Liverpudlians flock to Pudding Night

November 04, 2009|Ellen Albanese, Globe Correspondent

LIVERPOOL - Most days folks flock to the Monro restaurant on Duke Street for its cozy atmosphere, regional specialties, and cask ales, custom brews delivered just shy of maturation and served only when the resident cellarman determines that they’ve reached peak flavor. There’s nothing finer than settling into a dark wood booth in this historic building, tucking into toad in the hole (sausages baked in the popoverlike Yorkshire pudding), and sipping a Filly Drift by the fire.

But once a month this popular gastropub goes straight for the sweet tooth. Pudding Night, held on the last Wednesday of every month (except July and August), lets diners cap each meal with a profusion of decadent desserts. “It’s a way to do something innovative that doesn’t cost a lot of money,’’ says general manager Jenna Strickland.

Technically speaking, the Monro’s desserts are not all puddings as we know them. The term refers to British confections baked or steamed with eggs, flour, and fruit - and also all manner of sweets. But Monro owner William Lyons likes the term pudding not only because it’s traditional, but also, he says, because it evokes “cozy emotions, associations with warm, sweet tastes.’’

Lyons admits to having a sweet tooth himself. He was raised on homemade biscuits (what we call cookies) and as an adult was often disappointed when he went to high-end restaurants where dessert seemed like an afterthought. “I wanted to create a menu where dessert was the star,’’ he says.

Pudding Night can take many forms - puddings featuring a particular ingredient (such as chocolate), puddings from a specific place (such as France), or puddings from a specific time period (those from the 1950s include such time-honored classics as blancmanges and jellies).

During our September visit, we lucked out with a sugar-dusted platter of five mini-desserts, showcasing the range of pudding chef Mark Jones: chocolate bread and butter pudding, banana panna cotta, sticky toffee pudding drizzled with toffee sauce, cherry and chocolate cupcakes, and a brandy snap basket filled with berries and vanilla ice cream. Hearty eaters in our party went for an appetizer, entree, and pudding platter, all for about $36, while others settled for an entree and puddings for about $26.