Patisserie chefs and mixologists are showing a united front with the rise of the pudding bar in London as of recent, knocking out fondants and cocktails to an alarmingly delicious standard. Combining the two great human passions - pudding and booze - is so natural, it makes you wonder why it hasn't happened before. Perhaps people thought that the pleasure overload would spark a revolution (well lookie here). Proving that satisfying all your most gluttonous desires doesn't make you a) explode or b) overly visionary, these pleasure palaces are to be embraced with open greedy arms. Let the bloat begin.
The Pudding Bar
Holding the blowtorch in Soho is The Pudding Bar: A brothel of sugar work and unadulterated glee on Greek Street. Open until midnight every day and 11pm on Sundays, The Pudding Bar lends itself to late night guzzling and sordid sugar highs. Hunch over the likes of Blondie and Brownie: Chunks of brownie and blondie, with white chocolate and dark chocolate sauce. Or perhaps you'd like a S'More Cheesecake to jam your gums together? Loosen everything up with champagne or wine from the extensive drinks list.
Feed the soul and the belly with these sugary delights.
Basement Sate
Next stop on your tour of sugary self destruction and sweet satisfaction is Basement Sate. Cocktails and dessert is the concept, and shiver my timbers is it a good one. Devour your £11 pudding in a mahogany clad den, glugging a cocktail whilst a DJ spins the decks. If you thought an evening attached to a pudding spoon meant a night in with Ben & Jerries, you're wrong. This lively little number has now become your one stop shop for treats and tunes.
Late night feasts are given a cosmopolitan edge with booming music and basement bar vibes.
The Dessert Bar at Pollen Street Social
Reeling from drastically elevated blood sugar levels and feeling just a little heavier in your boots, head to The Dessert Bar at Pollen Street Social; where you may cleanse yourself with champagne and a Granny Smith apple parfait with blueberry, shiso and eucalyptus. Using their noggins to invent exotic flavour combinations to surprising and delightful effect, morsels such as bergamot and verbena sorbet with olive oil conserve, frozen citrus and bergamot jam are sure to induce a wide eyed grin.
Bag yourself an up market sweet treat and tipple at this classy establishment.
Yauatcha
It's only right that this torrid tour should culminate in Soho's pleasure dome, and Yauatcha's Jasmine Honey can provide the perfect panacea to all your woes. With milk chocolate, jasmine and caramelised honey, it's the most soothing of the bunch. To add a little kick to round off the experience, chase it up with a lemonberry martini of Ketel One Citroen, raspberry, vanilla, lemon and cranberry juice for £11.
Masterfully constructed puds that are almost too beautiful to eat...almost.
