Chikalicious
Add: Shop 205a, Xintiandi, No.5, 123 Xingye Lu, near Madang Lu
Tel: 6333 9233
Hours: 11am-11pm (closed on Monday)
Price: [cake] 68 RMB [dessert set] 188 RMB (+10% service fee)
Visited: Jan 2016
Please note that this was an invited tasting.
My first time trying Chika’s desserts was 8 years ago in New York. I wasn’t a pastry chef back then but already had a serious sweet tooth, and I took the time to visit Chikalicious’ first (and only, at the time) shop at East Village just so I can try the famed 3-course dessert menu. When I heard that Chikalicious opened in Shanghai, I got curious – what would Chikalicious be like without Chika?
Running the kitchen of Chikalicious Shanghai are two young pastry chefs of only 28 years old – Mauro from Argentina and Maya from Thailand (grew up in the U.S.) They both worked at Chikalicious New York before coming to Shanghai, but got there via very different paths. Mauro started in the kitchen during his teens, and made his way through quite a few Michelin-starred restaurants such as L’Arpège in Paris, Gordon Ramsay in London, and Nobu 57 in New York, as well as famed pastry shops like Gerard Mulot. Maya was originally an industrial designer, and it has been only a year since she officially started working in the kitchen, but her confidence and practiced gestures are not at all like a newbie. Before joining Chikalicious, she was previously at three Michelin starred Eleven Madison Park, where she spent some time both front of the house and in the kitchen.
On another note, Maya personally wrote these “reserve” cards. Very pretty!
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