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NCAD Inspired Afternoon Tea returns to The Westbury

 

  • Long term supporters of arts, culture and design, The Westbury, heralds the return of the NCAD Inspired Afternoon Tea
  • Cakes and pastries inspired by NCAD Fashion students

Nestled between Dublin’s creative quarter and elegant Grafton Street, The Westbury, Dublin’s premier luxury hotel and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, is renowned for its commitment to supporting the arts, culture and design. To celebrate five years of The Westbury’s partnership with the National College of Art and Design (NCAD), The Westbury is launching, for a limited period, a new NCAD Inspired Afternoon Tea. Served in the serene surroundings of The Gallery, guests will have the opportunity to sample exquisitely designed desserts inspired by some of Ireland’s budding fashion designers.

Executive Pastry Chef at The Westbury, Ray Encarnacion, has skilfully created the NCAD Afternoon Tea taking inspiration from the style and intricate detail of each design piece to craft a delicious selection of desserts and sweet treats.

An impressive orange ensemble infused with vibrant colour, created by Ciara Allen, influenced Ray to draw on the bold colour choice with a sumptuous pistachio Bavaroise, hazelnut sable, and khalua fluid gel.

Gabrielle Malone’s all-white creation, inspired by fishermen’s workwear and equipment, translates as a delicate Verrine made of white chocolate cremeux, passion fruit jelly, white chocolate and coconut-whipped ganache.

Dora Oduro Newman’s design encompassing an oversize black dress with dupion silk embellishment and rivet studs, inspired by her personal multicultural experience, led Ray to create a striking black and gold tartlet, made with cherry gel, peach custard and chocolate mousse.

Elizabeth Omowumi’s design, a voluminous hooded and oversized African print lasercut jacket with knit cuffs, worn over a colourful African print-petaled T-shirt with knit collar, hat and baggy jeans, led Ray to create a colourful and vibrant choux from blueberry compôte and lavender pastry cream.

Una King’s poncho design, entitled Bivouac, based on the concept of temporary encampment and using materials readily available for the modern city dweller was recreated using delicious and light beer sponge, strawberry mousse, yoghurt cremeux, citrus Italian meringue – a riot of colour in one delicious mouthful.

Ray Encarnacion described how he enjoyed creating and designing the unique array of desserts “As a pastry chef, this was an extremely rewarding initiative to be involved in – challenging and rewarding in equal measure! Meeting with the designers in their NCAD fashion studio and choosing from their amazing creations, deciding which would translate best as a dessert was an unusual but exciting opportunity for me. There’s always a fine balance to be struck between how the cakes and pastries resemble the designers work, and how this will be interpreted by our guests. Gaining an insight into the students’ inspiration behind the designs was crucial to the interpretation of the designs, and I hope the designers and guests alike are pleased with the end result”

Speaking about the partnership and afternoon tea Angela O’Kelly, Head of Design for Body and Environment at NCADcommented; “We are delighted to be collaborating once again with The Westbury to help showcase the incredible wealth of design talent in Ireland. We are blown away by the skills of the incredible pastry team and how they have captured the very essence of the students’ original designs through the use of different ingredients, developing textures, colours and shapes to rival even the original designs!”

Guests can enjoy the bespoke NCAD Inspired Afternoon Tea, available for €55 per person, €70 per person with Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut or Perrier-Jouët Blason Rosé for €90 for Dom Pérignon Champagne Afternoon Tea. The NCAD Inspired Afternoon Tea is available from the 7th June until mid-September. Advance bookings are advised and can be made with the hotel on 01 646 3311 or by visitinghttp://www.doylecollection.com/hotels/the-westbury-hotel

 

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