GRACE & FAVOUR

Christmas cookies taken up a notch – Mariah Grace of Grace Patisserie in Wellington has recipes for stylish, sophisticated biscuits

It’s over a year ago since we first visited Grace Patisserie in Wellington (see

Cuisine September 2019) where wifeand-husband team Mariah and Andrew Grace had newly opened to share their flair for classical French-patisserie techniques and unusual Asianinspired flavour pairings. Far from taking baby steps, the couple has stormed through the year, working with big-name brands, hosting popups, introducing a high-tea service and achieving fabulousness at Wellington On A Plate 2019.

Approached by chocolate-makers Whittakers to showcase their artisan chocolate range, Mariah crafted the Fijian ginger and Kerikeri mandarin dark chocolate into a craquelin-crusted chocolate choux filled with mandarin-and-ginger chocolate cremeux and topped with frozen mandarin marmalade and a ruff of snow-white ginger-infused Italian meringue.

From big business to ultra-boutique, Mariah and Andrew have an ongoing collaboration with Kevin Ngadisastra and Louise Ing of Townhouse Ramen (see Cuisine September 2020) with Grace being a home base to host their wildly popular ramen pop-ups. While Kevin dishes up bowls of expertly executed ramen, Mariah and her team serve desserts specially created with lightness and freshness to counterpoint the richness of the ramen, such as a lemongrass mousse with green apple and pear sorbet, mint sponge, Greek yoghurt and pistachio praline.

Grace’s high tea has quickly garnered a swathe of enthusiastic followers, including Wellington’s High Tea Honeys – a group of ladies who know their finger sandwiches from their friands – who coo over tiers of stacked savouries and ever-so-pretty sweets, served in the elegant, pared-back café surrounds. Again, it’s the flashes of the unexpected that stand out, those pairings of flavours that surprise; think a sweetcorn and coconut macaron, one of last season’s surprise favourites. “For the spring menu I’ve been experimenting with sea buckthorn,” says Mariah. “I saw it used in Ukraine and it has a unique sour flavour which I’ll pair with hazelnut.” With seasonal influences dictating the selection of petits gateaux flavours, fans eagerly anticipate each season’s range hoping for new iterations, last year’s favourite matches appearing in a fresh guise.