The weekly gather #4: restaurants with no dessert, why people hate on burrata, and yay for dark chocolate

Why do people hate on certain foods?

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What do we think of restaurants that don’t serve dessert? I ask because I’m someone who plans a meal backwards from the puddings. I like to know what's waiting for me at the end … should I restrain myself a bit at the start in order to go full glutton in the home straight? But this week I went to Thai restaurant Singburi, newly relocated to London’s Shoreditch after a long cult run in Leyton, and discovered, with mild disbelief, that there were no puddings at all. Zero.

The menu was glorious: hot, spicy, punchy. I'm still thinking about the raw larb, served with crunchy cabbage and cool chunks of cucumber. The grilled lamb short rib was fudge-soft and slick with sticky chilli and lime, which made me abandon my manners and snitch from other people’s plates. I'm going to take my husband soon it was so brilliant. But no dessert? Not even a scoop of ice cream? A morsel of something sticky with coconut milk? I’m worried that this is a Thing now, a new trend where pudding is passé or, God forbid, Ozempic-styled? Tell me this isn’t happening.

Speaking of restraint (or lack of it), a couple of recent food pieces had me shouting at my laptop, provocative for the sake of it, possibly dreamed up in a panic when the idea cupboard was bare. First there was The Atlantic declaring that wraps aren’t simply bad or overrated but awful. “A worst-of-all-worlds Frankenstein’s monster,” it hyperventilated, “an indistinguishable food slurry wrapped in edible cardboard.” Either the author has only ever eaten petrol station chicken Caesar, or they’re struggling this week. It’s kind of like writing off all sandwiches based on a soggy Egg & Cress in a box from the 24-hour garage.

Burrata’s had a kicking too, for being bland and ubiquitous, which feels a bit like sneering at sunshine for being too bright. It’s mozzarella filled with cream, for heaven’s sake. Good burrata, paired with ripe tomatoes or charred peaches, is the kind of dish that can make a person lick the plate. Have food writers run out of things to say? Or is this just what happens when food gets popular, the inevitable sneer once the masses get involved? In riposte to the burrata haters, here’s here’s a glorious recipe starring burrata from the fabulous

Flavour Nuggets

.

One thing I am enjoying this week is Genius Gut by

Dr Emily Leeming PhD

, out soon in paperback (July 24, Penguin, £14.75). It’s refreshingly readable and full of clever little nudges for eating better without being self-flagellant. I especially liked the bit about 85% dark chocolate, which is brilliant for your gut thanks to its (surprisingly high) fibre, polyphenols and brain-boosting theobromine content. The problem, of course, is that it doesn’t taste like Cadbury’s Dairy Milk so many people find it a bit punchy. But Leeming suggests some clever ways to tame the bitterness and make it something you actually want to eat, not just for the sake of your microbiome.

Have a good rest of your week!