The Vietnamese are fond of sweets, but not at the end of the meal. So what kind of desserts do you offer in a restaurant devoted to Vietnamese dining? That was the question facing Pastry Chef Bill Yosses when he opened BÔI, a 44-seat restaurant in midtown Manhattan, with Vietnamese partners two years ago.

The concept: “We make authentic Vietnamese cuisine but with local farmers’ market ingredients. So there’s a conundrum, because sometimes you can’t get the ingredients.”

Dessert strategy: “I looked to the dessert history of Vietnam, which, contrary to popular belief, is quite large. In the food markets in Vietnam—say, between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.—you have people, mostly ladies, coming through with those poles on their shoulders and they have a dozen different types of dessert. They have shaved-ice desserts with fruits such as longan, jackfruit and mangosteen. They make an agar gel out of some tropical fruit and chop it into cubes and that’s part of the composition. It’s usually served in a glass and is very refreshing. And the trendy Europeans think they invented it. “Sometimes I look to a single ingredient that’s common and popular, such as sesame. So we make a sesame and caramel sundae with halvah. It’s not very Vietnamese, but one phase of my thinking was how to make something people in New York would order. The sundae was chosen as one of the desserts of the year by New York magazine.”

Authenticity versus adaptation: “I don’t have patience with people who are so dogmatic and authenticity driven. This is a business and you have to be aware of how far you can draw people away from what they’re used to. Americans are more adventuresome than they used to be, but you can’t do a carbon copy of what you would do in Saigon.”

Dessert hits: “Sweet basil seed tapioca served with mango and coconut is very popular. We make a jackfruit pudding, sort of a takeoff on English toffee pudding, served with jackfruit butterscotch, and that’s popular, particularly in winter. We do a number of exotic fruit sorbets: mangosteen, cherimoyoa, rambutan, soursop, lichee. All those fruits have great texture, so when you put them in an ice cream machine, they come out unctuous and soft and satisfying.”

What doesn’t work: “The big issue is textural. If things are kind of sticky, Americans don’t like it. There are only so many loose puddings, like tapioca, that you can have on a menu. Let’s put it this way: People are expecting something with flour, a cake in some way. The jackfruit pudding is more of a cake, more of a Western interpretation of a Vietnamese flavor.”

Hottest Asian flavors now: “Lemon grass, kaffir lime, all those floral aspects certainly. I’ve made Vietnamese desserts with jasmine. I buy jasmine tea from Chinatown and infuse it with actual flowers. We did a sort of smoothie with jasmine-infused tea that we blenderized with pineapple and served with mango sorbet and ginger cookies. We have made a flan with kaffir lime and a tropical fruit salad infused with kaffir lime. Peanuts are another very Vietnamese ingredient that works well in desserts.”

From the BÔI Dessert Menu

Sweet Basil Seed Tapioca with Pomegranate Molasses and Mango Chutney
Golden Pineapple Shakes, Mango Sorbet with Ginger Cookies
Toasted Sesame Sundae
Lemon Frass Flan, Caramelized Pomelos
Jackfruit Toffee Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream