As a journalist, I don’t ask questions to be told things I want to hear, but as a food journalist, it often works out as happenstance.
Such is the case this morning, when on a call with Kaya co-owner, Jamilyn Salonga Bailey, I query about the new desserts we’ll be seeing at her Mills 50 boîte, a 2024 James Beard Foundation Award finalist for Best New Restaurant.
“Well, there’s an adobo caramel apple tart, a silvana alaska, a calamansi coconut cream pie…”
She continues to list them, but I find myself distracted, floating away on a dreamy cloud of ube marshmallow, which happens to be another of the flavors.
Each invokes an element of classic, but with a Kaya signature move: Filipino ingredients.
Each invokes a silent wish that this were an in-person interview.
And that I had a spoon.
Clarice Lam’s adobo caramel apple tart will soon be available for holiday pre-order at Kaya, where she recently joined the team as executive pastry chef. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Normally, I might not be so curious about a few new desserts, but there are other factors at play here.
Thing 1 is that Kaya will be offering a bunch for the holiday season pre-order.
Thing 2 is that they are about to embark on a Saturday pop-up series to highlight the impressive French technique of their new executive pastry chef (a possible precursor to a regular kape — a Filipino cafe — in the early part of the day).
Thing 3 is that said pastry chef is Clarice Lam.
Clarice Lam holds an ube marshmallow pie outside of Kaya in Orlando’s Mills 50 district. Her resume includes time spent at Thomas Keller’s Bouchon Bakery, Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Spice Market and as the executive chef at The Chocolate Room in Brooklyn. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Her resume reads something like a top secret dossier for a Bond villainess — if Jacques Torres ran MI6.
International model. Classically trained chef and pastry chef. Successful Brooklyn bakery owner. Food Network competitor. James Beard-nominated cookbook author.
Lam has an easy sense of humor, too, so Austin Powers would probably work as well, but I’ve yet to call her Ivana Bakealot.
Chef Clarice Lam plates a Basque Cheesecake with calamansi, guava and pistachio oat crumble, a new item on the dessert menu at Kaya. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Born in Canada and raised in Los Angeles by Hong Kong emigre parents, she pursued modeling straight out of high school, which took her, quite literally, around the world. Lam has lived in the U.K., Mexico, Spain, South Africa, Italy, Hong Kong, the Philippines and more, and for the most part began her time in each without any local connections.
“I had no friends. I didn’t necessarily know the language. So, the easiest way to get to know the local culture was through food.”
Kaya’s new executive pastry chef, Clarice Lam (right), started out as an enamored restaurant guest. She later met owners Jamilyn Salonga Bailey (left)and Lordfer Lalicon. Rapport ensued. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Though success endured, Lam wasn’t naive — “modeling only lasts so long before you’re done” — and her time in Paris lit a fire for laminated classics. Following culinary school, she aimed at first for stature in the savory world, but found it less than savory.
“I hated it,” she says, laughing.
“It was too hot and too brutal, and no one was nice to me. But then I saw the pastry chefs in the corner. They were so calm … and it was air-conditioned. I was like, ‘That’s more my style.’”
Chef Clarice Lam’s Chocolate pili nut pecan pie. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Using the left and right parts of her brain, as pastry is as much math and science as art, became part of the love affair. Which is also how I’d describe her relationship with Kaya, a restaurant she just happened to try as Orlando was becoming her second home.
“I just Googled ‘best restaurants in Orlando,’” she says.
Bailey laughs, grateful for algorithms.
“Kaya was at the top of the list, and it looked really cool. Driving up, it seemed like such a weird location, hidden in this residential neighborhood. But it was the best service, the best hospitality of our lives.”
Chef Clarice Lam pours pandan anglaise over Silvana Alaska, a gorgeous new dessert at Kaya. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Everyone was so nice, she says. Everyone on point.
“And the food was very good, too. We were very impressed, so I did some research about them.”
As fate would have it, the day she stepped out of her Uber to attend the 2024 James Beard Awards in Chicago, there was co-owner and executive chef, Lordfer Lalicon.
“I recognized him and introduced myself, and we all hung out a little over the weekend,” she says.
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Fast-forward to her book tour, and they joined forces for a collaborative pop-up at Kaya. Then some holiday dessert offerings — Christmas, Lunar New Year.
“We all worked really well together,” she says. “Lo and I are very much on the same page in terms of work ethos and creativity.”
And so, Kaya is proud to have announced Lam as a permanent fixture on the team, which means you can head over to try exquisite new treats like her Alaska Silvana, a torched take on the classic Filipino cookie sandwich.
Six-pack of Silvana: original, calamansi ritz, strawberry shortcake, ube coquito, milo champorado, and original. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Here, coconut cookies hug a filling of pandan French buttercream, dulce de leche and strips of buko (young coconut). Encased in Swiss buttercream and beautifully browned, it comes with pandan anglaise on the side for drizzling.
Sound good? Take home a Silvana six-pack via pre-order at kayaorlando.com/store ($50, with flavors like ube coquito and strawberry shortcake).
Chef Clarice Lam prepares Calamansi coconut cream pie. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
And for those of you looking to farm out some of your edible holiday cheer, Lam’s large-format pies will be available for pre-order beginning Nov. 26, ready to serve as sweet star-level supermodels for your holiday table.
Adobo caramel apple tart: Sucrée crust/almond cream/adobo caramel, $50
Chocolate pili nut pecan: Phyllo crust/60% chocolate/ brown sugar chantilly
Ube marshmallow: Homemade graham cracker crust/toasted Swiss meringue/ube marshmallow/cornflake crunch, $55
Calamansi coconut cream: All butter crust/calamansi curd/buko/coconut diplomat, $45
Chef Clarice Lam prepares a new dessert menu item: Pili nut Plaisir (pili nut dacquoise, pecan praline ganache, salted caramel, filo and chocolate Bodhi tree leaf). (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
For Lam, it’s been a foray into flavors familiar — her maternal grandfather was raised in Manila — but far from typical.
“I’m more used to cooking Hong Kong- or Chinese-style,” she says. “So it’s been really fun for me to explore southeast Asian and Filipino options. I love it.”
But France, in a professional sense, feels very much like home.
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Lam’s lamination will be on full display during December’s “Kape” pop-ups, where pastries, both globally and Filipino-inspired, will star.
“Kape Kaya was weeks and weeks of testing for the things we want to implement,” noted Bailey, who says she literally giggles with delight each time Lam has something for her to taste.
“It’s almost in disbelief,” she says.
“Orlando is really in for a treat. I don’t think Orlando is even ready for what we’re about to see at Kape Kaya and the desserts we’ll have for dinner,” says Bailey.
Left to Right, Chef Clarice Lam showcases her desserts at Kaya with Jamilyn Salonga-Bailey. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
Lam, too, is eager to get to know the guests, for them to know her. And in Orlando, she sees a space where minds are more open than ever.
“I go to Asian markets, and it sometimes feels like 85% of the people there aren’t Asian. So, I think people are ready to see and try and taste a lot of new things. It’s exciting. And I’m excited to be a part of it.”
Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.
If you go
Kaya: 618 N. Thornton Ave. in Orlando, 407-627-9117; kayaorlando.com