A different kind of midnight munchies

Keeping punters sweet: Kat Butterfield, left, and her Butterfingers business partner, Nadja Awad

10 April 2012

In the corner of one of east London's coolest clubs everybody is queuing up to get a slice of the most popular girl there.

But she's neither dancing like a dervish nor wearing a low-cut top.

Instead, she's standing behind a floral tablecloth and a blur of bunting, dishing out garishly coloured cupcakes on chintzy china plates.

To onlookers, it may seem as if Chris Morris's Nineties "cake" spoof has been brought to life. But the clubbers aren't wolfing down the calorific confectionery because it contains secret narcotic ingredients.

It's just that these dainty-looking cakes offer a tastier, more interesting alternative to the glutinous splodge of mayo-slathered doner 'n' chips that may greet them on the way home.

Butterfingers, the company behind the village fête stall, is the brainchild of Kat Butterfield, a 28-year-old from Dalston.

By day she's a physiotherapist. Come twilight, she's packing her home-baked cakes into Tupperware, to sell them in trendy East End clubs for £2 a go.

And she's not the only one. Across the capital, entrepreneurs are capitalising on a neglected area of the dining scene.

From club-caterers to glitzy diners, late-night eating in the capital is being transformed: worse-for-wear night owls are as likely to go home with brownies in their stomachs as a dodgy hot-dog.

Described by Kat as "the WI for a new generation", Butterfingers began 18 months ago.

After a spell manning an "unlicensed guerrilla market stall" in London Fields, Kat began hawking cakes at evening jumble sales at Bethnal Green Working Men's Club and club nights such as Loose and Butterfly Nights.

But do people really fancy saccharine foodstuffs after pumping their bellies full of booze?

"Alcohol and cake is a great combination," says Kat. "The sponge is good for soaking up your hangover, while the icing gives you the best sugar rush."

Furthering this Battenberg bacchanalia are west London tea merchants, Betty Blythe. Over the past year, they've augmented the brand to bring "pop-up chill-out tea rooms" to clubs, festivals and private parties.

"We set tables up and play music from a bygone era while women dressed in Twenties outfits serve you cakes and scones," says 30-year-old founder Lulu Gwynne.

Betty Blythe is currently offering Midnight Feasts (think finger sandwiches, scones etc) at its Brook Green shop (www.bettyblythe.co.uk) for £15.50 a head.

So far, so twee. But there are times when only stodgy comfort food will do. Enter Bob Bob Ricard (www.bobbobricard.com), a deluxe diner in Soho (1-3 Upper James Street).

Launched last December, the eatery has intrigued customers with a Belle Epoque railway car interior and champagne buzzers at every table.

But more noteworthy than that is BBR's eclectic all-day menu, served from 7am until 1am, ranging from Chateaubriand (£29.50) and caviar (£25) to Frosties cornflakes (£3.25) and Ritz crackers with Dairylea triangles (£5.50).

The paucity of restaurants open in London beyond 11pm was responsible for BBR's creation.

"In Moscow or New York you can get whatever food you want at whatever time of day," says the diner's Russian co-owner, Leonid Shutov. "It seemed bizarre that in such a major metropolis you couldn't do that."

Of course, lavish round-the-clock dining is nothing new - Vingt Quatre (formerly Up All Night) on Fulham Road has been dishing up champagne breakfasts 24/7 for years. But gradually, places are cropping up to accommodate discerning post-pub stragglers.

The Bermondsey Square Hotel (www.bermondsey squarehotel.co.uk) recently launched its Alfie's With Chips, offering combos such as £14 lobster-with-chips in the witching hour.

Street food has also had to up its game. Earlier this year, Freggo, an Argentinian ice-cream parlour, opened on Swallow Street (www.freggo.co.uk) serving Malbec milkshakes (£6.95) and empanadas (£2.50) until 2am.

And if a hankering for hot-dogs must be sated, head for Clerkenwell's Kurz & Lang (www.kurzandlang.com, Fri 11am-Sun 7am non-stop), where bratwurst is £3.90 a throw.

Late-night food in London isn't perfect yet but the tide is turning.

As Kat says: "It's not just about kebabs any more - people genuinely do want something different to eat late at night. It's all about finding that niche."

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MIDNIGHT MASTERS — LATE-SUPPER LEGENDS

Bar Italia
22 Frith Street, W1, www.baritaliasoho.co.uk, open 24 hours daily
Formica-fitted coffee bar immortalised in 1995 Pulp track and celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

Brick Lane Beigel Bake
159 Brick Lane, E1, open 24 hours daily
Cabbies, exotically attired clubbers and, in 2001, Mariah Carey, all line up for warm bagels and salt beef sandwiches at this venerable East End trouper.

Maison Touareg
23-24 Greek Street, W1, www.maisontouareg.co.uk, open until 3am
Vibrant subterranean Moroccan hideaway, with North African fare, belly dancing and hookah pipes.

Marathon Kebab Shop
87 Chalk Farm Road, NW1, 020 7485 3814, open until 2am Mon-Thurs, 3am Fri and Sat
The paper bag-cloaked beer cans and impromptu jazz sets give the place an illicit, speakeasy ambience but it still attracts celebs from Winehouse to the White Stripes.

Old Compton Street
Soho, W1
Take your pick from perma-busy establishments such as Balans (www.balans.co.uk, open until 5am Mon-Thurs, 6am Fri-Sat, 2am Sun) or Café Bohème (www.cafeboheme.co.uk, food served until 2.45am Mon-Sat).

Ranoush
43 Edgware Road, W2, www.maroush.com, open until 3am
Reliable Edgware Road outpost dishes up mezze and shawarma until postmen start their shifts. No alcohol but there's a juice bar at the back.

Tinseltown
44-46 St John Street, EC1, www.tinseltown.co.uk, open until 5am
Mon-Thurs, 4am Fri-Sat and 3am Sun
Hollywood-themed diner and milkshake bar which acts as a refuge for insomniacs, emergency service workers and bleary-eyed clubbers waiting for the first Tube home.

A different kind of midnight munchies

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