Dessert Bowl

The other night I went out with some friends for a hot pot (more on that later). After stuffing ourselves to the point of exhaustion, the waiter showed up with the free dessert we weren't expecting. Oh no, I thought, have I met my match? A meal I can't finish? Dessert arriving when I'm already stuffed to the gills? Luckily, the dessert bowl, as it was titled, was light and refreshing and allowed me to retain my hard-earned title of Meal Slayer.

The bowl contained some tiny pieces of lychee, pineapple and guava. The white thing in the picture that looks like half of an egg is actually a bland, mildly-sweet piece of jello (I don't care for using brand names, but calling it panna cotta, though technically correct, seems inaccurate given the Asian context). All of this is floating in a vaguely fruity simple syrup. The entire portion was gone in less than five bites.

This dessert bowl is far from groundbreaking. As one fellow diner put it, "it's not interesting enough to hold my attention," but maybe he was just trying to save face when he didn't finish his. Still, I appreciate the effort, and not just because dessert soup is a novelty to my western palate. Sometimes a meal just doesn't isn't over until something sweet has crossed my tongue. I'm sure this is a learned response after years of dessert indulgence. There are nights, however, when I over do it with the main course, especially when faced with a buffet, and the thought of ordering dessert makes me grab my gut and moan. So for the evening in question, this sweet finisher was spot-on.