When Santosh Tiptur was a little boy growing up in southern India, his favorite candy was a Cadbury’s Chocolate Éclair. A chewy caramel with a soft sweet chocolate center, eclairs came in glistening gold wrapping and tasted like gifts from heaven.
“It was every Indian child’s favorite candy and I became obsessed with how they were made,” said Tiptur. “How did they put that soft chocolate in the middle?”
Tiptur’s father was a pharmacist who wanted the boy to follow in his footsteps. Santosh had other ideas. “I didn’t find pharmacy interesting. I was always cooking in the house. When I got the opportunity to study baking and confectionary I took it.”
Fast forward more than 40 years and Santosh’s boyhood fascination for sweets and baking has come full circle. Today he is a world-famous pastry chef and the owner of acclaimed Loudoun restaurants La Prensa and The Conche, as well as the Chocolate & Cake Studio where guests can take workshops on the art of chocolate making.
“It’s a lab where we teach people how chocolate is made, how to distinguish between white, milk and dark chocolate, how to make treats like hand-rolled truffles and bon bons and how to use cocoa butter for chocolate decoration.”
Of course, the menus at each of his restaurants is big on sweets. At La Prensa, a Latin-influenced tapas-style restaurant, the flagship dessert is potted guava cheesecake - a play on guava fruit and cheese – a favorite snack in Central America. It proved to be so popular there that diners insisted he add it to the menu at The Conche.
On top of the extensive dessert menu at The Conche (don’t miss the guava cheesecake, the chocolate creme brulée or the dark chocolate soufflé), the Ribeye comes with a chocolate Burgundy sauce and the scallops are crusted with cocoa nibs. There’s also a counter upfront to order bonbons, truffles and other treats.
As for the delicacy that comes closest to the beloved candy of his childhood, Santosh suggests diners look out for his salted caramel bonbons enrobed in chocolate.
“My American version of an Indian chocolate éclair!”
Sounds more than sweet to us.
