Best chocolate desserts and drinks in London restaurants to try at Easter

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Ailis Brennan16 April 2019

Calling all chocoholics – it's officially time to cast off the shackles of sensible sugar consumption and embrace your favourite vice.

Easter weekend is almost upon us and that means London's already considerable chocolate cravings are about to go into overdrive.

Luckily, the capital's food purveyors are well prepared with a veritable selection box of cocoa-filled desserts, snacks and cocktails to keep our sweet teeth satisfied.

So before you eat your 237th Cadbury’s Mini Egg this weekend, these are the chocolate treats in London restaurants and bakeries may just tempt you to get off the sofa this Bank Holiday.

Eggs-actly what you fancy

At the Nobu locations in Old Park Lane and Berkeley Street, an Easter Tamago dessert will see a golden chocolate shell ooze apricot coulis, before revealing hazelnut sponge and a bitter caramel ice cream when cracked open. Another restaurant going for gold is legendary Chelsea spot Daphne’s which is celebrating its 55th birthday this spring. The venue is producing 55 limited edition golden chocolate eggs, each wrapped with a Daphne’s bow, for diners to take away with them for £15. Indian restaurant Baluchi is wrapping up its Easter menu with a dessert that sees a South Asian-flavoured mango and coconut mousse served in a chocolate eggshell.

There’s a couple of surprises to be found in Francesco Mazzei’s easter egg offerings at Sartoria and Fiume. A homemade chocolate egg will be served at both restaurants, cocooned in a nest made with fried pasta and edible flowers. Diners will be handed a hammer alongside the dessert, instructed to crack into the egg to reveal their mystery prize.

The egg at Frenchie also arrives in its own nest, made with dark chocolate, coconut panna cotta and mango coulis, topped with a white chocolate feather. Fellow Covent Garden resident The Ivy Market Grill will be serving an “Easter Egger” dessert over the weekend featuring a blue egg filled with a white chocolate mousse, mango and passion fruit.

London’s bakeries are also getting cracking with chocolate egg offerings this year. All-natural Soho bakery Cutter & Squidge have created an Easter egg version of their signature “biskies”, which features two chocolate biscuits sandwiching passion fruit buttercream and ganache, decorated with chocolate eggs and sprinkles. The Belgravia bakery from cronut creator Dominique Ansel is offering a dark chocolate-shelled, “soft-boiled” white chocolate egg. Complete with orange yolk, the egg is served with sablé Breton “toast soldiers”.

Feeling egg-stra

Chocolate doesn’t have to come in egg form this Easter. If you like to think outside the chocolate box, London’s restaurants have come up with alternatives for quirky tastebuds.

Pasta Remoli is cooking up chocolate pasta this year – yes, chocolate pasta. The dessert dish of chocolate ravioli is deep-fried, comes filled with ricotta and chocolate chips and is served with both white and milk chocolate sauces. Peruvian restaurant Lima is also embracing a savoury favourite. Its Bank Holiday dessert of chocolate mousse is made with avocado and rocoto pepper, which is served inside a chocolate shell that resembles both an avocado and an Easter egg. Chocolate isn’t just for dessert: Searcy’s at the Gherkin is teaming up with renowned chocolatier William Curley to produce a four-course cocoa-infused dinner, with savoury courses including cauliflower and Berkshire Blue cheese soup with cacao nibs, and venison loin with chocolate sauce.

Adventurous chocolate-lovers should head to the Kings Road, where Maitre Choux is running an Easter egg hunt with a twist. Instead of looking for eggs, Chelsea shoppers should keep their eyes peeled for hidden toy éclairs – once found, they can be taken to the store and redeemed for a real chocolate éclair. Camden Market ice cream connoisseurs Chin Chin Labs has concocted quite the Easter experiment: passionfruit kombucha sorbet and chocolate mousse is topped with a “Nitro Poached” meringue egg shell, which emits clouds of icy cold nitrogen when cracked.

New Tottenham Court Road restaurant Vivi has reinvented the doughnut for Easter, stuffing fluffy dough balls with miniature creme eggs, which ooze when torn open. The Easter bunny is the star of the show at the new Chinatown location of Bun House, where the restaurant will serve a Cantonese bao bun shaped like a rabbit and filled with a chocolate orange sauce.

Swap cocktails for choc-tails

Don’t feel you can eat any more chocolate? The good news is that you can drink it instead.

Atul Kochhar’s new Mayfair restaurant Kanishka is serving up a Kaneaster Egg cocktail, which fills a chocolate egg with vodka, double cream, burnt toffee liqueur, dark cacao liqueur, masala spice and an espresso shot.

Spanish spot Camino is also satisfying caffeine cravings this weekend with its Eggs-presso con Leche cocktail, which mixes sweet condensed milk with espresso, Mozart chocolate liqueur and Sister Isles rum, all topped with crushed chocolate mini eggs.

Mayfair cocktail haven Mr Fogg’s Residence is going all out with its boozy Easter offering this weekend, having teamed up with Bacardi to create a five-tiered alcoholic chocolate fountain, from which guests can fill their glasses. Flowing through the fountain will be a Rum Rabbit Rum cocktail, made with Bacardi Anejo Cuatro, nut liqueur, smoked paprika syrup, orange and raspberry jam and, of course, chocolate.

A very vegan easter

Vegans, don’t be disheartened – some London hotspots are creating Easter treats especially for you. Cutter & Squidge’s vast Easter offering also includes a vegan chocolate egg shell, which comes filled with a dark chocolate ganache, honeycomb and an array of dried fruits. Meanwhile, Camden Market’s all-vegan bakery Nora and Nama has created an array of sweet bites for Easter, including miniature chocolate eggs and Easter bunny lollipops. The pops will also top a dairy-free chocolate latte, alongside a sprinkling of vegan marshmallows.

Where to eat in London on Easter Sunday

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