I came in to work in the morning to find two things left for me to try from Kelly and Samantha. Kelly made a matcha okara donut inspired by her recent trip to Japan. Samantha made an Irish soda bread with mascerated figs as we were talking about St. Patrick’s Day coming up and St. Patrick’s Day specials. Kelly and Samantha are my senior line cooks at night and both found time to play with food the day before and both left me samples to taste. I had tasted Kelly’s experimental donut the day before where she had put in too much baking soda. She collaborated with our pastry chef, Vivian, and it turned out way better. It reminded me of the Japanese donuts I would get from the chain Mister Donut when I lived in Japan. Samantha made different versions of her soda bread in different shapes/molds, sweetened and not, they all tasted good. They are in the process, the journey of experimentation, which is more important, and more fun, than the destination.
I really appreciated that the girls left these for me to taste with a note and found some time to play during the busy day. Did I mention that they tasted really good,
~ Miya Nishimura, Chef de Cuisine at Alan Wong's Honolulu