Chef Smita Grosse on why she had to adjust a recipe 20 times to cater to a Macanese palate
- The Mauritian executive pastry chef at the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong talks about what it’s like to cook for 3,500 cruise ship passengers
- Grosse adapts her desserts to her guests’ tastes – in Hong Kong, her bestselling dessert is a mango cheesecake
How did you get interested in cooking? “I was born and raised in Mauritius. My mum and dad separated when I was young and dad cooked for me and my older brother. My father was very creative. He made simple soups very tasty and added herbs or meat.
“In Mauritius, lentil soup is a classic dish for dinner, but he added more ingredients to make it more aromatic. When I was 13 years old, I started learning how to cook rice in a pot.”
What did you learn at hotel school? “At 16, in 1998, I got into hotel school – not everyone could get in. It’s a two-year programme where on Mondays you go to school, Tuesday to Saturday you work in a hotel, and Sundays you get off. I got a job at One&Only Le Saint Géran, one of the best and most expensive hotels in Mauritius.
“When I went to the job interview, I was very skinny and small. The chef asked me, ‘Are you sure you want to join the hotel industry?’ I said yes. He said, ‘First thing, you need to forget your family, and second, forget enjoyment like weddings, Christmas and New Year.’ I told him I was OK with that.
“I worked in a different department every three months: in the French kitchen I made sauces and salads, in the Asian kitchen I learned how to use a wok, and also butchery and fish. The last rotation was pastry and it opened my eyes. It was waiting for me. It’s creative and there are so many things to learn.
“The last day of my internship, the executive chef asked me to stay but I didn’t want to work at the breakfast buffet – it’s usually female chefs who cook eggs, omelettes and French toast for guests. I only wanted to do pastry. A few days later the chef called me to work in pastry. I was there for 4½ years.”
What was it like working there? “Pastry was divided into sections like chocolate, pastry, ice cream. It was like being in university. After eight months I got a promotion, which was hard to get, and six months later, another promotion. Others were jealous of me, but it was not about how many years you have worked, but the experience and knowledge you have. I was there for almost three years and it was there I met my husband, who is from Germany.”
Did you like working on a cruise ship? “We left together and joined Carnival Cruise as junior sous chefs; him in charge of the steak house and me in pastry. We worked for six months straight, no days off. When the ship arrived at a United States port, there were strict hygiene checks. It’s the most intense time of the whole cruise. The kitchen had to be so clean that you could see your reflection. The captain even inspected with a light to check every screw for dust or dirt.
“I also learned to be very organised and have all the ingredients because you can’t go to the store when you’re on the ocean. This was my first experience providing food for 3,500 passengers. It’s not easy.”
What kind of desserts did you make in Jakarta? “I joined the Kempinski Jakarta in 2017 as the first female executive pastry chef. I started to work with local flavours because the owners were Chinese-Indonesian and they wanted to modernise traditional food.
“In Indonesia, there are pineapple cookies and pandan crepes with coconut palm sugar filling, both of which I turned into macarons. They also have an ice crush with jackfruit, sweetcorn and peanuts, and I incorporated those flavours into a cake.”
You have worked in many places. How do dessert tastes differ? “In Dubai and Mauritius, they like to eat very sweet things – pastries made with sugar syrup. But in Macau, I had to adjust a recipe for stollen 20 times to adapt to the Macanese palate. This was a good lesson because afterwards – in Singapore, Jakarta and now Hong Kong – everyone liked my desserts because they weren’t sweet.
“Instead of sugar, I use maple syrup and honey in my cakes because they’re natural and the sugar content is not that high. I also use muscovado from sugar cane for brownies and fudge.”
How do you know what desserts people like? “The bestselling dessert at our hotel is mango cheesecake. When I proposed the idea to my boss, he suggested raspberry cheesecake instead, but I said Hongkongers like mango. He didn’t 100 per cent agree so he asked women in his office if they would prefer raspberry or mango cheesecake. Everyone said mango. It’s about how you understand the culture and the people. People think I’m the pastry chef and I create what I like, but it’s not true. I need to make my guests happy. They are the ones who come to eat my cakes.”