Calling all Sex and the City fans and dessert lovers!
The one and only Magnolia Bakery has officially crossed the pond and touched down in the UK.
New York’s most iconic bakery, which featured in the hit HBO show, has landed in London for a limited-time pop-up at Café Ciel at The OWO.
Hidden in the hotel’s stunning courtyard, the pop-up features the brand’s famous banana pudding, as well as an exclusive new version inspired by a British classic – sticky toffee pudding.
And there are a few other treats to enjoy, all inspired by favourites from the USA.
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What can you get from Magnolia Bakery in the UK?
The takeaway menu features the two puddings (£6.50 for a regular and £9.50 for a large), as well as the option to add pudding to your choice of an iced matcha latte (£11) or an iced latte (£8).
For those unfamiliar with the banana pudding, it’s a creamy dessert that combines fresh bananas, vanilla wafers, and vanilla pudding made with sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream and a vanilla pudding mix.
The new sticky toffee pudding features sticky date cake, a custard and cream base, chopped dates and a rich butterscotch sauce.
Those dining in at Café Ciel will also be able to order several brunch options, including banoffee French toast (£20), a cinnamon swirl pancake (£18), and a carrot lox bagel (£18).
To wash the whole thing down, there’s a special banana cream cocktail (£17) made with banana-infused rum, banana liqueur, and homemade vanilla syrup, as well as a sticky toffee affogato (£8).
Is it worth the hype?
It’s been 30 years since Magnolia Bakery first launched, and over the last three decades, it has garnered a huge cult following in the US and around the world.
This is partly due to its brief appearance in Sex and the City (season 3, episode 5), which saw Carrie and Miranda eating pink-frosted cupcakes outside the bakery’s West Village location in New York.
The bakery has also featured in numerous other films and TV shows over the years, such as The Devil Wears Prada, To All the Boys, and Veronica Mars.
People queue for an hour to get their hands on the pudding, cakes, cookies, and brownies, and online, the food has been hailed as ‘amazing’, ‘absolutely delicious’, and ‘phenomenal’.
Actress Kristin Chenoweth even once proclaimed the banana pudding the ‘best in the world’ in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
But is it worth the hype? I went along to the launch of the pop-up to find out once and for all.
Having been raised on American TV shows, I was very eager to finally try the famous pudding, and while I’m not normally a big fan of banana-flavoured things, I can totally see why people love this stuff so much.
It’s by no means the best or most innovative dessert I’ve ever tried, but it’s fun, flavourful, and nostalgic. It feels like the kind of thing you’d request for pudding as a child – think Angel Delight on steroids.
The banana was incredibly fresh and gave the pudding a much-needed lightness to balance out all the cream and sugar, and I really liked the different textures with the vanilla wafers (somewhere between a cake and a cookie) and the chunks of fruit.
It definitely lived up to the hype, but I’m not sure the same can be said for the sticky toffee version.
Can’t decide what to order at Magnolia Bakery?
Manolia Bakery’s chief brand and baking officer, Bobbie Lloyd, was at the launch event and shared her favourite item on the menu: the Sticky Toffee Affogato.
This sees a scoop of the sticky toffee pudding served with a shot of espresso.
Top tip: This item is only available inside the cafe, and not at the takeaway kiosk. To ensure you get to try it, you’ll want to make a reservation.
And as a bonus, dine-in guests are guaranteed to get their hands on the puddings. Whereas the quantities for takeaway are limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis.
While it had most of the components of the classic British dessert, I struggled to detect one key element… the sweet, buttery toffee sauce.
Supposedly, the recipe does contain a rich butterscotch sauce, but I just couldn’t taste it. The dates and warming spices overwhelmed the pudding,and the overall flavour was more akin to carrot cake than STP.
Now, this isn’t to say it was bad, per se, just not what I’d expected.
It would have benefited from being a little sweeter. Had there been an extra drizzle of toffee sauce on top, this might have hit the spot for me.
Will you be trying Magnolia Bakery in the UK?
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As for the drinks, I gave the iced matcha with banana pudding a try and feel like I need to share a little PSA for all the girlies going: it’s STRONG.
If you’re used to Blank Street or Starbucks matchas, mixed with sugary syrups, it might be helpful to know that there’s none of that here.
All the sweetness comes from the pudding on top, and the drink itself is very bitter, with a strong, savoury, umami flavour.
It’s clearly a high-quality matcha, but if you’re not a fan of the green tea powder, it’s probably not going to be for you.
Café Ciel x Magnolia Bakery is available now at The OWO, until June 10.
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