Sweet of the Week: Dessert Platter at Roka Akor

Roka Akor:

I love a good dessert sampling. Why restrict myself to one dessert when I can have several? Rather than be a heinous glutton who orders one of everything on the menu, I'd prefer to graze over a platter of pint-sized sweets. Not only is it satisfying to sample a variety of flavors and textures, but it better displays a restaurant's knack for baking. For those reasons, I laud Roka Akor. Not only does the restaurant do a sleek job with salacious desserts that exemplify the restaurant's penchant for eclectic cookery, but they offer a tasting atop a bowlful of ice a la a sushi tasting. It's equally as gorgeous as it is delicious. 

(Dessert platter at Roka Akor)

Roka Akor does not shy away from flavors that are big and bold. Through the savory selections, the restaurant does a bang-up job with sushi, steaks, salads, and anything else that touches a plate and a tongue. Dessert is no exception. The perfect exclamation point to punctuate a dinner at Roka Akor is their dessert platter, a spread available for a minimum of two people, even though I could easily polish this off by myself. It consists of a whole rainbow of flavors, including a chilled yuzu souffle cake, a warm chocolate cake, a bourbon-infused creme brulee, and a miscellany of sorbets. My favorite of the bunch was the warm chocolate cake, which looked like a tired chocolate lava cake (lol), but tasted eons better, like a decadent baked pudding cake heaped with custardy ice cream. The chilled yuzu souffle cake was a close second, nice and tartly refreshing, maintaining that fluffy souffle texture despite being cold. The sorbets were sublime as well, particularly the sesame-studded banana sorbet, which tasted like a nutty banana bread. There's also a healthy amount of exotic fruits scattered around the platter, which makes the whole thing seem downright nutritious. 

- Matt Kirouac