Serendipity3, I’m finally here!

I want to see it for myself, the menu with the print “Golden Opulance Sunday” and the price tag of USD1, 000. It’s so decadent it seems unreal.

I remember seeing it in the movie Serendipity, but I thought it was a fictional place, just to complement the movie title. Then a few years later, I caught a show on the Travel Channel, highlighting the world’s most expensive dessert- Golden Opulance Sunday with its staggering price at the very same place- Serendipity3.

So on my recent trip to the Empire State, I made a special effort to track down this Upper East Side restaurant, to see for myself the menu with the exorbitant dessert. I know it sounds silly, hunting down a dessert shop not for the dessert, but to have a look at the menu with the pricey dessert. But then again, men used to kill for more frivolous reasons. Truth is, I also heard they have a suite of decadent desserts, at affordable prices. The must-try is the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate.

Along 60^th Street in Upper East Manhattan, the restaurant has a deceiving entrance. It lets off a quirky shop feel instead of a restaurant. There is typically a waiting time of 30 minutes, so it’s always good to make reservations first. Alternatively, you can always shop while you wait. There is a colourful candy store at the end of the street- the Dylan Candy Store. Or just pop into Bloomingdales across the street for a spell.

The front of the restaurant sells an eclectic selection of pop culture items. From pretty mugs, peculiar pouches to superhero tee-shirts. And this quirkiness, I realized, is a theme echoed throughout the restaurant. The interior a collision of ornamental items scattered around. I’ve not seen a hotchpotch of clashing items like here before.

We were seated on the second floor and as luck would have it, its owner, Stephen Bruce, was in an interview with a food journalist at the next table. I have to admit judging from the eccentric feel of the restaurant, I was not expecting the owner to be a gentle white-haired man.

The fatherly looking figure readily shared his life with Serendipity3. The restaurant first started in 1954, along with two other friends in a basement two blocks away from its current location. But no, the 3 in the name is not a tribute to the partners. It was named after three legendary princes of the island that was once known as Serendip. I didn’t manage to catch the reason though.

Right from the beginning, it seems the trio got the recipe down right. Marilyn Monroe was known to frequent the place to satisfy her sweet tooth, as did Jackie Kennedy who developed a liking to the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. For a party she was throwing, she tried to buy the recipe but was politely declined by the owners. Instead, Bruce volunteered to make the dessert at the event instead. Just in case you are wondering, the recipe IS available now, in a book or recipes called Sweet Serendipity.

After I was done eavesdropping, I turned my attention to the huge two-sided menu that’s packed with interesting sounding desserts, mains and even coffees. I scrolled my finger through the dessert section and there it is, highlighted in the centre of the menu is the Golden Opulance Sunday. Because of its exotic ingredients, the dessert requires a minimum 48-hour reservation period. Someday, I’ll be back to try it. Maybe.

Trivia: In case you were wondering, the dessert is made with 5 scoops of the Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, Madagascar vanilla covered in 23K edible gold leaf, drizzled with the world’s most expensive chocolate, Amedei Porcelana, and covered with chunks of Chuao chocolate, which is from cocoa beans harvested by the Caribbean Sea on Venezuela’s coast. It is suffused with exotic candied fruits from Paris, gold dragets, truffles and Marzipan Cherries and topped with a tiny glass bowl of Grand Passion Caviar, exclusive dessert caviar, made of salt-free American Golden caviar, known for its sparkling golden color. It’s sweetened and infused with passion fruit, orange, and Armagnac. The sundae is served in a baccarat Harcourt crystal goblet with an 18K gold spoon, a petite mother of pearl spoon, and topped with a gilded sugar flower by Ron Ben-Israel.

Serendipity3 might be known for their desserts but the first sip of my coffee tells me that they’re famous for a reason. Their coffee is divine. And I will recommend their chicken wings to anyone who’d listen to me. It’s spicy, tangy and crunchy, a combination that’s heavenly to my palate. Too bad the lighting’s a tad dim in the restaurant; I couldn’t capture how lips-smacking good it is.

At the next table, I couldn’t help but notice a couple of giddy girls taking pictures of all angles of the restaurant, and oohed and aahed at the menu, followed  by going all trigger-happy when their food came. I’m glad I’m not the only wide-eyed tourist in Serendipity3.

Visit Serendipity3 to see what they have, their website could use some work.