Patisserie Platine: A Sweet Taste of Waku Ghin at Marina Bay Sands

Waku Ghin at Marina Bay Sands is famed for its inventive flavours and precision techniques; the same philosophy carries over to its revolutionary desserts now available at Patisserie Platine

Looking for a different kind of afternoon pick-me-up, mama? Or perhaps you’d like to relive the once-in-a-lifetime experience of a special meal at Tetsuya’s Waku Ghin while going a bit easier on your wallet? Whether one of the above or you just happen to love beautiful, delicious desserts, I suggest checking out Patisserie Platine at RISE Lounge in Marina Bay Sands.

Celebrity chef Tetsuya Wakuda launched the spin-off patisserie in Marina Bay Sands’s hotel lobby in 2015 after noticing that his restaurant’s gorgeous desserts and pastries regularly sold out and seemed to have developed a cult following all their own. Using premium ingredients and fresh, seasonal fruits from Japan and Europe, each exquisite creation is almost too pretty to eat. At the very least, each gorgeous plate demands a moment of appreciation (and Instagram recognition) before you devour it.

Now the French- and Japanese-trained pastry team has a platform all its own to showcase their immense creativity and passion, and the result is an expanded menu of sweet treat delicacies, from classic macarons, to the signature lemon cheesecake, to new additions like caramel chocolate mousse with spice and banana.

Chocolate lovers, take note: you’ll not only find three varieties of chocolate mousse on the menu (I may have actually preferred the richly fragrant Early Grey variation with orange and vanilla), but also black forest cake (created to highlight sour cherry flavours in season; probably my favourite item on the menu due to its balanced duet of tart and sweet flavours), chocolate tarte with jasmine tea and orange (tastes like Smarties candy, if that’s your jam), and classic tiramisu with creamy mascarpone.

The signature Matcha Opera is more like a symphony: its layers contain multitudes, including coffee buttercream, almond sponge cake, matcha ganache, and a crunchy topping of matcha chantilly and matcha crumble. The warm, buttery effect is so unexpected with a light green tea-flavoured dessert — truly a diva of the menu.

And no visit to Patisserie Platine would be complete without sampling the iconic and singular Ghin cheese cake. Perpetually the restaurant’s most popular dessert, it’s a sphere of lemon cheese mousse with refreshing lemon curd at its center, topped with the most delicate white chocolate feather. This just might be the prettiest dessert I’ve ever seen; at a table of hungry journalists, no one wanted to dare take the first bite that would sully the plate (and yet once someone did break the seal it seemed to disappear within mere seconds).

Among my other favourites: rich creme caramel made with Japanese eggs and Japanese milk (mild and delicate, if chocolate’s too forward for you); yuzu tarte with olive oil sponge cake (perhaps the boldest flavours of any item on the menu. This team knows how to handle their yuzu); and the airy, pretty-as-a-picture strawberry Fraisier (the juiciest, most succulent strawberries I’ve tasted in Singapore. A low bar, to be sure, but if I closed my eyes it almost tasted like summer in America).

In addition to the various desserts, which average $10-$12 each, Patisserie Platine also serves up a lovely array of coffees, teas and fresh juice concoctions. It’s open daily from 11am – just as energy might be starting to flag – and, combined with a spot of shopping at the Marina Bay Shoppes across the way, makes for for a lovely afternoon. You will definitely want to follow it up with a stroll around Marina Bay, though, to offset the impending sugar rush.

Waku Ghin Patisserie Platine at Rise Lounge, Marina Bay Sands Hotel Lobby, Tower 1, 2 Bayfront Avenue, Singapore 018956, Tel: (+65) 6688 5568, www.marinabaysands.com/restaurants/cafe/rise-lounge.html