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If you were excited about the Tate’s Yayoi Kusama-themed lunch and afternoon tea menu, then, well… brace yourselves, because there’s ANOTHER Kusama-themed afternoon tea coming to London.
Rosewood London has created a selection of dishes inspired by the Japanese contemporary artist famous for her impressive installations. It’s tied to the launch of ‘Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirror Rooms’ and will be held in the hotel’s Mirror Room.
Created by Rosewood London’s executive pastry chef Mark Perkins, the menu will fuse Japanese flavours with traditional French pastry and patisserie. Trad cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches have been given a boost with the addition of shichimi (a Japanese spice mix), smoked salmon comes with wasabi cream and there’s also chicken teriyaki and spring onion; egg mayonnaise, katsuobushi and chives; crispy rice cracker, yuzu avocado and keta caviar.
On the sweet side of things, there are three pastries served as a very aesthetically-pleasing trio. There’s the tonka caramel, a chocolate cup filled with tonka cream, salted caramel and a caramel chocolate crumb, topped with a chocolate polka dot pattern (Kusama loves dots, you know?) and a peach and jasmine macaroon filled with peach jelly and jasmine tea ganache. Finally, there’s a vanilla cheesecake inspired by Japan’s cherry blossoms which is made with actual cherry blossom gel vanilla cheesecake.
But wait, there’s more. Yes, more. A trio of Kusama-inspired cakes are the real showstopper, with decorations inspired by Kusama-style dots (yes, more dots). Each cake is inspired by a Kusama artwork – there’s ‘Flowers That Bloom at Midnight’ made with a tropical coconut mousse, strawberry yuzu jelly, matcha green tea sponge and strawberry crisps; ‘All My love for Tulips’ which features a citrusy yuzu mousse, raspberry yuzu jelly, almond pan de gene, green tea sable, raspberry cremeux and chocolate petals; and finally, ‘Dots Obsession – Soul of Pumpkin’, with a passion fruit cremeux, chocolate mousse, flourless chocolate cake, praline feuilletine, passionfruit ganache and chocolate decorations. Phew.
Will there be yet more Kusama-themed food coming to the capital? Only time will tell.
The Art Afternoon Tea is available at Rosewood London on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from noon until 6pm. £65 per person or £75 per person with a glass of champagne.
Want to see the art, too? We’ve had a first look at that Yayoi Kusama exhibition, and wow
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