Air Wick x Gelato Messina

Thanks to the Air Wick competition (a while ago), I got invited to a dessert degustation by Gelato Messina! Decided to bring along a friend who told me of the comp. It wasn't really advertised, so I guess there was a higher chance of winning. Air Wick created some scents using food, and Messina has used those scents to showcase the actual dessert dish air wick has based their scents on. Yay for dessert degustation dinner!

Headquarters at Rosebery

Was running late so had a seat at the back, but I wasn't the last...It was inside their cool room, so blankets were provided, but outside was 40+ deg, so i was enjoying the refrigerator temperature inside.

menu

Winter Moments: Pear and vanilla

smashed insides

We had a special chocolate(?), well sweet aroma candle to start us off before eating, and some chocolate chips on the table to set off the dessert mood (didn't have any though). The smoke effect was created using liquid nitrogen. Safety lab goggles were provided but weren't really necessary. This was the only share dish. The consommé tasted like pear without being too sweet, but watery because of the melted nitrogen. You could still see some bits and pieces of it. The ice cream inside was smooth, but wish they put more in and a bit more of the pie crust. The pear was too sweet for my liking, just a super hard, thick piece of caramel. 

Palate cleanser: Cacao nib, coffee and kalamansi sorbet

How fancy-palate cleansers! Kalamansi is a type of citrus, kind of a mix between lime, and mandarin with a bit of sourness. The cacao nib gave it a bit of texture from the super soft sorbet, and coffee powder for some aroma and depth.

Mystical garden: rose, marshmallow, raspberry

more protection gear

blow torch!

toasted marshmallow

Another super fun and hands on dish. I guess I haven't bought a blow torch, since my thumb is too weak to press the button with just one hand...ended up getting ym friend to hold it out and used two hands to blowtorch it...The marshmallows were so soft, with a lovely raspberry sorbet inside. It was quite sour which balanced the sweetness of the chocolate fondant. I'm the weird person who likes edible flowers and fondant, so I ate all the bitter flowers with the fondant, but couldn't finish the fondant since it was too rich after eating half the stick....

Palate Cleanser: 

Inside the lab/kitchen

Lush Hideaway: strawberry, mint, coconut

They had blindfolds for us and handed out the desserts. I kind of cheated beforehand since I saw the promo vid of what desserts there would be...There's a straw in a super long legit test tube. It was a really refreshing dessert with coconut and these little balls which were made by suspending them in liquid nitrogen-kind of like sago but not as heavy/chewy. Loved the strawberry and mint flavours in it as well.

 

Paradise Retreat-chocolte,  cherry sorbet, coconut, almond blossom

edible coconut flowers and fondant leaf

cherry sorbet in an almond

details

Greeted by a chocolate tree in the middle of the room when we came out. The whole trunk is chocolate, with chocolate soil which wasn't as buttery but more dry...I guess it's healthier that way. The almond was amazing with a slightly sweet but some sourness from the cherry sorbet, and a kind of almond shell. The coconut flowers tasted just like plain coconut. The leaf was sweet just like normal fondant. So fun to break off chocolate pieces from the tree to put into our own plant pots, digging in the soil for almonds and picking flowers off the tree.

Everyone took a goodie bag when we left. They had an Air Wick item, my bag originally had wax melts but I swapped it for a reed diffuser, an Air Wick spray, and Messina voucher. Loved this collab by Messina! Hope to win more dessert comps, haha. It's these things which money can't buy....