Pastry chef Philip Khoury is taking over Fink’s Mountgrove this weekend to mark the release of his second cookbook, Beyond Baking. Khoury, who was head pastry chef at Harrods until earlier this year, will be baking four “core” recipes from the book, which he says “highlight how to make the most of very basic ingredients – for example, there’s a cookie made from toasted hazelnuts using the natural fat of the nuts instead of butter”. The recipes are intended to show how easy it is to unlock flavour using plant-based ingredients.
Along with the cookie, which also stars chocolate chips and vanilla, there’ll be an olive oil brioche filled with spiced pumpkin cream and glazed with chocolate ganache; a blood plum danish with bay custard; and an almond and pear crumble cake. Some of the bakes are collabs with Fink’s head pastry chef Adriann Ramirez, who is building on Khoury’s base recipes. “There’s a very lovely pistachio cream dream – like a pistachio Victoria sponge filled with a pistachio cream and some seasonal fruits. That’s Adriann’s touch,” Khoury says.
Since his departure from Harrods, Khoury has built a following for his chocolates, including the Beirut chocolate bar, which was a massive hit in Lebanon, and a London-inspired bar that sold out almost immediately after going on sale. At Fink’s, Khoury will be selling the last of his matcha-pistachio bars, which he created to celebrate the launch of his cookbook and have been his fastest-selling chocolate so far. Newer flavours – including his New York chocolate bar, inspired by apple pie – will also be for sale, with a limited allocation available on both Saturday and Sunday.
Philip Khoury takes over Fink’s Salt & Sweet on Mountgrove Road on November 29 and 30, from 10am until sold out.
