Dessert for Dinner? How Pudding Clubs Are Taking Over

Dessert is the new new burger - from dedicated areas in Michelin star restaurants to pop up cafes serving all things sweet, you can't escape the sugar rush.

And on the UK food scene, there’s a distinctive rise in pudding parlours exciting Londoners' taste buds of late. So what's all the fuss about?

I love dessert and always pondered the acceptability of eating it first or as a main course so perhaps I’m biased. A serial sweet tooth, I drive waiters crazy, clutching the menu in panic, unable to choose when everyone else has politely declined. Let me tell you a secret though - politely declining dessert is so last year.

After all, there's always room for pudding, right?

Indulgence Now

Right now, indulgence of all kinds, is the plat du jour. It only takes a glance at Instagram to see Cara casually accessorising with a golden M or some Hollywood A-lister posing with an Eton mess big enough to feed a whole family.

It’s the Great British Bake Off effect and a tip of the cap to the ever-growing army of celebrity chefs.

With the burger obsession before it, our US cousins were one step ahead of us with dessert-focussed venues like the ‘Pop Champagne bar’ and ‘B Sweet’ even gracing the greenest of green juice shores of LA.

“Going for dessert” is a thing. It’s the thing we’ve all wished for since being left last at the dinner table when we were five because we ‘‘have to finish those brussel sprouts’’ before we were allowed pudding.

Dessert-Only Venues

As I sit tucking into the S’more cheesecake at The Pudding Bar, the new pop up that opened this Summer on Soho’s Greek Street, I chat to Oliver Whitford-Knight, its part founder and owner. He tells me that their inspiration came from an opportunity to satisfy the need for the late night dessert.

The idea was born when the trio behind the project discovered a lack of late night venues where you could sit and actually have a conversation. Soho so brilliantly covers an array of eateries, cocktail bars, pubs and clubs, but when you roll out of the theatre on a Friday night, there’s a lack of places to go for that much needed catch up you couldn’t squeeze into the interval.

Why pudding? With everything else covered, this was what was missing and what better way to end a great evening out than with a gourmet pudding and a glass of wine?

With new health food fads jumping out on every corner we turn, there’s something liberating about a venue dedicated to indulgence. While the plethora of ‘raw’, ‘vegan’, ‘gluten-free’ - the list is endless - is all great for our health and making us far better educated foodies, we’re still human and sometimes we just need a treat. So do your inner five year old a favour and let them eat pudding for dinner - just once!

London: Top Three To Try

The pop-up supper club

Where: After Hours Dessert
Good for: Sweet socialising

The first dessert-only supper club in London, After Hours offers a four course tasting menu from some of London’s most exciting chefs from renowned places like The Fat Duck, Wild Honey and The Ledbury.

Supper club pop-ups take place in independent coffee shops, tickets are purchased prior to the events for £25 and off you go.

Dishes have included modern takes on traditional favourites such as the Dark & Stormy baba – a rum baba served with ginger beer granite, lime cream and compressed pineapple. A great way to socialise with sweet things!

The cool cafe

Where:The Pudding Bar
Good for: Post theatre catch-ups

Rustically shabby chic, The Pudding Bar is a little haven of pudding paradise tucked away in its current pop-up residence on Greek street in Soho.

Homely touches include gold painted wooden spoons adorning the windows, which set off the exposed brick and eclectic furniture. An absolute must try is the S’more cheesecake – a gorgeous rich chocolate cheesecake on a ginger biscuit base served with peanut butter ice cream.

This is just one of the five creations on the menu, freshly prepared from scratch each day by pastry chef Laura Hallwood from the Gordon Ramsay group. Pair with any of the finely selected wine list – the Royal Tokaju dessert wine is gorgeous and goes down all too easily.

The cocktail bar

Where: Basemement Sate
Good for: The music lovers

From part owner of the renowned Sherry Butt cocktail bar in Paris, Basement Sate is the chic sweet-toothed music lover’s dream.

Dark wood, green leather seating and copper topped tables give an almost 19th century poetic feel to the latest string to the London dessert scene’s bow.

Only launching last month, the venue boasts a pastry chef from Provence and a celebrated bar tender – the dessert and cocktail menus are designed to compliment one another for an all round taste sensation using both traditional and more unusual ingredients like seaweed.

A quality sound system and residences from London and Paris’s hottest DJ’s round off the experience with a chilled out vibe during the week and a more party worthy atmosphere for the weekend.

And if you’re outside of London…

The Pudding Pantry – Nottingham
Brunch, lunch and gourmet pudding in Nottingham’s Trinity Square – a great addition to a day of shopping.

The Pudding Club – Gloucestershire
A hotel based pudding club dating back to 1985 that invites all to trial and score puddings on an official scoring system. A great idea for a break away in the countryside.

Mary’s Milk Bar – Edinburgh
Take in magnificent views of the Edinburgh castle while chowing down on a fresh gelato or munching your way through a chocolate truffle sharing platter – sweet and dreamlike.

Heavenly desserts – Birmingham
Slide into a booth and order generous portions of strawberry and chocolate laden waffles – a sure way to satisfy an insatiable sugar craving. (And it's on Facebook.)

Cocoa Cabana – Manchester
A chocaholic’s dream – Cocoa Cabana host parties for chocolate making and also run their very own chocolate club.

[Amazing Surprise Inside Cakes]
[Mug Cakes That Cook In 3 Mins Or Less]