Chocolate Mango Mousse Cake
A VERY jolly fellow–that is Executive Chef Jean Louis Leon. This very accomplished French chef from Bretagne or Brittany, a cultural region in the North-West of France, has brought his prowess and remarkable culinary artistry in Bocas Modern Patisserie located at the main lobby of the Banilad Town Center.
Executive Chef Jean Louis Leon
Chef Jean Louis basically grew up around food. His father is a butcher while his mother worked in a restaurant and a fish store. It was therefore natural for him to take up a culinary career. He started on the first wrung of the ladder as commis in Switzerland and worked his way up. His love for travel brought him to many countries around the world that span his 26 years as a Chef- Caribbean, Vanuatu, Uzbekistan, Bucharest, UK, Turkey, Seychelles and Thailand where he met his Cebuana wife, Mia Singson. In Cebu, Chef Jean Louis found the opportunity to realize his dream of finally having his own restaurant, while Mia resumed her hotel career as Asst. Gen. Manager of Plantation Bay Resort & Spa. Raising a family too is in their agenda, a five-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son.
Bocas Modern Patisserie opened last June, with an entirely different concept of enjoying those classic French pastries with the artsy, unconventional approach of Chef Jean Louis. His pastry place speaks of the Chef’s creativity. The elegantly simple area is well planned, each nook and cranny functional. Attractive bottles of preserves and jams will catch anyone’s eyes. There is no kitchen, only a working table where Chef Jean Louis styles and plates the orders for his pastries and desserts. He likes to treat the “unusual as usual,” he claims. His exquisite pastries are served in countless, different ways, something that defines his unique style. The playful chef with his crisp French accent puts into action the “freedom of
expression.”
Rose & Pistachio Macaron
The eye-popping French pastries are shown off in a display chiller. After making a choice, Chef Jean Louis starts “playing” around with the cake or pastry. He tells us while intricately styling the pastry that “everything is out there and you just have to think how to use them.” All the “decors” are edible and made from natural ingredients like color sponge dust, honey & vanilla pearls, shiny dust, gold leaf, mongo & lentil sprouts (freshly picked sprouting from small dishes on his tables), rum gel, santan & gumamela flowers, grated nuts, déshydratés or dehydrated fruits, nuts & herbs, his fruit jams and so many more! He started with his Croquantine, with layers of chocolate biscuit, chocolate cream, mousse and glaze. He loves using local ingredients like chocolates from Malagos in Davao.
Fruit Cake
We had a wonderful time watching him put the Christmas magic on every plated pastry: Choux Pastry with Chantilly Cream, Pistachio & Rose Macaron. Chef Jean Louis also introduced one of his savory meat pies, Pork & Potato Pie, which he styled with garlic spread, nuts, sprouts and flowers. And with Christmas fast approaching, Bocas Modern Patisserie has more unusual delights to offer. Interestingly, his Christmas Fruit Cake is actually Quatre Quart Apple-Ginger Cake, a classic French recipe that means a quarter each of flour, sugar, eggs and butter. It was a slice of the holidays!