I’ve moved back home to St Albans this week and finally got to eat at The Pudding Stop, which my parents have been raving about. I have a very sweet tooth and love desserts, so a restaurant dedicated to such is heaven to me. I started with a peanut butter milkshake, because I’m a sucker for anything containing peanut butter, and followed with sticky toffee pudding. It was to die for. A block of soft sweet sponge sitting in a shimmering pool of hot toffee sauce.
The only other time I’ve been to a specific pudding restaurant was a pop up pudding parlour at The Athenaeum hotel. The concept claimed to be all-you-can-eat but then set a limit at one visit to the buffet table with one relatively small plate. I took this as a challenge in how many puddings can be piled onto one plate and carried in my spare hand. The result was a mountain of treacle sponge, chocolate brownie, champagne jelly, crème brulee, macaroons, cake pops, stewed rhubarb, lemon meringue pie, chocolate truffles, cupcakes and more. Living the dream!
My favourite desserts have always been traditional English puddings, such as sticky toffee. I have fond memories of getting my hands stuck in to making crumble topping as a child and even of the giant cubes of chocolate sponge or spotted dick we got served at primary school. None of these puddings would be complete without lashings of custard. In fact I’d be happy enough with just a bowl of custard, hot or cold. The below photo is of apple crumble and custard at Mildred’s (Soho); the only reason I would revisit the vegetarian restaurant.
Another custard delight, which I have only recently discovered, is the floating island. My friend Laura had this dessert, an island of light fluffy meringue floating on a sea of crème anglaise, on our trip to Paris. I had rice pudding at the time (another favourite) but finally tried floating island back in England at Brasserie Blanc.
The more desserts I think of, the more favourites I seem to have. Recently I have had a couple of exquisite fruit pies. Unfortunately they were served with ice cream instead of custard but you can’t win them all. Hix (Soho) served up a beautifully presented blueberry pie, while Chicken Shop/Dirty Burger (Whitechapel) brought a huge apple pie to the table and slapped a quarter of it on my plate. Both were delicious, with sweet fruit filling encased in soft buttery pastry. 
I think the reason those are all my favourites is that they are substantial and comforting. I’m not such a fan of a fancy pudding (though I am unlikely to turn down any dessert). They might be great to look at but are over too soon and more style than substance. The below treat from the Queen’s Park farmers market intrigued me with it’s pipette of berry sauce, but was rather disappointing to eat.
I can be as much as a chocaholic as the next woman but I tend not to pick chocolatey desserts. I prefer sweet puddings to rich ones, which is what the chocolate ones usually end up being. If I were to go with the chocolate option, a melt-in-the-middle fondant would be top of the list, or a mousse, but I find brownies can vary too much. Ideally the menu would have all bases covered in one dish, such as the chocolate dessert selection below.
Ice cream sits at the bottom of my dessert preferences. In a restaurant I am more likely to have no dessert than eat ice cream, unless peanut butter flavour is available of course. I do enjoy the odd soft serve with a flake in the summer and occasionally indulge in a tub of Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough, but I can honestly take it or leave it.
As I am often trying to lose weight and have become healthier over the years, I do have to resist dessert more often than not nowadays or choose more wisely. I was pleasantly surprised recently at Le Pain Quotidien, with the guilt-free desserts on offer on their menu. It meant I could enjoy a chia seed pudding without feeling like I was breaking the diet. However, I will never be able to give up sugar or cut out desserts completely, as life just wouldn’t be worth living!
The Bright Side Foodie 