London’s first dessert restaurant comes to Hotel Cafe Royal

The Cafe at Hotel Cafe Royal, on Regent Street, will offer three dessert tasting menus from 6pm to 10.30pm
Sweet treat: Sarah Barber's take on Snickers in Eat Me, Drink Me
Lucy Young
Lizzie Edmonds @lizzieedmo23 February 2016

Sweet-toothed diners can skip straight to the best bit at London’s first dessert restaurant.

The Cafe at Hotel Cafe Royal, which opens next month, swaps the traditional starter and main for several courses of sweet treats — each of which has a wine pairing.

The dishes have been designed by executive pastry chef Sarah Barber, the first female pastry chef in the hotel’s 151-year history.

Barber, 33, who was previously executive pastry chef at Corinthia Hotel and head pastry chef at Yauatcha and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, said: “The artistry of desserts always appealed to me more and that’s why I pursued it as my career. Desserts have been big news and have got huge in the past five years. There is a massive gap in the market here in London for any decent places to get dessert. In many top restaurants, dessert is an afterthought — it is never the reason that you go there. Here, cake is at the forefront — and all of the dishes are light so you can eat more of them.”

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The Cafe will offer three dessert tasting menus from 6pm to 10.30pm. The five-course Sarah In Wonderland menu, inspired by Alice In Wonderland, costs £42 per person, with matching wines for £20. Dishes include Milky Way, with goat’s cheese, wild honey and beetroot snow; the Queen of Hearts, with raspberries, champagne and roses; and Eat Me, Drink Me, a Snickers and chocolate malt shake.

The three-course Childhood Memories menu is £26 and includes Barber’s take on favourites such as rhubarb and custard and Jaffa Cakes, while the £34 Pick N Mix menu allows guests to choose four dishes from across the menu, including some with a more savoury feel.

Passion for puddings: Sarah Barber with the Jaffa Cake which opens up to reveal the dessert Lucy Young
Lucy Young

Barber said: “For most people they are happiest when they are reliving childhood memories so I have used that as an inspiration.”

She was also inspired by her grandfather, who used to run the kitchens at the Hotel Cafe Royal. She said: “No one was going to stop me from being a pastry chef. I used to cook with my grandfather and when he passed away I went into cooking for him. I followed my whole career for him and it means a huge amount to be on the top of my game at Hotel Cafe Royal.”

The dessert menus are available from March 3.

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