Miko Aspiras

Besides his sweet love life, newlymarried Aspiras has plenty to shout about of late. Celebrated for a slew of his massively succesful concepts, of which his well-loved Workshop Bespoke Bakery, Le Petit Soufflé, Scouts Honor, and Freezer Burn are among them, the untouchable dessert and pastry chef’s latest sorcery brings doughnut cravings to another level with his avant-garde Poison.

Celebrated for his deliciously zany palate, Aspiras has given us fabulous offkilter ice cream flavours like “ketchup mayo fries” and unconventional aerated savoury soufflés—like the beef curry and cheese soufflé and even a rather popular pasta dish, the carbonara soufflé, which is topped with an “egg cloud” and is always a treat.

As saccharine sweet as he is competitive, Aspiras has garnered wins in the Philippine Culinary Cup, HOFEX, the World Association of Chefs’ Societies Congress in Korea, and was named Manila Chef of the Year at Madrid Fusión 2016. This month, he is competing in one of the biggest pastry competitions in the world: the SIGEP Italy. Then in April, in the Valrhona Chocolate Masters.

In terms of his own sweet tooth, Aspiras adores freshly baked cookies and gummy bears and would eat these every day for the rest of his life if he could. When creating, however, plated desserts are his passion: “I consider this my speciality and is something that I would like people to experience from me on a restaurant scale,” he said.

Clearly, he has not only pioneered the dessert and pastry industry here but has also been instrumental in educating Filipinos by developing their appreciation for the sugary stuff.

At the end of the day, Aspiras just wants people to experience his passion for desserts. “I want my guests to appreciate the work that was poured into making each confection—I see that as a luxury at the end of a hard day’s work. I want to introduce new types of desserts and pastries to Filipinos that will somehow open our minds to what’s out there,” he shares.