The sweets in the final layer of the set are riffs on classic Chinese dessert items like nuts, taro, and fruit. There’s taro and salted egg yolk in puff pastry, a roll of candied nuts, and a mango and green bean dumpling. It’s a departure from the traditional European-style desserts like cakes and cookies, but perfectly fitting with the theme of the set. They follow the Chinese preference for sweets that are not overly sweet, but are light and refreshing instead .
The set also includes a sweet almond and osmanthus flower pudding as a palate cleanser, which I loved. Its silky sweetness is a lovely ending to the tea .
The Red Box tea set is the only one produced by the Yan Toh Heen team, while the other tea sets are created by the InterContinental’s executive pastry chef, Cyril Dupuis. When I expressed regret that I wasn’t able to try any of his creations, they generously brought me one of his a la carte desserts, the Ispahan cake. As chef Dupuis worked with Pierre Hermé in Paris, this cake is a lovely tribute to his culinary background, with a lychee mousse and rose petal cream layered over a coconut dacquoise base. The macaron is just, well, the cherry on top .