Of all the types of food in the world, desserts have always been a point of delight and perhaps the part of meal we all look forward to.
Establishing themselves with unique menus that fill our entire meals with the beauty of desserts, House on the Moon is spearheading a new movement within the local culinary scene with its dessert-forward dining concept.
We managed to get hold of the mastermind behind their magnificent creations and Chef-Owner Hüseyin Turan for a quick conversation to find out more.
Your dishes are beautiful! Tell us more about how the idea for House on the Moon came about.
At House on the Moon, our initial goal was to introduce the Dessert.Dining concept as it is quite an unexplored field in the local industry. Desserts are an integral, yet rarely discussed, aspect of dining.
Our aim is to challenge the one-dimensional tasting perspective that people often have about desserts and the fact that they belong under the “sweets” section. We want to engage our diners by inviting them to experience the full spectrum of their taste palate; that is, to experience a whole course without individual expectations of varying techniques, styles, or flavours.
Is dessert-forward dining all about desserts?
Yes and No. Every dish we create at House on the Moon starts as a dessert. The question is how we are defining desserts at House on the Moon.
To us, there’s a thin line between what one can still describe primarily as “a dish” (in its conventional sense), and a dessert. When we cross that line, it becomes something else altogether.
What’s a sure-win dessert element that looks really fancy but we can all do at home within minutes?
Chocolate decorations are always a nice thing to do at home. Just get some chocolate and melt it slowly in the microwave. Take some parchment paper and spread the chocolate in your desired shape, then chill it inside your fridge until hard.
How do you decide whether a dish should be sweet, savoury, or a mix of other flavours?
For me, the individual ingredients like vegetables, herbs, oils, or fruits decide how the end result is going to taste like. I only make sure to enhance the flavours as best as possible.
House on the Moon serves really unique tea blends, how did your team manage to conceptualise and produce them?
Our tea is specially blended by tea master Ms Mindula Wijesinghe. Using hand-picked tea leaves from a single Mahambana estate in Sri Lanka, sweetened only with dried stevia leaves.
We found each other when I started House on the Moon as a pilot project in Sri Lanka. I thought a tea pairing would be a nice complement to have along with our desserts. That’s how we came up with the idea of dessert-inspired teas.
For more on House on the Moon and their exquisite dishes, visit their website here.
