New Desserts and Pastry Chef at The Pig and the Lady

Coming soon: A dessert bar by Rachel Murai, formerly of Vintage Cave and Nobu Waikīkī.

December 1, 2014

Martha Cheng,

Kabocha and coffee flan (left) and calamansi sorbet.

It’s been a good first year for The Pig and the Lady’s brick-and-mortar restaurant: a nomination as one of the 50 best restaurants in America by Bon Appetit, a Hale ‘Aina gold award for Best New Restaurant, and just around its one-year anniversary, it snagged one of Honolulu’s best pastry chefs: Rachel Murai, formerly of Vintage Cave and Nobu Waikīkī.

“It’s Rachel,” says chef/owner Andrew Le. “Everyone has a little crush on her.”

Chocolate cake with liliko‘i, cacao nibs and basil sponge cake.

At Vintage Cave, she served a frozen peppered beet air with sponge cake; at Nobu, a creme de mascarpone with liliko‘i and almond crumble. Now, at The Pig and the Lady, she’s ready for a more casual atmosphere. You won’t be able to miss her desserts, literally. Currently, the restaurant is building out a dessert bar at the very front of the dining room, next to the hostess stand. There, you’ll be able to sit and watch Murai compose her multi-layered desserts. She’s hoping to open the dessert bar in a few months. In the meantime, try her flavors in the new menu, which includes a kabocha parfait—a coffee flan with chunks of roasted kabocha, crunchy kernels of pomegranate and shards of meringue. It reminds you of the holidays and yet is completely unfamiliar. There’s also a refreshing calamansi sorbet atop a melon granité, and a chocolate cake made of layers of chocolate mousse and liliko‘i. Because Murai loves to play with textures and salty and sweet, the cake is garnished with big flakes of salt and a fluffy ball of basil sponge cake.

The new setting may be casual, but her desserts are still sophisticated, much like The Pig and the Lady’s dinner menu.