If you grew up in Britain, chances are your earliest encounter with rice pudding was a dispiriting one, likely lacking in both taste and texture. Perhaps it arrived in the form of institutional cafeteria sludge, that gloopy school dinner stuff – its surface puckered with a telltale skin. Or maybe it emerged from a tin, reheated without ceremony or hope, a beige monument to culinary resignation.
But rice pudding, when treated with the reverence it deserves, transcends these humble origins and traumatic memories entirely. Neither precious nor exacting, never formulaic, a proper bowl of rice pudding is elegant, graceful and absurdly satisfying. The alchemy in that kind of rice pudding, the one that transforms stubborn grains into silk, is nothing short of remarkable.
For decades, rice pudding languished in the dusty annals of grandmother recipes – misunderstood, underappreciated, relegated to the disparaging talk. Now, it’s having a renaissance.
This awakening didn’t happen overnight. In around 2022, supermarkets started reporting surges in both sales and recipe searches for rice pudding. As a reaction (or, perhaps the cause?), in dining rooms across the city rice pudding has become a fixture on tasting menus and neighborhood bistro chalkboards, afforded the same care and respect as more outwardly ‘fancy’ desserts. Food forecasters predict the trend will only accelerate as 2026 really cranks into gear.
The world’s kitchens offer endless variations on this classic: rice pudding, arroz con leche, riz au lait, kheer, and more. It’s one of those rare dishes that feels universal and deeply personal at once.
How fitting, then, that London, one of the world’s most multicultural cities, should serve such a broad array of riffs on rice pudding. In this sprawling, gloriously diverse metropolis, you can taste the comfort foods of a dozen different childhoods, all within a single afternoon. With all that in mind, here’s where to find the capital’s best rice pudding.
*Side note: If we’re honest, we actually love rice pudding from a tin. We recently copied chef Max Rocha’s not so guilty pleasure of pairing Ambrosia rice pudding with cookies and cream, and let’s just say it’s something you should try too.*
Rice Pudding at St. JOHN, Smithfield
Ideal for the dish in its purest British form…
We begin, as we must, with St. JOHN. Fergus Henderson’s landmark of British cooking. It requires no preamble. But even after several rounds of roast bone marrow and parsley salad, a blushing bird or two, and some smoked cod’s roe with egg and cress, we can never decline the dessert menu. The pudding roster rivals the preceding courses for real estate, sprawling across the page with the same ambition and length, and trading heavily on a distinct line of school dinner nostalgia. Whether it’s their Eccles cake, apple trifle (they didn’t serve ours with calvados at school mind), or steamed sponge, we always reserve room.
Today, however, we’ve come for the rice pudding, which Henderson himself has declared ‘fundamental’. Whether he means to St. JOHN or to actual life itself, it’s not clear. Maybe it can be both…
Anyway, when St. JOHN first opened its doors in 1994, rice pudding stood alone on the dessert menu – the singular sweet offering. When the menu eventually expanded, the rice pudding wasn’t abandoned but rather elevated alongside its newfound companions. While no longer a permanent fixture, it appears regularly in rotation, and when it does, a pilgrimage here becomes imperative.
The version shifts with the seasons and the kitchen’s inclinations, as it should be. Sometimes it arrives crowned with crab apple jelly, other times blackberry jam or quince. It’s even been served cold with custard and brandy prunes. Cor, that last one sounds good.
At present, a bay and honey version holds court. Whatever the accompaniment, the pudding itself remains steadfastly, unapologetically comforting. As Henderson himself would counsel, you should order a glass of Madeira to cut through the richness, because we’re not at school anymore. On a gray, bone-cold afternoon, it’s precisely what the soul requires. Should the rice pudding not be on, console yourself with the madeleines, baked to order and still warm from the oven.
Website: stjohnrestaurant.com
Address: 26 St John St, London EC1M 4AY
Arroz Con Leche at Fonda, Mayfair
Ideal for Mexican rice pudding with a mezcal twist…
At Santiago Lastra’s restaurant Fonda, the follow-up to Michelin-starred KOL, the arroz con leche is a nod to the chef’s childhood in Mexico. But Lastra’s version has got a boozy, grown-up kick to it – if you’ve ever had an aversion to rice pudding, this Mexican version could well cure you of it.
The dish changes with the seasons, enriched with mezcal custard and dotted with whatever fruit is at its best: quince in autumn, figs in late summer, forced rhubarb right about now. Either way, a dusting of cinnamon ties everything back to tradition.
The pudding itself is extremely creamy, unctuous even, with that distinctive smoky undertone from the mezcal lending an adult sophistication to what might otherwise be a more homely affair. The seasonal fruit brings a necessary acidic contrast, whilst the spicing keeps one foot planted firmly in Mexican culinary heritage. What’s not to love?
Website: fondalondon.com
Address: 12 Heddon St, London W1B 4BZ
Read: The best Mexican restaurants in London
Payasam at Kolamba East, Spitalfields
Ideal for a Sri Lankan rendition with coconut and cinnamon…
At Kolamba East, the payasam is a sensational way to end your meal. This warm rice pudding hails from the north of Sri Lanka and combines fresh coconut with cinnamon and raisins, decorated with pistachios for colour and crunch.
It’s lighter than you might expect from a coconut-based dessert, the gentle spicing allowing the natural sweetness of the rice and coconut to shine through. Served piping hot, it’s particularly welcome on grey London evenings, a spoonful of somewhere sunnier seeing you through until tomorrow.
Pair it with an Arrack Old Fashioned for the full experience, or keep things simple with a pot of Ceylon tea.
You can check out our full review of Kolamba East here, by the way.
Website: kolamba.co.uk
Spitalfields Address: 12 Blossom St, London E1 6PL
Soho Address: 21 Kingly St, Carnaby, London W1B 5QA
Baked Rice Pudding at Sael, St James’s
Ideal for a bronzed, whisky-laced winter warmer…
At Jason Atherton’s Sael – the name derives from Old English for ‘season’ – the dessert menu follows the changing calendar with religious devotion. And when temperatures plummet, a baked rice pudding materialises as a mainstay right through winter.
Rice pudding’s texture and presentation can confound even skilled cooks, but here it receives the Atherton treatment: silky, set, and baked until the surface achieves a soft bronze. Blood orange provides citrus relief against the richness, while whisky marmalade contributes depth, a pleasing bitterness, and subtle boozy warmth.
Come the colder months, this is exactly what you want while ensconced in one of Sael’s sage-green banquettes, watching the theatre of St James’s Market unfold through frosted floor-to-ceiling windows.
Website: saellondon.com
Address: 1 St James’s Market, London SW1Y 4QQ
Cardamom & Basmati Rice Kheer at Gymkhana, Mayfair
Ideal for Michelin-starred Indian rice pudding, served with refinement…
Gymkhana’s reputation precedes it. The two-Michelin-starred institution just around the corner from Green Park has been serving some of London’s finest Indian cuisine since 2013, and its desserts hold their own against the celebrated tandoori lamb chops and wild muntjac biryani that precede them.
The cardamom and basmati rice kheer is served cold and impossibly silky, a departure from the warm British iterations elsewhere on this list. Basmati rice contributes an aromatic quality absent from short-grain pudding rice, and cardamom provides a distinctively Indian headiness that’s so perfect for pudding.
Depending on the season, you might find this one adorned with figs and pistachios, dates and chestnuts, or simply a scattering of pecans for textural intrigue; sometimes it’s served with fresh mango and sorbet. A honeycomb tuile on top adds a gorgeous piece of pastry work, and the silver filigree stand is a nice colonial-era touch that fits Gymkhana’s aesthetic. It pairs beautifully with a 2010 Château Filhot Sauternes.
The kheer achieves richness without heaviness — the sort of dessert that completes a meal rather than obliterates it. After navigating the tasting menu’s procession of biryanis and kebabs, it provides a cool, calming denouement.
Website: gymkhanalondon.com
Address: 42 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4JH
Rice Pudding Brûlée at The Barbary, Notting Hill
Ideal for a blowtorched, brulee rice pudding…
Ever wondered how to make rice pudding a destination-worthy treat? Apply fire, naturally.
Rice puddings appear throughout the Barbary Coast in various guises: the Algerian roz bi haleeb scented with orange blossom, Moroccan versions perfumed with cinnamon and almonds, Tunisian bowls fragrant with rose water. What unites them is a fondness for aromatic spicing, particularly cardamom, and a much lighter hand with the sugar than their Northern European counterparts. Sometimes, a sprinkle of salt lifts things to the heavens.
It’s this tradition that informs The Barbary’s Notting Hill outpost, where head chef Ian Coogan has created a rice pudding brûlée which is as good as it sounds.
The base is classic: rice cooked slowly in milk and cream with cardamom until tender. But it’s what happens next that adds intrigue. Spooned into ramekins atop a layer of raspberry jam, the pudding is then blanketed with sugar and kissed with a blowtorch until it develops that signature crackle, leaving behind crunchy rice grains and a bitter caramel bite.
The moment the spoon breaks through: that satisfying shatter of caramelised sugar yielding to cool, soothing creaminess beneath, is something you’ll want to experience firsthand, even if just for the ASMR implications of the thing.
Website: thebarbary.co.uk
Address: 112 Westbourne Grove, London W2 5RU
Read: The best restaurants in Notting Hill
Basmati Kheer at Dishoom
Ideal for a subcontinental take on the classics and another blowtorched affair…
Dishoom’s Basmati Kheer takes the traditional Indian rice pudding and gives it the kind of polish you’d expect from the Bombay-inspired institution.
Here, basmati rice is soaked, blitzed, and cooked down slowly in vanilla-infused coconut milk with cardamom and cashews until it reaches a velvety consistency. This is not your conventional rice pudding – those blended grains give off a remarkably smooth mouthfeel, for better or for worse.
Then, the twist (that we realise we’ve just spoiled); the top is torched and topped with blueberry compôte for a welcome tartness and lift. The combination of cardamom-scented creaminess and burnt-caramel flavour is darn delicious, though we’re going to go out on a limb here and say the Barbary version of this one-two punch is just a touch nicer.
What makes this version stand out is its texture: it’s thicker and more set than many kheers, with a complexity that comes from that careful caramelisation of the rice. It’s a fitting conclusion to a meal of black daal and bacon naan rolls – or indeed any meal at all.
Should you wish to recreate it at home, the recipe appears in their cookbook.
Website: dishoom.com
Address: Multiple locations across London including Battersea, Carnaby, Covent Garden and Kings Cross
Sütlaç at Gökyüzü, Green Lanes
Ideal for the Turkish baked version with a glass of çay…
In Turkey, milk-based desserts are so beloved that dedicated shops called muhallebici sell nothing else. Sütlaç, baked in clay pots until a burnished golden skin forms on top, is served everywhere from modest kebab shops to grand Ottoman-era restaurants, a dessert that transcends class and occasion.
On Harringay’s Green Lanes, often called London’s Little Turkey, the sütlaç flows freely. At the Green Lanes outpost of Gökyüzü, one of the strip’s most cherished establishments, the sütlaç, cold and creamy, boasts a silky, close-to-caramelised surface. Unlike the French crème brûlée it sometimes resembles, that top layer isn’t crunchy but rather delicately soft, with a milky sweetness that’s pure solace.
Order a glass of Turkish tea alongside and let the gentle rhythm of the restaurant wash over you. It’s the kind of dessert that makes you slow down, savour, and perhaps order another.
Website: gokyuzurestaurant.co.uk
Address: 26-28 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, Harringay Ladder, London N4 1LG
Toasted Rice Pudding Pastries at Pophams Bakery
Ideal for rice pudding seasonal special in pastry form…
At Pophams, the cult bakery with outposts in Islington and London Fields, rice pudding takes an unexpected form. Their toasted rice pudding pastries, which appear frequently on the specials, transform the humble dessert into something you can eat with one hand, on the move.
A recent iteration featured coconut rice pudding with confit orange in the base, topped with a blood orange chocolate almond cake, finished with toasted-rice crème diplomat, puffed rice and toasted rice powder. The textures here are extraordinary: chewy, crispy, creamy and crunchy all at once, and quite surprisingly, not too confusing on the palate, everything making perfect sense and teeing off beautifully against each other. A version before paired a fig and earl grey compote with rice pudding and a slice of glazed fig.
It’s not always on the menu, though, so keep an eye on their Instagram for when these specials drop. They vanish quickly.
Website: pophamsbakery.com
Various Locations: London Fields, Islington, Victoria Park
Coconut Payasam at Manthan, Mayfair
For upscale Indian rice pudding with soul intact…
At chef Rohit Ghai’s Manthan in Mayfair, the payasam arrives as part of a considered dessert menu that takes Indian sweets seriously. Soulful and delicately spiced, it’s the kind of rice pudding that reminds you why this dish has been beloved across the subcontinent for centuries.
Served in the elegant surrounds of Mayfair, the payasam here has a refinement that suits its setting, but none of the inherent soul of the dish has been polished away. It remains, fundamentally, a bowl of pure comfort: sweet, creamy and gently perfumed with coconut.
Broken rice lends this payasam its unique texture, while the jaggery offers a deep, caramel-like sweetness that keeps you digging in for more. Topped with coconut shavings and other gubbins for textural intrigue, an edible viola flower makes things pretty. It’s a refined presentation for a classic South Indian dessert.
There’s nothing a spoonful of Manthan’s payasam can’t fix, or so they say. Having tried it, we’re inclined to agree.
Website: manthanmayfair.co.uk
Address: 49 Maddox St, London W1S 2PQ
Mango Sticky Rice at ImmAroy, Chinatown
Ideal for a Thai take on the rice-and-cream formula…
Just when you thought you’d experienced everything this grain had to offer, you come across mango sticky rice, the national dessert of Thailand. Purists may bristle, but we’re including mango sticky rice in this roundup. Yes, it’s made with sticky rice. Yes, it’s steamed rather than simmered in milk. But at its heart, it follows the same familiar logic as every other entry on this list: rice enriched with something creamy and sweet, served as a balm for the soul.
At ImmAroy in Chinatown, this Thai staple is done with real care. The sticky rice is the right side of tender, soaked in coconut cream that’s been sweetened – and salted – just enough, and served alongside slices of ripe mango. A final drizzle of thicker coconut cream and a scattering of mung beans finishes the dish.
Where a British rice pudding warms you from the inside, this one cools and refreshes. It’s rice pudding’s sunnier, more tropical cousin, and on a balmy London evening, it might be exactly what you’re after. Though there are a few seats inside, this is more of a grab and go rice pudding. Not to worry; St. Anne’s Churchyard is just around the corner, and it’s a pleasant place to sprawl out.
Website: imm-aroy.com
Address: 19 Lisle St, London WC2H 7BA
Sage-Infused Burnt Rice Pudding at The Counter, Soho
Ideal for an Aegean spin on a comforting classic…
Kemal Demirasal’s second London restaurant sits on Kingly Street in the heart of Carnaby, a short stroll from the bustle of Oxford Circus. The Turkish chef, a six-time national windsurfing champion turned self-taught cook, made his name at the acclaimed Alancha in Istanbul before bringing his fire-led approach to Notting Hill, and now to Soho. Where the original Counter focused on south-eastern Anatolian traditions, this outpost draws inspiration from the broader Aegean, borrowing flavours from both the Turkish and Greek coasts.
The dessert menu here is short but considered, and the sage-infused burnt rice pudding has become a fixture. It arrives with a brûléed top, the sugar torched until it cracks under your spoon, giving way to a creamy, herbaceous pudding beneath. Hazelnuts add texture and a gentle nuttiness that nods to Turkish confectionery traditions. The sage is subtle rather than overpowering, lending the dish an aromatic quality that lifts it beyond the ordinary.
After working through plates of whipped tarama, lamb tartare and the signature white chocolate babaganoush (yes, you read that correctly), this is exactly the sort of finale you want. Finish your evening by heading downstairs to Under The Counter, the basement listening bar where vinyl spins and raki flows.
Website: thecounterlondon.com
Address: 15 Kingly Street, London W1B 5PS
The Bottom Line
We started this search thinking we knew rice pudding. Turns out we’d barely scratched the surface. From the honey-scented British classic at St. John to the mezcal-spiked Mexican version at Fonda, the burnished Turkish sütlaç on Green Lanes to the coconut-rich Sri Lankan payasam in Spitalfields, London offers a world tour of this most humble but iconic dessert.
Speaking of which, we’re checking out some of London’s most iconic desserts next. Care to join us?
