Coco Safar’s

desserts are
a beautiful, balanced
pop of sugar

The
Sweet
Squad
Meet the new guard
of CONFECTIONERS
who serve a sugar rush
with deft precision and
effortless panache
text piet smedy and ruth de cerff
production martin jacobs
photographs micky hoyle

36 house garden
 confection

Dazzling morsel-
sized works of
eye candy

house garden 000

 Coco Safar
Not so much a restaurant as a
coffee-and-sugar fuelled experience
Luxury coffee, patisserie and
café brand Coco Safar has relocated
to the Artem Centre on Sea Point
Main Road, a neighbourhood
rejuvenation of the Adelphi Centre.
The galleria-style shopping centre,
now with luxury marble and refined
Italian finishes, provides a fittingly
luxurious backdrop for Coco Safar’s
haute cuisine offering. Coco Safar
boasts dishes that are fresh, delicious
and made from scratch daily.
On the sweeter side of this retro-
chic, French-reminiscent setting
you’ll find chocolates, house
gelato and post-dinner treats that
move away from just delivering
a pop of sugar towards creating
a combination of unusual and
beautifully balanced flavours on
a dessert plate. The viennoiserie
of Coco Safar’s patisserie can be
described as classically French where
the crisp, buttery croissants own
the scene. Top off the experience
with a world-class espresso from
their custom-made Kees van der
Westen Spirit Idcompresso or
browse the coffee and tea selection
in their capsule emporium for your
enjoyment at home.
8 cocosafar.com
38 house garden
My Sugar
The local chocolatier producing
bite-sized works of art
Nestled in the heart of Sea Point,
My Sugar is a chocolate-meets-
coffee shop where you’ll find
a seemingly endless array of
handcrafted, multicoloured
chocolate treats. Created
with the aim of exploring
chocolate’s immense possibilities,
this sweet spot offers everything
from vegan treats like the ‘Berry
Baby’ (tart raspberry and dark
chocolate in a dark chocolate
shell) to classic choices like
the ‘Robot’ (soft milk chocolate
ganache in milk chocolate).
Together with her partner,
chef Asher Isaacs, chocolatier
and owner Kaylah Greenberg
emphasises the importance of
being an owner-run shop, where
they encourage customers to ask
questions and witness them creating
their individually hand-painted
masterpieces. Pair your choice of
chocolates with My Sugar’s own
house coffee blend or — depending
on your level of ‘chocolate-lover’ —
one of their decadent hot
chocolates. One thing is for sure;
a visit to My Sugar promises to be
a feast for both the eyes and the
sweet tooth. 8 mysugar.co.za
Cédric Grolet
The world’s best pastry chef on
simplicity, memory and celebrity
‘I still don’t believe it. Growing up, my
objective was to make the best pastries,
not become a celebrity,’ says French
pastry chef Cédric Grolet, but as the
recently named The World’s Best Pastry
Chef 2018 (not to mention having over
a million Instagram followers), celebrity
has found Cédric either way. Sporting
a full-sleeve tattoo – amongst others –
and a disarmingly charming smile, the
young chef (he’s only 33) is not your
cookie-cutter patissier. ‘When I became
head pastry chef at Le Meurice (the
famed French hotel where he recently
opened a standalone, La Pâtisserie du
Meurice par Cédric Grolet) I wanted to
change everything, break it down and
reconstruct it,’ he explains. ‘Under
Alain Ducasse (the Michelin-star chef
whose restaurant is at Le Meurice),
I learnt how to return to simplicity,
both in aesthetics and in taste.’ It is the
elegance and, perhaps, familiarity of his
c É d r i c g r o l e t i m ag e s : s u p p l i e d
fruit-pastry creations that make them
at once totally understandable and yet
completely awesome. ‘Like a beautiful
bunch of flowers that are physically
short lived but fondly remembered,
I want my pastries to provoke emotions
that people keep with them longer
than a picture lasts.’
8 instagram.com/cedricgrolet
 confection

Cédric Grolet’s fruit-

inspired creations bare
a striking resemblance
to the real thing

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