ELMHURST — At Sugar Club, the market stocked with imported Thai groceries and food, each dessert is treated like a work of art.
Chef Perri Montreeprasat plates her elaborate waffles, crepes and toasts on special wooden blocks emblazoned with the market's name. Every piece of fruit and candy is placed perfectly.
"I want my food to look nice," she said.
Her presentation has paid off with likes on social media.
Her desserts — like the Romeo toast, topped with ice cream, Nutella, bananas and Kit Kat bars; and the honey fruits, featuring her hand-carved melon decorations — are posted all over Instagram.
"When they serve it and say, 'Oh wow, it's so beautiful,' I'm so proud," she said.
Montreeprasat, 25, moved to the United States after graduating from college in Thailand four years ago. In school she studied restaurant management and culinary arts, and also learned how to carve fruits, her specialty.
She honed her skills while working at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut where she was assigned to the banquet hall and the buffet.
She started working at Sugar Club — which expanded from its neighboring storefront to its larger space in 2014 — more than a year ago, commuting each day from her home in Bay Ridge.
"Sometimes I try to eat something different, and put different things together," she said of her method of dreaming up new creations.
"If it comes out great, then I add it to the menu."
An artist as well as a chef, she painted the walls of her market with fruits and vegetables, and has also been honored for her fruit carvings.
Last fall she won first prize in the 147th Salon of Culinary Art, organized by the Société Culinaire Philanthropique at the Javits Center.
In her free time she makes specialty-order cakes and cupcakes.
Still, her favorite thing to do is create new dishes, and she is currently unveiling novel items for Sugar Club's summer menu — with a focus on ice cream.
Her newest dessert is a mango crepe roti, a combination of the two flatbreads stuffed with fresh mango ice cream, fresh fruit and whipped cream.
There are also new milk shakes and other drinks.
"She really thinks up everything," said Nat Petchkaew, who works at Sugar Club. "She's the brains behind it."
