I never need to be tempted into the Savoy Hotel. Simply walking into its hallowed halls transports you back to the time when Cesar Ritz was General Manager, Auguste Escoffier the chef and Oscar Wilde, Sarah Bernhardt and many others clinked glasses in the foyer.
Yes, we lead busy lives and sometimes we do forget to make time for those things that make us feel special, like simply walking into the Savoy. Now every night between 7:30 – 12pm, I dare you to resist the Savoy’s new dessert and cocktail combination, The Temptation Wheel.
Served in the Thames Foyer, the Savoy’s new menu of tasty treats and tipples is for those who have already eaten but want to indulge themselves in a post-dinner extravaganza of decadence.
The menu has been divided up into cocktails, chocolate, and dessert, falling into four categories: Light, Medium, Rich & Indulgent. You can stick to one theme for all three or go off piste and select one from each category. (They all tasted indulgent to me!)
We were lucky enough to have The Savoy’s Executive Pastry Chef, Ludwig Hely, on hand to guide us through the provenance of each dessert. A hark back to the Savoy of the 1890’s based on the wonderful inventions of Escoffier.
Hely’s twist on the famous Peach Melba invented in the 1890’s would make eponymous Nellie Melba, the famous opera star, sing and Escoffier proud. Crack into the sugary outer shell to discover vanilla foam, raspberries and poached peaches.
Another nod to both the great French chef is the Dynamite Poire Helene named for the opera La Belle Hélène by Jacques Offenbach. This one is set to explode with the ice cream styled like sticks of dynamite sitting underneath a poached pear. The chocolate is poured atop and the whole thing explodes at the first bite.
The drinks are works of art as well. Of course, they would be as they were created by the Beaufort Bar’s uber-bartender Chris Moore and his team.
My two favorites were the Café Milano – all drama – served in a mini-French Press with a combination of Grey Goose Poire, Honey, Campari and Coffee made cold by the liquid nitro – the perfect after dinner drink and the Two Worlds, a fresh, light mix of Bacardi, Mezcal, Pinapple, and Lime, which cuts the sweetness of chocolate.
Speaking of chocolate – yes, they are there on the temptation wheel as well. All made in house mixed with spice, fruit, coffee, honey and everything else that tastes delicious mixed into chocolate. A whole panel of it is broken up in front of you by a mini-gavel. They even wrap it up for you to take it away if you don’t finish it.
Choose a cocktail or a cocktail and chocolate or a dessert and cocktail or all three! Nibbling away to the tinkling of the piano and the clinking of glasses you can’t think why you didn’t come here more often.
- The Savoy, Strand, London, United Kingdom, WC2R 0EU, Tel +44 (0)20 7836 4343
NB: I was the guest of the Savoy & I can’t thank them enough for inviting me to be tempted. Everything I write is always my own opinion!
*The photo of the Temptation Wheel Menu was provided by the Savoy.