The beans on toast dessert cooking up a storm at Leeds restaurant

A Leeds chef has unveiled a dish which will definitely tickle the tastebuds.

By Alexandra Wood Thursday, 31st October 2019, 5:00 pm

The clever fry up that is not all that it seems

James Dempsey has created beans on toast - but not as you know it.

The quirky dessert is made from carefully-crafted marzipan "beans" in a sauce using orange zest, juice and cream.

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Meanwhile the "toast" is lemon drizzle cake, sliced to look like bread and given the right look and temperature by placing under the grill .

James Dempsey dishing up the beans in the kitchen

No detail is left to chance - the yellow yolk is mango coulis - and the white of the egg, panna cotta, made from milk and cream, cooled to just the right temperature before being poured onto a plate in layers to get a natural-looking ripple effect.

Mr Dempsey said he wanted to create a bit of theatre at the newly-opened Blackmoor Dining Room at Moor Allerton Golf Club in Leeds, where he is head chef.

He said diners sometimes hesitated - unable to believe the dish was not what they thought it was.

He said: "It's to keep myself interested. I find it intriguing. Watching people's faces light up - it's a bit of drama.

"Coming for dinner should be an experience.

"When people come they first look at it - they don't want to eat it because it looks like beans on toast. They are really shocked how realistic it is."

There will be a surprise each time the dessert menu changes, with the chef already working on an apple crumble - which will look exactly like an apple until you take a spoon to it.

The 36-seater restaurant - accessed by a "secret door" in the golf club - is currently only open at the weekend.

But they are looking to open on more dates in the run up to Christmas.

Mr Dempsey previously worked at Clarks Restaurant on Bradford and also had his own gastro pub, Long Can Hall at Halifax, where he created a British burrito in 2016 - made from a rolled-out Yorkshire pudding and roast beef with a side of gravy.