Deli now into art
Bobbi Sands
ASKING a professional baker what her favourite confectionery is, is like asking a mother which of her children she loves most.
Initially hesitant to pick one over the others Dessie Price, who has been running her restaurant Dessie’s , in the Bloomingdales centre in Main Road, Walmer for the past eight years, eventually admits it’s either the apple blueberry pie, or her granny’s recipe for lemon meringue she is least able to resist. She says her flourless chocolate cake is a close contestant.
Picking her favourite savoury dish – Thai fish cakes – is much less of a quandary.
The petite Silwood School of Cookery graduate has worked in many restaurants and on game farms throughout the country. She also catered for many people over the years before deciding she was not working for others anymore.
Initially her idea was to open a deli.
"When I started not many people were really into a deli idea, so I had to change things and incorporate deli items into the food we had on offer,” said Price, who grew up in Queenstown.
The small deli was soon bursting at the seams and now occupies a larger area at Bloomingdale’s, where patrons can sit outside on the deck with a small stream trickling below.
Price loves cooking with the freshest ingredients and giving patrons something different.
But these days, much of her time is taken up with the latest addition to her business, a restaurant in The Tin House gallery in Cuyler Street. Price has taken over the running of the gallery, and is incorporating good art with good food.
The new outlet is also called Dessie’s.