2019m improving on a daily basis, I\u2019ve really learnt a lot from him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He has an amazing palate and sometimes, just when I think a dish is complete, he comes in and suggests adding a new flavour. For instance: in pastry making, we often add an acidic component to compensate for sweetness and give the dessert a little kick, like lemon juice or zest… But then he said: why not use vinegar? Personally, I don\u2019t like vinegar… but I ended up taking his advice to give a new dimension to my recipe. These are the kinds of things we explore together. When it\u2019s time to change the menu, the chef throws out a few ideas, a few ingredients, which I can use to create something wholly original. For instance, a prompt to use both cherries and chocolate. If the inspiration doesn\u2019t come right away, I usually sleep on it and the next day I wake up with an idea in my mind. Then I draw the dessert and everything kicks off from there. In the end the chef tastes it, and together we decide what needs to be changed to make it truly perfect!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where do you find inspiration, do you scout what other pastry chefs are doing in Hong Kong?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes I test out what others are doing, but not so much actually. My time off is sacred to me, I like to rest or do sports. But I always keep an eye on what\u2019s being done online, and if it looks interesting, maybe I give it a try. With the Internet, we have access to so much information. So I look at what\u2019s going on there, and I read a lot as well. That\u2019s where I get my inspiration. Let\u2019s say I have an idea, a taste in mind: I go online, do some research, I can see what has already been published on the subject, and I use that to craft my own interpretation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What types of desserts do you make at Caprice?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is worth noting that in Asia, many products are imported. Hong Kong and Singapore are very similar in this respect. So I grew up without necessarily thinking about seasonality or products\u2019 origins. Here, you can have anything you want. Maybe the flavour isn\u2019t the best, but you end up thinking that\u2019s how things really taste. The chef puts great emphasis on seasonality, and that\u2019s something we abide by. During peak strawberry season in summer, we make the most of it in our desserts, and when it\u2019s over we move on. If someone asks for a strawberry shortcake in December, well it\u2019s out of the question! We stick to French seasons and only work with the best products, almost exclusively imported from France. If we can\u2019t get them for a particular recipe, that\u2019s too bad, but we have to come up with something else!<\/p>\n\n\n\n How would you describe your guests\u2019 tastes?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, Hong Kong people are great travellers, they\u2019ve seen and experienced many things, but at heart, they are not very adventurous. We know full well which of our desserts guests will pick, because they know exactly what they like. If they want chocolate, then chocolate it shall be and nothing else! Some of our desserts have been on the menu for a very long time: the chocolate banana millefeuille for instance, or the souffl\u00e9\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n They usually favour classics, not too sweet. But we also try to surprise them with new creations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is your favourite ingredient?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Caramel! It\u2019s really great because it\u2019s just sugar that you heat up. But the way it changes, the colours and flavours it takes on: soft and sweet when it\u2019s light, darker when it gets stronger, with a slight bitterness…<\/p>\n\n\n\n I just love using it! For instance, we created an interpretation of my favourite snack, Snickers. It\u2019s a dessert made of caramel mousse on a peanut nougat base, and a chocolate ice cream. So delicious!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Where do you see yourself in a few years? What would be your dream job?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I already have it. This is my dream job! It really is. I love working here, alongside Chef Guillaume. I feel supported and appreciated; that plays a big part in remaining with an establishment. It\u2019s also up to me to support my team. If someone comes to me and says \u201cI can\u2019t do this or that\u201d, I have to find a way to help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As long as I\u2019m in the kitchen, as long as I\u2019m making pastry, as long as I\u2019m creating, I\u2019m happy and I hope to stay here as long as possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Working in a restaurant can be physically tiring, but I really want to do it for another 10 years! Because if you take me out of the kitchen, that would make me really sad!<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pastry Sous Chef Caprice \u00ab Working alongside Chef Guillaume Gaillot, I feel supported and appreciated; that plays a big part in remaining with an establishment. \u00bb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[490],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prominent-talent"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41001"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41483,"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41001\/revisions\/41483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
![\"2021019](\"https:\/\/lesgrandestablesdumonde.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/2021019_caprice_whatthefox-0866-2-1280x1920-2-683x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n