Although I didn’t exactly know how to tell, as Ross put it, Rachel’s infamous Thanksgiving trifle from an episode of Friends it certainly leaves a strange taste in your mouth, or a sweet kick of betrayal.
Hampstead Bakery and Cafe in Dubai thought it would be a good idea to recreate the trifle, which fans of the sitcom would easily recognize as a quintessential Rachel blunder: rushing through a cookbook and combining two unusual peas in a pod.
In the season six Thanksgiving special, Courtney Cox’s character Monica nervously asks Rachel, played by Jennifer Aniston, to make a dessert for the gang. The culinary flop was the perfect premise for the comedy, and now, perhaps, a successful marketing stunt for the Dubai venue.
Rachel ended up making a mix of a traditional English trifle, with custard, jam and whipped cream, and meatloaf. The sautéed meat is tucked between a generous layer of flan yellowed with saccharin and a luxurious topping of whipped cream.
The first bite of Hampstead Bakery and Cafe’s version catapults your taste buds into a sweet dream: the Dubai bakery in Downtown Kitchens really knows how to make custard. That is until a tasty kick wakes you up and the spiced lamb overwhelms the palate.
It helps a bit that the plate is bursting with familiar flavors: biscuits, cream, fresh raspberries, and banana.
To be fair, the individual ingredients of the trifle hit the right notes. “Custard? Good. Jam? Good,” Friends said the famous character Joey. If you’re like him, you might want to try it too.
Hampstead will offer the limited-edition dessert from November 24 to 26 for 35 dirhams ($9.5) a slice.
“I’ve always been a great Friends fan and the trifle scene is iconic. It’s meant to be a bit of fun, and we hope guests enjoy reliving the episode this Thanksgiving,” says Fatima Suliman, co-founder of Hampstead Bakery and Cafe. The National.
For the less adventurous, the bakery sells the shepherd’s pie alone for 85 dirhams, and the English trifle, without the meat, will soon be available for 35 dirhams.
Seen and re-viewed by millions of people around the world, Friends he has equally captivated his fans in Dubai. In 2019, a replica of the famous orange sofa was on display in downtown Dubai, with Burj Khalifa as the perfect backdrop.
Although the show first aired in 1994 and ended in 2004, its popularity has transcended generations. In 2021, Aniston, Cox, and the rest of the original cast members (Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer) reunited for a special reunion show.
Scroll through the gallery below to see other famous scenes from the hit series.
Updated: November 21, 2022, 5:27 am