Christian Escribà never ceases to surprise us with his fusion of pastry cooking and showmanship, although he will have to go a long way to surpass his recent work in Singapore – Fantasy, by Escribà, his recent large-scale project. This enormous “sweet” dream (which cost a whopping four million dollars!) ended up being a remarkable success, whether you measure it by the international media response, or the attendence figures over the three days, or the reactions of the visitors.

Christian Escribà has a clear understanding of the success of the project. As he told So Good, “the public response has been great, not only in terms of the numbers of visitors (almost 12,000), but also due to their reaction once inside the show. One of my concerns was whether it was really possible to get across the emotional intention and philosophy of the project, and I know that we have succeeded.

Therefore, in the balance, with the accounts not completely closed as yet, the project was “extremely positive”, when you consider that this was an unprecedented event, of enormous scale, in which more than 500 people worked together. Not only that, but they were working very far from home.”

Over the course of three intense days (from the 22nd to the 24th August), Escribà and a large team of collaborators designed all kinds of surprises and creative pieces. There were brilliant life-size reproductions of animals, a recreation of the mythical elements of Escribà’s pastry cooking, a wedding cake 5 metres high, and an impressive chocolate waterfall of 8.5 metres, that became a new Guinness world record. This veritable flood of dessert surprises was the culimination of a dream that the chef and his wife, Patricia Schmidt, had held for some time.

In total, an area of no less than 8,000 m2 was taken up at the Marina Bay Sands site, divided into 8 pavilions, in which space was also given to theatrical perfomances of Els Comediants, and for specific masterclasses, led by the creative minds of peole such as Martín Lippo (Vakuum), Jordi Farrés (Bcn Cookies), Jordi Pujol (Escuela Joviat), Mary Rose Sánchez (El gust e meu) and Josep Maria Ribé (Callebaut). And all of this in a festival atmosphere (there were no shortage of late night parties with Ibizan deejays) and garnished with a huge variety of tastings.

Finally, it needs to be mentioned that Fantasy by Escribà is the first step towards other projects that the chef is developing in Barcelona right now. “I have several proposals and projects, but no doubt I will choose one where the people involved will show me the same enthusiasm and dedication that they put into Escribà in each new adventure.”