Perfectly timed for the fact that we appear to have tipped over to autumn without really having touched summer, rice pudding is the dessert to soothe and comfort as temperatures fall. From London’s classic establishments serving it up in its traditional form, to restaurants giving an old favourite a new twist, here’s where to enjoy rice pudding around town right now.
Noble Rot
Mayfair - 5 Trebeck St, Shepherd Market, London W1J 7LT
Of course, the wine-focused Noble Rot has given its rice pudding take a wine twist. Here the kitchen is serving it up as cold rice pudding with blackcurrants, finished off with a Liqueur de Cassis de Mouton Rothschild.
Cornus
Belgravia - 27 Eccleston Pl, London SW1W 9NF
The Medlar team’s new restaurant in Belgravia has a very enticing creamed rice pudding on its dessert menu, courtesy of head pastry chef Kelly Cullen. It comes topped with caramelised oat milk and cherries and with some amarena cherry ripple ice cream on the side. We've tried this one and it's pretty spectacular.
Cafe Britaly
Peckham - 191 Rye Lane, London SE15 4TP
Cafe Ritaly’s menu is full of riffs on classic Italian dishes with an English twist. A must-try dessert there is the Rice Pudding arancini made with deep-fried balls of rice pudding coated in cinnamon and then paired with fruit that changes according to what’s in season. It's another one we've tried and rice pudding really does work perfectly in this form.
The Marquee Moon
Stoke Newington - 48 Stoke Newington Rd, Greater, London N16 7XJ
Kiwi chef Huri Rapana Neil is the man behind the food at new Dalston pub The Marquee Moon where he's serving up a menu of British classics with ingredients from further afield. His rice pudding here is brûléed before being topped with a heap of fresh raspberries and is all the better for it.
Oma
Borough Market - 2-4 Bedale St, London SE1 9AL
The greek-inspired Oma looks to Greece for their version of rice pudding and it's one of their must-have dishes, we think. It's a Risogalo rice pudding where Greek rice pudding rice is cooked in milk and mixed with creme anglaise before being topped with seasonal fruit, olive oil, salt and lime zest.
Counter Soho
Soho - 15 Kingly Street, London W1B 5PS
Pull up a seat at this Mediterranean restaurant in the heart of Carnaby where chef Kemal Demirasal’s tight dessert menu includes a bruleed take on rice pudding. The sage-infused rice pudding with hazelnuts is topped with sugar and then given a firing
Henri
Covent Garden - 14-15 Henrietta St, London WC2E 8QH
Jackson’s Boxer’s French brasserie, tucked away in the Henrietta hotel in Covent Garden has a DIY dessert of riz au lait. You get four bowls - one each of rice pudding, puffed rice, poached apricots and dulce de leche to assemble as you see fit.
Kolamba East
Spitalfields - 12 Blossom Street, Norton Folgate, London E1 6PL
The brand new East London branch of Kolamba is serving up payasam for dessert. It’s a cold rice pudding that comes from the north of Sri Lanka and here it’s flavoured with toasty cinnamon and raisins.
Clos Maggiore
Covent Garden - 33 King St, London WC2E 8JD
Regularly dubbed London’s most romantic restaurant, who could fail to fall in love with this brand-new dessert on Clos Maggiore’s menu? This is a vanilla rice pudding mousse dessert. It’s made with amaretto and served with malt ice cream and is enough to make any rice pudding fan swoon. This video shows how it's all put together.
St John
Farringdon - 26 St John Street, London EC1M 4AY
Everyone talks about the eccles cakes at St John but for a long time, rice pudding was the only dessert on the menu here. Now it pops up every now and then, always with a generous dollop of jam on top. They recommend you order it with a glass of madeira for pudding nirvana.
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