MAKING waves across the blogsphere and in the media in general following its official opening in March, Crème De La Crème or CDLC is a dessert parlour, a ‘bar’ that serves top of the shelf artisanal ice cream and even cake.
Located in Damansara Uptown, CDLC is owned by Lio Lim and operated by a team of pastry chefs, some of whom have received training from famous pastry chef Christy Tania, who herself was a regular guest on Masterchef Australia.
As mentioned, CDLC’s trade is artisanal ice cream, featuring an eclectic range of flavours and styles that customers can choose from at reasonable prices.
The diminutive Evelyn Chung leads CDLC’s kitchen team. A professional pastry chef, Chung’s romance with pastries stretched back to her younger days.
Speaking to theSun, Evelyn revealed that she nearly took a different path in life before completing her studies in Culinary Management at Sunway University.
At which point in your life did you start to get interested in cooking/baking etc?
“[My] mum used to bake at home. That’s where my interest [began]. She did it as housewife thing, for the family and for fun. I used to help her out, and that sparked my interest. Initially it was more of a hobby, so not so much as [a] career.
“When I moved on further, I realised this could be a career. Because initially, people [didn’t consider] being a chef and all of this as a career. I realised I could do this as a career during my college days.
“Initially, I was taking a pre-university [course] because I was pursuing medicine before making the switch to culinary management.”
What inspired you to pursue this line of work professionally?
“I feel like when I grew up and became more matured, I realised that the hobby could become a job, as I was passionate about it and it would not be very hard as well.”
How are new pastries created at CLDC?
“I [have led] the kitchen team here since [March]. Everything here is natural, and made from scratch. The most important [ingredient] is of course our ice cream mix. Basically we have to make our own ice cream mix first, which comprises the scoops and all that.
“For the cakes, there are a few components, like the mix is churned and put into a mould. Once it comes out in the shape that we want, we will decorate and garnish it.”
Is it hard coming up
with new creations consistently?
“Sometimes it is hard to come up with new things. Here, we try to come up with new creations every month. Once in a while we’ll have new cakes or a new ice cream flavour.”
How do you know if customers will like it?
“That is our own fear as well. Everyone has their own tastebuds and their own preferences.
“That’s why we will not do something in a big batch first. If it is something new, we will [put] out something to test the market.
“If the response is good, we will continue [making] it in proper batches. That is one thing good on why we do not make a lot, as we are not a manufacturer.
“We are artisanal.”
TRIVIA
Favourite flavour: “Banana ice cream with butterscotch, walnut and chocolate crumble.”
Favourite combination of flavours: “The 63% dark chocolate with banana.”
Favourite pastries to work with: “More of traditional, old school cakes like buttercake and banana cake. My daily job involves artisanal, so sometimes I feel like rustic pastries is a good getaway.”
Culinary role models: “My head chef in university, Chef Patrick Siau.”
