For 270 people, love will be on a Thali at Poppy tonight.
Last year I wrote quite frankly about some of the realities of St. Valenties Day, or VD as we refer to it in the industry.
Poppy is in a protective bubble of some sort right now. And by that I mean we are busy. Trust me, we know how lucky we are.
That said, we have been booked out for weeks. We have a set menu. Well, we always have a set menu. But tonight the set menu comes with a starter, and a dessert Thali for two.
You won’t find anything too cheeky coming from me tonight. I am serving a “hot date cake,” but then again, I always do. However it does seem more fitting today. I am also making a passion fruit sorbet, which will temporarily replace my current sorbet, chocolate tangerine. This was hard for me, as I am intensely attached to this chocolate tangerine sorbet. It tastes like a decadent tangerine perfumed fudgesicle, and each bite holds an intense amount of nostalgia for me.
Passion fruit sorbet was my compromise, however, as what was really desired of me was “love potion”.
I’m just not that girl. Don’t even get me started on the whole chocolate sex orgasm thing.
Jokes in the kitchen have chruned out fake scenarios of me looking shocked when i find out that rohypnol isn’t an ingredient in love potion, and a line of edible underwear. Banana flavored banana hammocks anyone? And of course, the I-really-love-your-peaches-wanna-eat-that-bra-right-off-of-you peach flavored bra.
I’ll spare you jokes of the VD chocolate and chile “it burns” variety.
The romance of this day has been bled out of us cooks with 14 hour days, struggling to find things in a walk in swollen with prep and product for the evening, the monotony of making 300 of one thing, and of course the tight feeling in your chest from the 6 hours of an insane serivce like this.
But this day isn’t about me. It’s about passion fruit sorbet, hot date cakes, hearts, and love.
And I always put love in my menu.