Cheap Eat of the Week: “pudding” at The Grove
By Gizelle Lau
Lemon curd with cream, rhubarb, sweet crumble and a shard of dehydrated meringue (Image: Gizelle Lau)
It may not be news to you, but “pudding” means dessert in England. I didn’t find this out until a second visit to the U.K. for another meal at the rural gastropub The Sportsman, far away from the busy streets of London and the reaches of Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal.
I’m convinced that the Brits certainly know how to handle simple, sweet desserts — or puddings. London gave me the chance to discover what has to be the perfect sticky toffee pudding at Mother Mash in Soho, where, in a tiny bowl, a cake is drowned in hot, sweet, vanilla custard. Also, try a taste of the banoffee pie at Toronto’s The Bristol Yard.
The puddings at The Grove, a British-inspired restaurant that opened on Dundas West at the end of March, are not to be missed. And like The Sportsman, everything on the menu here is intricate and complex, but approachable.
On the dessert menu, there’s a spicy ginger cake ($7) that’s got a nice crust on the outside with soft, warm cake on the inside, served with a touch of marmalade, vanilla custard and a dollop of crème fraîche.
Served in an antique teacup, the lemon curd ($7) is played up differently depending on the season. On a first visit in April, it was lemon curd with meringue and a touch of the same Quebec strawberries that go into Marc Thuet’s $29 strawberry jam. On a more recent visit, it was lemon curd with cream, rhubarb, a sprinkle of sweet crumble and a shard of dehydrated meringue — wonderfully-sized and just tart enough to balance out the sweetness.
The Grove, 1213 Dundas St. W., 416-588-2299
Email
Print
Feed
