Three New Desserts at Padron.

Restaurant Padron on Strastnoy Boulevard has three new desserts. They're more than just the end of dinner — a continuation of the gastronomic narrative, in which every dish is its own story. Behind the newcomers is Albina Rodygina, pastry chef of the Folk Team restaurant group. She drew her inspiration from seasonal ingredients, the nature of the Pyrenees, and Mediterranean traditions. This approach let her assemble three compositions combining technique, aroma, and the rarity of the ingredients used.

The first dessert: nectarines with elderflower ice cream. Several unusual techniques come together here. The sweet fruit is marinated in elderflower liqueur with peach purée added, then set on a layer of coconut ganache. The heart of this dessert is the elderflower ice cream — a seasonal product, hand-picked during the short flowering period. Its aroma is light and unconventional: not berry-like, but woody-floral. To achieve this flavor, the team had to spend time and effort selecting each flower individually.

The second dessert: meringue with baked rhubarb and smoked vanilla. It looks airy but reveals itself gradually, through its different layers. The base is seasonal rhubarb, roasted over coals in an asador — a special Spanish grill. It's rounded out with sage ice cream, wild strawberry, and goat cheese. Thin sheets of meringue provide structure, and the final touch is vanilla, smoked over coals and sifted through a copper sieve tableside right before serving. This way of adding aroma makes the presentation interactive and demands particular precision.

The third dessert: a bonbon with olive oil and rosemary. It's the most minimal yet the most intensely flavored dessert. Inside a milk-chocolate shell hides a ganache infused with quality olive oil. Its aroma doesn't dominate but combines with rosemary, creating a herbal, slightly spiced depth of flavor. The finishing touch is a floral salt that pulls all the notes together and heightens the aftertaste. This isn't a one-bite dessert — it needs to be eaten slowly to be fully appreciated.

Each of these newcomers is built on the principles of seasonality and delicate work with ingredients. There's no flashy overload here, only precise decisions and respect for the ingredients. It's this approach that turns the end of the meal not into a conclusion, but a promise that it's worth coming back here again.