Say Hello to the Queen

Last week, I savoured a generous and mysterious dessert called ‘Hello to The Queen’ in a charming little café called ‘Fat Martin’ on the isolated Havelock Island of the Andaman group of Islands in India. It was generous because it was just everything ridiculously delicious lavishly piled on a bowl. And mysterious because it was oddly named, seemingly carelessly brought together and the recipe is elusive.

Known as the backpacker’s dessert, Fat Martin’s version of ‘Hello to the Queen’ featured (I think) a layer of crumbled digestive biscuits at the bottom, a warm topping of chocolate sauce, some mushy nuts , and a fresh cover of caramelized sliced bananas , all under a big cloud of vanilla ice cream. I know it sounds very indulgent and it is, but before you start wincing, let me quote from Hamlet - “Though this be madness, yet there is method in it”.

The perfect execution of this dish is only possible with an understanding of all the ingredients and a little imagination. If you think about it, orchestrating a single piece like this which is drawn from different symphonies, each intensely powerful is not so easy. The impeccable combination of these exuberant characters results in the creation of a dish that will make you feel - Everything is going to be all right. It seems over saturated but it has found a unique way of standing out.

Fat Martin Cafe, Havelock Island

I tried my hand at it at home. It wasn’t too bad and we did polish it off pretty quickly. I followed the same order that I mentioned above with a tiny addition of some wonderful leftover cake and some chocolate chips. It wasn’t elegant, gourmet, light or hauntingly beautiful. But it was just straight up fun, raucous and unapologetically light-hearted.