The Hong Kong restaurants that have revived baked Alaska

When pastry chef Jerry Thornton was creating the dessert menu for Mr & Mrs Fox in Quarry Bay, baked Alaska didn't come to mind: he had never eaten one before, let alone made one.

"When I started in the restaurant business 15 years ago, baked Alaska was out of style," he says in his defence.

Nevertheless, before the restaurant kitchen was even built, Thornton and executive chef Joey Sergentakis brainstormed some very sweet ideas. "He likes flutternutter sandwiches - peanut butter and marshmallow spread with banana. Do you know what flutternutter [marshmallow crème] is? It's like meringue in a jar. He would add that to his sandwich. So we thought why not do something similar, cover it with meringue and set it on fire?"

The baked Alaska they created (HK$155) isn't anything like the dessert your grandparents might have enjoyed: it's a combination of peanut butter ice cream with salted caramel, toasted peanuts, crisped rice and crisp chocolate pearls, with a crunchy base of praline mixed with French frosted flakes and chocolate, the whole thing covered with meringue and surrounded by caramelised bananas.

The result is a combination of several soft and crunchy textures, and the portion easily feeds three hungry diners.

"I previously worked for Daniel Boulud [of Daniel in New York] and he likes to work surprises into the centre of things, so we thought we'd follow that idea," Thornton says.