No Ordinary Sweet

Jason Licker, executive pastry chef at The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali shares his experience on self-publishing an award-winning cookbook and his latest Asian-accented pastry creations.

- Eve Tedja

With a career that spans more than twenty years and across continents, Jason Licker currently calls Bali home. His recent appointment as the executive pastry chef of The Westin Resort Nusa Dua, Bali coincidentally happened when the island is gearing up to host the world's leaders at the 2022 G20 Bali summit in November. The New York-native hits the ground running, so to speak, overseeing the beachfront resort's pastry and dessert offerings in all of its dining venues as well as the banquet.

"Pastry-making is something that I am deeply connected with - it just clicked right from the start. It is intense and demands long hours but I love the challenge of being able to utilize the palate beyond just sweetness," says the chef. His fascination with Asian flavours could be traced back to his globally influenced upbringing in New York. However, it was at Nobu Miami in 2000 did he discover ways to use Japanese ingredients in pastry, be it miso or matcha.

He continued his exploration in combining sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami to create his own style of Asian-accented pastry in Shanghai, Macau, Hong Kong, Bangkok, and Singapore's renowned hotels and restaurants.

Eventually, his signature palate-challenging creations were compiled in an immaculately designed, self-published cookbook, Lickerland: Asian-Accented Desserts by Jason Licker. It was nominated for a James Beard Award in 2017 and crowned second in the Asian Cookbook in the World category at The World Gourmand Cookbook Awards 2018.

His second self-published cookbook, Baking with Licker: Home Baking with Asian Accents was a 2021 IACP Cookbook Award Finalist and the winner of the Best Asian Cookbook in the World at the 2021 World Gourmand Cookbook Awards.

What fuelled your fascination with Asian ingredients?