Rasa Deli

Special thanks to Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa for extending this food review invitation.

If you like the Switch Roll which I made during this contest, or like my blog and wish to support me in general, I really appreciate that you cast a vote on this photo at Rasa Sayang's Facebook page. Please feel free to share this page with your friends and family. Thank you for your continuous support. It really motivates me in my amateur blogging!

Rasa Sayang is renowned for its fine confectionery: cakes, macarons, pastries etc. This is clearly evident from the daily buffet dinner at Spice Market Café.

To cater for customers who seek for quick bites, an easily-accessible kiosk is available to serve this purpose. Formerly a gazebo for mahjong-playing hotel guests, the structure has been repurposed to house the Rasa Deli.

Keeping the tradition of delighting guests with gastronomic surprises, Rasa Deli has been introducing novelty delicacies from time to time. Not too long ago, Rasa Sayang pioneered the Cronut which turned out to be wildly popular. The Cronut, an amalgam of croissant and doughnut, has been emulated by several cafés in George Town ever since.

This time, Rasa Deli is pioneering an all-new pastry treat: the Switch Roll. Switch Roll is an innovation of the ubiquitous Swiss Roll, in which a liberal approach is taken with regards to ingredients. Starting with the familiar sponge cake, the Switch Roll deliberately "switches" the common butter cream with completely different ingredients which are not normally associated to Swiss Rolls.

The Switch Roll is the brainchild of Executive Pastry Chef Dino Wan, who has nearly 3 decades of career on his lengthy résumé. Few people can claim to have served as chef to the Prime Minister; Chef Dino is among the elite few. Formerly based in George Town's Traders Hotel, Chef Dino recently moved to Rasa Sayang to enrich the confectionery menu here.

At present, Chef Dino and his team of professional pastry chefs have created 7 types of Switch Rolls. There are 3 types of sweet flavors plus 4 types of savory ones.

The Chocolate Mango Switch Roll (RM12.00) is a unique pairing of chocolate sponge cake with diced mango cubes. Such ingredients pairing is unheard of till today, but Chef Dino cleverly pulls this off with distinction.

Matcha lovers will be delighted by the introduction of Green Tea Switch Roll With Red Bean (RM12.00). For this dessert, green tea sponge cake is paired with matcha cream and red beans, resulting in the kind of flavor which matcha fans know and love.

Nutella-addicts will be delighted by the Nutella Hazelnut Switch Roll (RM12.00). As the name implies, the roll is filled with buttery Nutella cream and crushed hazelnuts. This Switch Roll uses the tiger-skin sponge cake.

My personal favorite today is Chicken Curry Switch Roll With Potato (RM15.00). Few people have imagined whether a curry dish is compatible with sponge cake, but Chef Dino's creativity is not constrained by any limit. An interesting fact is that the curry is deliberately made drier than usual so that the cake does not become too soggy.

The next savory creation by Chef Dino is the Tuna Mayonnaise Switch Roll With Cheese (RM15.00). Using minced tuna mayonnaise as filling, this Switch Roll is similar to tuna sandwiches except that the cake extends a new dimension of sweetness.

My other favorite today is the Mushroom Cream Switch Roll (RM15.00). Few people in this world would have thought of mushrooms with Swiss Rolls. Once again, Chef Dino proves that imagination is boundless. The diced mushroom is mixed with cream cheese to yield a unique type of sweet-salty-savory sensation. Certainly a one-of-a-kind gratifying treat to the taste buds.

Last but not least, the Smoked Salmon Switch Roll (RM15.00) uses smoked salmon to tantalize your palate with its unique savory taste. Sure, saltiness of smoked salmon may be overpowering, but this does not preclude my enjoyment of this delectable Switch Roll.

In conjunction with Merdeka weekend celebration, Rasa Sayang has invited several enthusiastic bloggers to a Switch Roll Creativity Contest. This event is held on the eve of Merdeka Day (30 August 2014) at the outdoor terrace of Spice Market Café.

This is a creativity contest to determine the blogger whose Switch Roll is the best in terms of creativity, presentation, taste and originality. Different types of sponge cakes have been provided (chocolate, green tea, spring onion, dill and thyme, tiger skin), so no actual baking is involved. A full array of ingredients is provided, which includes fillings (such as salmon, mushrooms and fruits), and condiments (such as cream cheese and Nutella). A number of icing and garnishing ingredients are also available at our disposal.

Since several of us (especially myself) have little experience in preparing Swiss Rolls (let alone Switch Rolls), Chef Dino graciously demonstrated the process. Chef Dino makes the steps look easy, but trust me, the rolling process can be quite tricky indeed!

After 30 minutes of contest period which seemed like an eternity to me, six completed Switch Rolls are laid out for the judges; each with varying degree of success.

Kenneth's creation is based on green tea with crushed macarons and strawberries and fillings.

Jazz prepared a chocolate Switch Roll with fruity fillings and icing.

CK Lam used a tiger-skin sponge cake with tuna and chicken curry.

Shelyn made a green tea Switch Roll with whipped cream and chocolate as icing.

Steven was the speediest contestant and presented a chocolate Switch Roll with Nutella and marshmallows.

Yours truly adopted the tiger-skin sponge cake right off the bat. Besides cream cheese, two of my favorite ingredients are used as fillings: two slices of smoked salmon and half slice of cheddar cheese. The rolling step was not done in a sufficiently compact manner, resulting in a "loose" roll.

For icing/topping, I had to improvise a half-slice of cheese to cover up a broken section of the sponge cake. (I have to be honest why I did what.) Seeing that I already had yellow as a topping, I decided to go for red (raspberry), blue (macaron) and white (white chocolate). You might have guessed: the colors of Jalur Gemilang! What's Hari Merdeka without flying our Malaysian colors?

For side garnishing, it was quite ad hoc without a clear theme in mind. I basically shoved in any ingredient that I thought looks nice: chocolate sticks, chocolate square, bread stick, waffle stick, marshmallow, strawberry, parsley, Nutella and even an entire plum fruit. In retrospect, I should have thought out the theme before starting.

Considering my zero experience in food preparation, this is an uphill battle against several of the more-experienced contestants. Yes, I am not ashamed to admit that I am a newbie! After all, this is just good old fun; winning is just secondary.

So what do you think of my first ever Switch Roll? Please drop in your generous "LIKE" on the Rasa Sayang's page to show your support!

If you are interested to try Chef Dino's Switch Rolls, Rasa Deli is open daily from 11:00am to 6:30pm. Although not strictly required, phone reservation (04-888-8788) is highly recommended to minimize waiting.

If you like the Switch Roll which I made during this contest, or like my blog and wish to support me in general, I really appreciate that you cast a vote on this photo at Rasa Sayang's Facebook page. Please feel free to share this page with your friends and family. Thank you for your continuous support. It really motivates me in my amateur blogging!

Name: Rasa Deli
Address: Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, Jalan Batu Ferringhi, 11100 Batu Ferringhi, Pulau Pinang
Contact: 04-888-8788
Business hours: 11:00am-6:30pm
Website: http://www.shangri-la.com/penang/rasasayangresort
Coordinates: 5.47927 N, 100.25473 E
Directions: From Tanjung Bungah, travel west towards Batu Ferringhi. Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa is approximately 4.2 kilometers from Tanjung Bungah's floating mosque, located on the right. Rasa Deli is an outdoors kiosk just outside the Lounge.