Donned the “King of Desserts” from his time on MasterChef, it wasn’t too much of a surprise when Reynold Poernomo announced in January 2016 that he was opening his own dessert bar – KOI. What might be a surprise is just how popular it managed to become in a very short amount of time.

A fast favourite with fans, the restaurant’s sweet success (see what we did there!) saw Reynold add a sister offering to the KOI Dessert Bar family this year with the KOI Dessert Kitchen – a cooking school and café.

But it’s not just in the kitchen that Reynold’s has his finger in the pie – with the chef also a popular food influencer when it comes to Instagram. Taking that into account and with National Martini Day coming up next Monday (June 19), we thought it only fitting to have a chat to Reynold’s about his renowned ‘GOTTA HAVE ESPRESSO TINI’ for this week’s Recipe of the Week.

Discussing the drink with Husskie, Reynold explains: “My brother Ronald grew up working as a bartender, so when creating our Espresso Martini – we knew we wanted it to stand out and be different. By combining my knowledge and skills from dessert-making with his knowledge of bartending, we were able to find the perfect balance and mix in flavours. Adding in liquid nitrogen was my final touch to add some theatrics when served. It isn’t your ordinary Espresso Martini, hence the name ‘Gotta Have Espresso Tini’.”

RECIPE

Ingredients

• 45ml Vanilla-infused vodka
• 30ml Espresso coffee
• 15ml Licor 43
• 10ml Maple syrup
• 2 drops of Mirin
• Frozen Tiramisu rocks
• 4 Egg yolks
• 60gr Mascarpone cheese
• 300gr Cream
• 90gr Espresso
• 45gr Sugar

Method

• Stick blend all the ingredients until all mixed through but don’t over do it
• Transfer the mixture into siphon and charge it with two cream chargers
• To get the rock texture, pipe the Tiramisu mix into liquid nitrogen and serve on top of the Espresso Tini
• Dust with dark cocoa powder.