Some Like It Sweet! (*Wattpad Featured Story*) #Wattys2015

Chapter 5-Of Dessert And Potential Disasters

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter is dedicated to BobJan70 for the beautiful (and delicious looking) cover! Isn't it stunning? :D

Dev was nervous. Today was the day he needed to redeem the honour of his restaurant and for that, he needed all the strength in the world. He knew Meera would be a tough nut to crack. But the very fact that she had agreed to try out their dessert again, was a sort of victory in itself. Still, the major part of the battle was yet to come.

At exactly 9 pm, Meera walked into Vanya and was greeted by Dev himself. He couldn't help but admire how stunning she looked in her knee-length black dress and bright red lipstick. He made his greetings extra warm, but could sense some aloofness on her part.

After he had her seated at the best table of the restaurant he returned to the kitchen, determined to impress the daylights out of her!

The entire staff, including Dev, was aware that she had come only and only to sample their desserts and nothing more. They had one chance and they needed to nail it. The pressure was on and how! The idea was to serve her two desserts-one of them would be chocolate-based, the other was a simple but classic crème brulee.

He was especially proud of his chocolate dessert-it was a plate of chocolate and strawberry laddoos, cooked in a salted jaggery reduction. The laddoos were basically small roundels, bursting with colour and flavor! Only an idiot would not like them-and he sincerely hope Meera was not an idiot.

Dev ensured that his best wait-staff attended to her; he wanted nothing, absolutely nothing to go wrong. It was obvious that everyone in the kitchen was feeling the tension. An all-good review from her could make the restaurant go soaring up in the patrons' mind. No other form of publicity could beat a good review from among the most respected food critics in the industry.

Inspite of herself, Meera could feel herself laughing inwardly. She could make out that Dev and his staff were all really nervous with her presence at Vanya. She hoped that they knew that this time around, she was not here to gauge parameters like service and efiiciency of the staff-this time, she was here only and only to witness the magic they could cook up with their dessert.

Her thoughts were interrupted when the waiter announced the first dessert and set it down on the table.

"Lavender-infused crème brulee, with a side of raspberries."

Smart, she thought, he is going the classic way. She broke through the blow-torched upper layer of the crème brulee and took a bite out of it. The sweetness in this was perfect, since it was being cut by the slightly neutral flavor of the brulee itself. The lavender overtones added richness to the dessert and the raspberries were a good way to cut thorough that richness with something fresh. All in all, the crème brulee was amazing and she was as happy as a cat with cream. She was a little sorry that she might have to take back her previous contention of Vanya's desserts being too sweet, but it was the only fair thing to do.

After a waiter cleared away the dish, another announced the arrival of her second dessert.

"Chocolate and strawberry laddoos, cooked in a salted jaggery reduction." He then drifted away to let her enjoy the food in peace.

Meera was intrigued. The laddoos looked beautiful-they were dark brown, with little streaks of red running all through them. And they were shaped into perfect little spheres. But they were among the simplest dishes in the world-how Dev planning to elevate them into restaurant-quality desserts, she could not fathom. Furthermore, she had never imagined laddoos to ever be savoury-so she was having a hard time wrapping her head around the idea of salty ones. But regardless of the looks, the colour, anything, it was all in the taste. And she couldn't wait to taste.

She took a small bite of the laddoo-it was like a strawberry bomb had burst in her mouth. She actually closed her eyes because she wanted to savour the flavour. There were slight overtones of the salted jaggery that interspersed the strawberry flavor. She was loving every bit of the experience. And that's when it hit her-the extremely rich and excessively sweet taste of the chocolate. And with that one mistake, down went Vanya's boat again.

Her eyes flew open. She was no longer in food heaven!

And to make matters worse, Dev was walking towards her, looking at her expectantly.