Article by Fitz with input from the Southern Grit Staff & Contributors
Photography by Fitz
With a few extra pounds and many smiles gained, after eight months of indulgent eating in Norfolk, I present to you one sinfully delicious best of list!
The Morning Bun- The Bakehouse at Chelsea
Sometimes straight-forward is best when it comes to sweets. At The Bakehouse at Chelsea, the morning bun personifies such an approach and tops our list for the best sweet eats from scratch in Norfolk. While it is straight-forward–butter, scrap dough, brown sugar, organic sugar, and cinnamon–it’s packed with flavor.
(Above: Baker Lexy Garland, from scratch, making The Morning Bun at The Bakehouse at Chelsea)
With head baker Jonathan Highfield recently leaving The Bakehouse to work in Richmond, the morning buns are now overseen by his former student, Emily Oyer, who has soundly taken the baking reins in his departure. The trick to this dessert is how a bunch of butter seeps into the leavened bread as, yeah you guessed it, tons of sugar, heats and coats the bun in the wood-fired brick oven. Adding a bit more butter and sugar once out of the oven, this bun is sinfully decadent.
(Above: The Morning Bun at The Bakehouse At Chelsea)
The Bakehouse at Chelsea’s bread may be the best example of how food made from scratch, with real time, thought, and care, doesn’t need anything else to be special. There is no need for avant-garde cooking processes or special plating. It’s rustic, unpretentious, and delicious. There simply wasn’t a better sweet eat from scratch to be found in Norfolk in 2016 than the Morning Bun at The Bakehouse at Chelsea.
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To learn more about the inspired street food available at Streats in Ghent visit them online HERE or click the flier above!
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The Rose Orb- Saint Germain
Arguably, there is not a more dynamic dining experience to be had in Hampton Roads than eating at Chef David Hledik’s culinary playground, Saint Germain. It’s a restaurant built on experimentation and out of the box thinking, all while still producing plates with refined precision. Their Rose Orb dessert comes in at number two on our list and personifies the special culinary juxtaposition that makes Saint Germain so special. It’s a dessert that strikes the perfect balance between whimsy and elegance. At first glance, the Rose Orb reminds me of a bird’s nest. And like all the work a momma bird puts into making her chicks a comfy home, a lot goes into making this comforting dessert. A balloon to shape the rose water, blow torch to heat the circular metal prong that opens the liquid nitrogen frozen water for the in-house made mousse, what I lovingly call astronaut ice cream, cotton candy, fresh strawberries, dried and sweetened rose petals, yeah folks, it’s as much an engineering feat as a sweet eat.
(Above: Sous Chef Don Domingo, from scratch, making The Rose Orb at Saint Germain)
While the Morning Bun at The Bakehouse at Chelsea is an example of creating a sweet eat that takes what is familiar and elevates it via a refined touch, The Rose Orb dessert at Saint Germain is about taking tastes and types of food you know and making them in such a way that it forces you to experience them in a uniquely new way.
(Above: The Rose Orb at Saint Germain)
For those serious eaters who like to be pushed and challenged, this is without question the sweet eat for you. In Norfolk, you would have trouble finding a more visually fanciful dessert just as highly concerned with flavor.
Humdinger- The Bonbonnier
Rounding out this best of scratch made sweets list for the city of Norfolk in 2016 is a new creation from Confectioner Lisa Lain at the Bonbonnier. The sweets and atmosphere of Lain’s candy shop in Ghent harken back to a simpler time in our country when small corner markets and locally made wares were the norm. Her most recent delectable treat, The Humdinger, conjures up childhood memories of moon pies and gingerbread cookies for the eater. Two molasses cookies are made from scratch, baked in house, stuffed with whipped marshmallow and then half dunked in melted chocolate. This stuffed cookie sandwich is hands down, throwback, “Made in the USA”. Following a “bigger is better” approach, finishing one of these bad boys will cause you to have to unfasten a jean button.
(Above: Owner/ Confectioner Lisa Lain, from scratch, making The Humdinger at The Bonbonnier)
A love for scratch cooking runs in Lain’s family history. At her home and sometimes finding its way to the back room at The Bonbonnier where all the retro, scratch, dessert magic happens, one can find a thick family recipe binder Lain has kept over the years. Be it from expanding on her own recipes she’s developed herself over the years, or from riffing off of family ones, the best confections in Ghent are born. The Humdinger came about from a conversation she had with her husband Robert when he mentioned she might try combining her molasses cookies with marshmallow. In classic Lain style, she went quasi moon pie with it and half dunked the Hubby desired pairing in melted chocolate. The next time you want a classically inspired delectable treat made from scratch, visiting the Lain’s in Ghent for this wonder of a cookie sandwich is the way to go.
For more on The Bonbonnier visit them online HERE
For more on Saint Germain visit them online HERE
For more on The Bakehouse at Chelsea visit them online HERE
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