Tropical Fruit Sashimi with Shiso Caviar and Coconut Cream Cheese

When your asked to prepare a fresh fruit plate and you want it to stand out, what do you do? I approached this with the mindset that I would give the guest an upgraded version of what they most likely expect when ordering. With a sushi bar in the Pacific Rim Fusion concepted restaurant, I used the sashimi theme for the light fruit desert. You get all your basics of a fresh fruit, including papaya, kula strawberries, mango, honeydew, cantaloupe and pineapple. The exception is, that the presentation is meant to somewhat mirror the sushi plates. I use a whipped coconut creme cheese under the fruit "sashimi", a drizzle of kula strawberry balsamic honey which is served in a Japanese spoon, and shiso caviar for garnish. The shiso leaf is a Japanese leaf that in some ways has mint-like characteristics. Using the sodium alginate/calcium chloride spherefication method, I made the caviar to finish the "sashimi" feel.

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