Britain's quintessential dessert: a dense date-and-treacle sponge cake, soaked in a butterscotch toffee sauce, served warm in a pool of more sauce with vanilla ice cream or a pour of double cream.
Where to eat it: 4 restaurants across 1 city.
Sticky toffee pudding has disputed Northern English origins, with Sharrow Bay Country House Hotel in Cumbria claiming the modern recipe (chef Francis Coulson, 1970s) and several Lake District establishments contesting. The dish became a London restaurant fixture through the 1980s and 1990s; today it appears on virtually every British gastropub menu. The defining elements are the chopped dates, the treacle or molasses for depth, the toffee sauce from butter and brown sugar, and the warm-serve-with-cream finish. The Wolseley and St. John run benchmark versions.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg
Tip from the editors. Use Medjool dates if possible; Deglet Noor work but are less sweet and require an extra tablespoon of sugar. The bicarbonate-of-soda step is structural; it tenderises the dates and gives the pudding its dark, almost gingerbread depth. The poke-and-soak step is non-negotiable; without it the toffee sauce only sits on top.
Britain's first gastropub on Farringdon Road in Clerkenwell London, opened 1991 by Mike Belben and David Eyre, still serves Mediterranean-leaning.
Signature: Bife Ana steak sandwich, Whatever is on the chalkboard
Order: The Bife Ana steak sandwich, on the menu since 1991, and a pint of bitter.
Tip: Walk-in only. The chalkboard menu rewrites every day at 12:00; the best dishes go by 14:00 on a busy lunch.
Mike Davies's gastropub on Camberwell Church Street in south London, opened 2014, runs a daily-changing seasonal menu and a famous family-style Sunday roast.
Signature: Sunday roast, Whole roast meats
Order: Sunday roast for four (booked in advance), or whatever whole-animal cut is on weeknight dinner.
Tip: Sunday lunch books a fortnight ahead and serves until they run out. The bar room takes walk-ins all evening.
Andrew Edmunds's candlelit Lexington Street bistro in Soho London, opened 1985 by the print-dealer Edmunds, still the city's preferred Soho dining-room.
Why locals love it: A candlelit Georgian townhouse bistro hidden between the Soho tourist circuit and Carnaby Street since 1985, established by Londoners and missed by visitors.
Tip: Bar seats at the front are released as walk-ins after 21:30. The handwritten daily menu does not appear online.
The Ritz Piccadilly dining room in Mayfair London, opened 1906 in Cesar Ritz's hotel, holds one Michelin star and runs classical French cooking.
Order: Sole Veronique or the Beef Wellington carved tableside, with the cheese trolley to close.
Tip: Afternoon tea in the Palm Court is the easier reservation; dinner books 8 weeks ahead with strict dress code.
More cities are in research. Want sticky toffee pudding covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.