The UK’s Easter bank holidays (the double whammy of Good Friday and Easter Monday) allow just four days for eating more chocolate, hot-cross buns and marzipan than someone who chose the self-guided tour of Willy Wonka’s factory. A daunting challenge, but if you want an Easter feast of legendary proportions, you need to crack a few eggs (then eat them).
Perhaps the tastiest Pagan symbol of the Spring Equinox, the humble Easter egg has been given various makeovers by London’s best restaurants and bars, alongside a range of seasonal staples. The Easter bunny’s treats are now delivered by pâtisserie box or cocktail tray, so hop to it and get hip to his newest haunts…
The nonconformist: The Modern Pantry’s hot-cross buns
For comforting bank holiday snacking, hot-cross buns are a no-brainer: sweet, pillowy, currant-pocked dough, lightly crisped and spread with melty creamy butter – no need for embellishment. That is, until Clerkenwell eatery Modern Pantry sexed them up with a dash of chilli and served them stuffed with bacon. Cross yourselves before tucking in, they really are sinfully good…
Available over Easter weekend, but hurry – they sell out fast (The Modern Pantry, 14 Finsbury Square, EC2A 1AH)
Is it better than an egg?
Unless you’re an Easter snack purist, absolutely. A spicier, meatier interpretation of the season’s tropes than even upcoming horror movie The Beaster Bunny will prove to be.
Stop and flop(sy) at The Zetter Townhouse Clerkenwell after a short walk through Shoreditch. Order up one of the spring-evoking cocktails from the bar’s madcap menu. Perhaps the Flower Seller? A sipper of flower-market aromatics and gin.
The bunny boiler: Heddon Street Kitchen’s ‘Who Melted Roger Rabbit’ cocktail
He might have dodged Toon-town nemesis Judge Doom, but poor ol’ Roger gets the dip at Heddon Street Kitchen… Admittedly, the resulting cocktail is quite delicious: Oakheart spiced rum is muddled with almond milk, nutty Frangelico liqueur and chocolate bitters, finished with a dash of lime juice. It’s even more enticing than Jessica Rabbit.
Available from 14–17 April (Heddon Street Kitchen, 3–9 Heddon Street, London W1B 4BE)
Is it better than an egg?
A cracked-open egg makes an inelegant drinking vessel – this solves that problem, with added liquor.
Stop and flop(sy) The Soho Hotel, where designer Kit Kemp has styled rooms with all the colours of an Easter basket.
The Faux-bergé: The Biscuiteers Easter Egg Biscuit Tin
Biscuiteers’ Notting Hill café has plentiful Easter treats; we’re particularly fond of their mock-off, hand-iced Fabergé eggs, whose gilding and ornamentation would fool a Russian czar – they come in a cool tin, too. We also love their gingerbread dude wearing an Easter bunny costume and the Easter Party tin: an adorable gathering of chicks, bunnies and little lambs, which you may feel a little reserved about munching.
Available seasonally (Biscuiteers Boutique, 194 Kensington Park Road, London W11 2ES, closed 16–17 April)
Is it better than an egg?
We’ll have none of this ‘too pretty to eat’ tomfoolery; if you have any left by Easter Monday you have more willpower than we do. They also offer a little crunchy respite between chocolate gorging.
Stop and flop(sy) Discreet townhouse stay The Portobello Hotel is offering guests a special seasonal cream tea in their cosy drawing room.
The trickster: The Botanist’s Eggs Bunnidict
You’re at The Botanist Broadgate Circle; you’re served the de facto best brunch item – eggs Benedict; you dig your fork in, anticipating a creamy mess of yolk and spicy tang of Hollandaise when – wait, is that marshmallow? And a hot-cross bun? You shake your fist at the stuffed alligator that hangs over the bar, the faux bookshelves surrounding you… ‘April Fools’ was days ago you japesters!’ you scold, sipping crème Anglaise straight from your plate.
Available from 13–17 April at The Botanist in Sloane Square and Broadgate Circle
Is it better than an egg?
If you can stomach the pun, this tasty bit of trompe-l’œil, (a hot-cross bun topped with a slice of marshmallow ‘ham’ and an ‘egg’ of coconut pannacotta with a mango yolk, drizzled with crème Anglaise) is egg-straordin… we mean, delicious, it’s delicious.
Stop and flop(sy) Pitch up to the Town Hall Hotel, which has lots of little ‘Easter eggs’ to discover (a Persian-carpet bear in the breakfast room, a goldfish you can borrow for the night…). Revel in the Alice in Wonderland feel of the stay with a Heston Blumenthal-conceived Jam Tart cocktail in its Peg + Patriot bar.
The ‘mini’ Lebowski: Bar Soho’s Mini-Egg Martini
Bar Soho’s dreamy drink is the sort of thing the Dude, Don Draper and your nan might mix up if they were hanging out by the bar cart at an Easter party. The Mini-Egg Martini hits the sweet spot between dessert and tipple with vanilla vodka, a glug of Bailey’s, cream, chocolate sauce and a genius sprinkling of Cadbury’s Mini Eggs – it’s guaranteed to be the bar’s best-shell-er.
Available throughout April (Bar Soho, 23–25 Old Compton Street, London, W1D 5JL)
Is it better than an egg?
Yes.
Stop and flop(sy) Historic hotel Hazlitt’s, which evokes Bar Soho’s madcap vintage styling.
The iconoclast: Christopher’s sharing dessert
Three eggs, one milk chocolate, the other fancily powdered with gold dust, the third creamy white chocolate: a solid, sophisticated Easter-themed effort from the famous Covent Garden brunching spot. But wait – Inception blare – once the server (and possible sorcerer) applies hot-chocolate sauce, the eggs melt away to reveal three more desserts inside – magic.
Available 14–17 April. (Christopher’s, 18 Wellington Street, Covent Garden , London WC2E 7DD)
Is it better than an egg?
Three are definitely better than one; however, a dessert that makes us muse on the very nature of reality is priceless (or a very reasonable 20 English pounds for two diners, one if you’re ambitious).
Stop and flop(sy) The Covent Garden Hotel, which has the cosiest lounge for bank holiday chilling.
The icon: Claridge’s Easter egg
Claridge’s signature Easter egg has been styled in homage to the hotel lobby’s black-and-white marble floor this year, although we imagine this version is more lickable. Displayed in a mint-green box, the same colour as the carbon copy of your first divorce papers; it’s dressed in art deco-inspired foil; and it’s filled with chocolate quail’s eggs: it’s as much of an institution as the beloved London stay.
Available online and at the hotel (Claridge’s, Brook Street, Mayfair, London W1K 4HR)
Is it better than an egg?
Mais oui; this is no off-the-rack egg. It’s the kind of Old Bedlian, finishing-school-polished confection you could take home to meet your parents. It could easily be destined for your mantelpiece or your mouth.
Stop and flop(sy) Where else? Simply wander upstairs to your suite.