Sumptuous durian pancakes

FORMER air stewardess Chng Lee Lee had always wondered why she could only have lovely durian desserts in Hong Kong even though the best durians were grown in Malaysia.

“There’s no doubt about it. Our country has the most delicious durians as they have the loveliest aroma, but one can hardly find durian desserts here,” said the self-confessed foodie, who related her “love at first bite” experience with the Hong Kong durian pancake — a bite-sized dessert with durian and velvety cream wrapped in a thin crepe.

Sweet indulgence: Chng at her dessert kiosk in The Gardens, Mid Valley shopping centre.

Also a good cook, she set out to create her own version of the durian pancake and before long, they became all the rage as soon as she started selling them from a kiosk at The Gardens, Mid Valley shopping centre.

Four years down the road, her sweet creations sold under the banner of Sumptuous Desserts are also available at Sungei Wang Plaza, Ikano Power Centre and Sunway Pyramid shopping centre.

And even though seven desserts are sold at the kiosks, the durian pancake is still the all-time hit.

Tropical wonders: Pancakes made withdifferent tropical fruits with velvetycream and thin crepe.

The secret is in the durian paste and it is a combination of several best quality durians. And even though it is a seasonal fruit, she has established supplies from different states so the desserts are made of the best-tasting durians harvested at their peak season all year round.

Chng vouched that Sumptuous Dessert’s durian pancake tasted better than the ones she loved in Hong Kong.

“In Hong Kong, durians are so expensive so the traders have to use less durian and more cream, at a ratio of about 20-80, while our version is 50-50. It is certainly much more satisfying!” she said.

Besides Durian Pancake, durian has made its way into other desserts such as Japanese Cream Puff and Hokkaido Cake. Instead of having cream on the inside, these two popular desserts are made more tantalising with a dose of durian, which has lifted its texture and aroma a few notches up but the end product is not cloying as one would imagine.

Melting moments : Hokkaido Cake withdurian filling will melt one’s heart.

The pancakes also come in mango and jackfruit flavours - very much all the tropical goodness.

She noted that the desserts were prepared fresh every morning.

“Our workers start making them at 6am everyday and not a single pinch of sugar is used in the making. We pamper our customers with fresh and healty desserts,” she added.