Varissara Prompim: Crafting Excellence and Sharing Knowledge at The Varis in Bangkok
Varissara Prompim uses Debic whipping cream in all her creations. According to Thai pastry chef Varissara Prompim, passing on knowledge means more to her team than paying them a salary. ‘Money gets spent, but knowledge stays with you for life’, she explains. That’s why her focus at The Varis in Bangkok is on sharing expertise. ‘When people learn something new, they become excited and eager to discover more. In the end, everyone wants to improve.’
Varissara Prompim sees everything she and her team create as art. ‘Art you can eat – and that tastes amazing! Everything we deliver must be of the highest quality. That’s why, when hiring new staff, I look at their energy and passion for the craft to see if they can bring that level of quality to the table.’ And the owner of The Varis sets the bar high. ‘Everything can always be better. And then even better.
The world is constantly changing, as are all the trends and consumer demands we face as bakers. You have to be open to that and adapt as best you can.’
Mousse
No matter what happens, Varissara refuses to compromise on the quality of her products. Even when the cost of high-quality ingredients rises, she never looks for cheaper alternatives. Instead, she finds other ways to manage expenses. ‘For example, instead of making our pastries eight centimetres long, I now make them seven. I’d rather reduce the size slightly than cut corners on quality. Our customers deserve the very best.’
Most of the cakes in the The Varis assortment are made with mousse. Bestsellers include Khon-Mai, Earl Grey, Le Blanc, Varis Cake and Khawfae. ‘I’m especially proud of the Khawfea. A chef from Malaysia inspired me with the idea of combining coffee, caramel, lemon and vanilla. At first, I never imagined those flavours would work together! But when I tasted it, I was completely sold. I spent some time experimenting with the flavours until I found a balance that my customers would love. The result is a modern pastry with a classic touch and vintage shape. It has a traditional shape – a style that younger pastry chefs rarely go for. But the flavour combination of coffee and citrus is really surprising and modern.’
I only want to create truly delicious things!
Varissara makes all her cakes using Debic whipping cream. ‘I use Debic Cream 35%, in the blue bottles. The colour of the cream is just beautiful – pure white – which makes it easy to blend with other colours for my decorations.’ Whipping cream is essential in her work because mousse makes up the majority of her products. ‘We use more whipping cream in our pastries than cake, jam or any other ingredient. That’s why the flavour of the cream must be exceptional – I only want to create truly delicious things. It also needs to hold up well when customers take the pastries home.’
Varissara is also pleased with the packaging of Debic’s creams. ‘In Thailand, most cream comes in cartons. If I store them in the fridge to use later, the cardboard sometimes become soft, making the cream unusable. But with Debic’s plastic bottles, the cream always stays good. The bottles are also easy to hold – we rarely, if ever, drop them. That makes working with them much more efficient. And that's all part of the quality, too, which allows us to keep improving ourselves and our products.’
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