Praline Patisserie's Lavender Caramel Sauce

My one impulse buy at the Little Italy Farmer's Market was a ten ounce jar of Praline Patisserie's Lavender Caramel Sauce for a whopping (for me) US$8.00. The vendor at the stand was waving caramel samples in my face and I am a big sucker for caramel. The lavender was fragrant and floral in my mouth so I had to have it. She said that the caramel sauce has a shelf-life of about 3 months unopened before it starts to separate.

I forgot about my guilty pleasure after sticking it in the back of my pantry to save for a good time. More than 3 months had passed and the caramel already started to separate. It was time to break it out. After opening, a good mix with a chopstick brought the suspension of pure cane sugar, cream, glucose, butter, dried organic lavender, and sea salt back together.

The jar states, "Each batch of our artisan caramel is watched closely as it develops the rich amber color & complex flavors we are known for. The perfect care for an aching sweet tooth, it is great on anything from apples to ice cream and you'll probably want to eat it straight from the jar!"

Opening the jar, the silky, sticky, gooey caramel was bursting with the aroma of lavender mingling with the sweet caramel. It tasted even more decadent and indulgent than it smelled. The texture was smooth and thick. The caramel flavors hit first and are equally balanced by the lavender, which lingers on your tongue. The lavender caramel was great with apples, but it was even better to eat out of the jar. Just pluge your finger in the soft goodness and roll it around your tongue making sure the flavors spread to every taste bud dotting your tongue. I think most of the jar disappeared this way. Oh yes, pour that sugar in me. That lavender caramel is so divine you cannot resist a lick of it.

Praline Patisserie. Find them at one of San Diego's farmer's markets. PralinePatisserie.com.

McFlurry International - Rolo McFlurry in the United States

McDonald's is known for its taste standard, which is tasting exactly the same at whatever location you happen to visit anywhere in the world. The appeal of the McFlurry is that the McDonald's vanilla soft-serve is combined with different flavors, specializing the McFlurry by region or county. Even abroad, my Twitter feed blew up with the announcement of the Rolo McFlurry. For those not acquainted with the Rolo, it is a milk chocolate shell filled with caramel in the shape of a truncated cone. The thick shell of chocolate means ratio of chocolate to caramel is slightly higher and the caramel filling is also soft to almost solid.

The Rolo McFlurry is mashed up Rolos, which looked more like pieces of milk chocolate shell, and a swirl of caramel sauce.

Snack size (US$1.99) is 340-430 calories while the regular (US$2.69) is 510-640 calories. Also on the menu were the classic Oreo and M&M flavors. It is not clear exactly where the Rolo McFlurry is on the calorie scale, but chances are it is on the higher side.

The server who made the Rolo McFlurry at the Southcoast Plaza location visited in California put heaping spoonfuls of Rolo and a thick squeeze of caramel in the McFlurry cup with its protective lid to prevent spillage. It was haphazardly mixed together by hand and looked like a gorgeous mess, though maybe not well-mixed. After I started taking a photo of it, the server offered to make a second "better looking" one (and better mixed using the McFlurry machine). I took the server up on this offer but was immediately mortified when she threw it away instead of just giving it to some kid passing by as a mistake order. In the below photos, you can see the first Rolo McFlurry compared to the second.

Oh...It was good. Plenty of thick caramel sauce and chocolate chunks throughout the soft-serve ice cream. The actual portion was up to the top of the cup instead of halfway, the way it usually comes out in China (that is what that special lid is for!). Rolo in McFlurry form...yum.


McFlurry photos on the left are the first McFlurry while the second one made is on the right

McFlurry In Indonesia

McDonald's are everywhere. Really. However, the McFlurry is not always available. Only until this summer did the McDonald's in China show the first signs of the McFlurry with Oreo and M&Ms. I was pleased to find a unique flavor in Indonesia, outside of the standard Oreo and M&Ms (which indeed was offered on another less prominent menu). The two flavors that these McDonald's showcased are Caramel Crunch and Coffee Crunch and cost more than the standard McFlurry flavors at 7000 Rupiah. The size of the McFlurry is significantly smaller in Indonesia compared to its American counterparts and the servings are sadly more conservative. The "crunch" part of the McFlurry is broken up pieces of waffle cone and tiny bits of chocolate chip. There was also a nice swirl of caramel for the Caramel Crunch McFlurry. Some servers remembered to actually do the "Flurry" part of the McFlurry putting it in the mixing machine, some mixed only part way, and some mixed it well, all of which showed an inconsistency in the training of the art of the McFlurry. The Caramel Crunch McFlurry was very sweet, appealing to sweet-toothed Indonesians, and had a lot of flavors and textures with the waffle cone, hard chocolate bits, and gooey caramel. The waffle cone was not stale at all and did not turn soft after being in the ice cream during the consumption process. The chocolate chips were very small and tasted as though there was a higher cacao percentage from its slightly bitter quality. Using milk chocolate would have made the McFlurry too sweet instead of rich. If only the caramel was a little bit thicker to create a better ribbon effect in the white soft serve because it just mixed with the soft serve resulting in a melted caramel ice cream soup. But where the soft serve did hold together, it was quite lovely, especially when taking a break from the hot midday sun.

Dessert at Madison for Qixi 七夕 Festival

Wholly owned by Austin Hu (who trained at New York's Gramercy Tavern), Madison is one of the latest additions to the fine dining scene in Shanghai. Qixi Festival or "Chinese Valentine's Day" offered a great reason to go out and indulge in a sweet extravagance.

The restaurant was empty for a Monday night around 22:00, but the purpose of the visit was dessert, not a meal. The kitchen closes at 23:00, though they will make concessions if you advise them on time. The room was dimly lit, simple and classy. At the larger tables, there was a thoughful space created in the table for the server so that each dish can easily be hand-placed in front of the diner.


The apple tart fine with goat cheese ice cream and brandy caramel at 60RMB jumped out from the menu. Goat cheese ice cream is an intriguing way to capture the tart sweetness from goat cheese. It did have a sort of gritty texture to it from the goat cheese and the method to make it silky and velvety-smooth is still being refined. The puff pastry used for the apple tart is made in-house although using imported French butter. At the moment, few necessities cannot be compromised and quality butter is one of them. Austin told us that he may switch to Irish butter soon, at least until a suitable China-sourced replacement is found. Anyway, the goat cheese ice cream was melting away on the warm, thin, tart fine. Breaking into the dessert with a spoon, the pastry gives a satisfying crackle. Covered with the caramel sauce, the brandy compliments the apple and goat cheese ice cream well. I would have preferred the brandy caramel to be thicker to match the weight of the puff pastry and goat cheese ice cream.


The server informed us there are 15 different flavors of ice cream all made in-house at 20RMB per scoop. One of them included a Baileys flavor, which was smooth, creamy, and rich, just like the drink. It was adorned with a thin brittle giving a contrast to the smooth ice cream.


The head and humidity of Shanghai summers is offset by this light dessert. The meringue is perfectly cooked through and crispy the whole way through, melting on the tongue against the mulberry sauce and citrus sorbet. Wonderfully light and delicately sweet.


Pairing together the nut ice cream and berry sorbet, your taste buds are transported back to the nostalgia of a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The nut ice cream is incredibly creamy and thick, almost like smooth peanut butter, and not artificially sweet. It is so rich and dense, you can hardly believe that this is ice cream. The berry sorbet is dark, fresh, and flavorful to match the richness of the nut ice cream.


After paying the bill, we were offered complimentary cashew brittle cookies with bits of melted toffee. This had to be saved for later, unless gluttony (in the best sense) became overwhelming.

Austin Hu came to the table to see how we liked the dessert and simply talk to us. Hearing his approach to the direction of his restaurant shows that he is looking at fine dining past what he is able to produce on the table. Already, it is impressive that everything is produced in-house, including the lardo he is starting to prepare, as well as focusing on these high-quality ingredients being fresh. More impressive is his goal to source high-quality products locally, at least within China, and extend that to every single part of his restaurant. He sets out to build relationships with the source, a trust that will ensure the consistent quality of the food. Sourcing locally is a trend already with lots of steam in the West and it is nice to see the same attitude displayed in China. New Shanghai chefs tend to be more liberal with sharing their source list, showing that the dining scene is escalating to feature the unique talents of each chef although maybe using the same product as another.

The desserts were amazing. hoF may be the front-runner in most people's minds for chocolate cake and decadance (while still minding a budget), but for the next step in quality and thoughtfulness, the desserts at Madison is where it is at. Looking forward to what else Austin Hu has planned for his menu.

Madison. 3/F, 18 Dongping Lu, near Hengshan Lu, 东平路18号, 近衡山路, Shanghai, People's Republic of China