This year’s travels included the Scottish Highlands, Glasgow, Edinburgh, northern and southern Italy, and a quick stop in Istanbul on the way home – and I tasted as many delicious desserts as I did savoury dishes.
Highlights included lots of tasty traditional torte in Italy, some indulgent chocolate and alcohol combos in Scotland, a classic Venetian dessert cocktail and a deconstructed baklava in Istanbul – as well as a few impressive cheese courses along the way. Here are the best desserts from around the world I had this year. You’ll find my pick of the best savoury dishes for 2026 here.
Chocolate Bar with Guinness Ice Cream Eleven Fifty Five (Glasgow, Scotland)
Eleven Fifty Five (previously The Gannet) is among Glasgow’s best restaurants for sweet and savoury dishes. When I visited in March, Peter McKenna was channelling his Irish heritage with a superb – and decadent – ‘chocolate bar’ of mousse and caramel coated in dark couverture chocolate with Guinness ice cream and praline crumble. Kevin Dow’s choice of the Maury Grenat fortified grenache with it was an inspired wine pairing too.
Chocolate & Whisky Tart Pennan Inn (Pennan, Scotland)
I’ve loved the hamlet of Pennan – a single row of whitewashed cottages pressed between a steep green cliff and the sea – for over 35 years. Today just eight people call it home, but thanks to chef Peter Simpson it still has its pub which is worth a serious detour. I concluded an excellent meal of local seafood there with a dark chocolate and whisky tart with honeycomb, Chantilly cream and a sprinkling of sea salt – chocolatey, salty, yummy!
Rice Pudding Barry Fish (Edinburgh, Scotland)
Barry Bryson’s recently opened Leith restaurant has already won accolades as one of the best restaurants in Edinburgh – and his seafood dishes are especially outstanding. One of the best desserts I had around the world this year was his comforting, vanilla-flecked rice pudding with rhubarb and heather honey – easily the best rice pudding I’ve ever had. The wine match of Stella Bella pink moscato from Margaret River rounded it off beautifully.
Tiramisu Salumeria Roscioli (Rome, Italy)
I think I’ve found Italy’s best tiramisu. Although it originated just outside Venice, tiramisu is now Italy’s most ubiquitous dessert. It appears on menus from Sicily to the Alps and I’ve eaten a lot of it in my travels. Without a doubt the best I’ve had is this monogrammed version at Roscioli in Rome. It followed a big dinner where I thought I couldn’t fit in another bite, yet found myself going back for ‘just one more spoonful’ until the bowl was empty!
Pannacotta with Cherry Conserve Elena Fucci (Barile, Italy)
Elena Fucci is one of Italy’s most exciting winemakers and I love visiting her among her vineyards – the highest in the Aglianico del Vulture appellation of Basilicata. Recently, on my southern Italian tour, we had a wine tasting over lunch which finished with this delicate, fresh, perfectly textured pannacotta. It’s surprising perhaps that something so simple is so memorable, as this was – especially with a glass of Elena’s excellent vermouth.
Deconstructed Baklava Efendy (Istanbul, Türkiye)
I couldn’t visit Türkiye without eating baklava, and Somer Sivrioğlu’s deconstructed version was perfect in taste and texture. Somer layers dark shards of pastry (which he calls baklava crisps) with pistachio cream and croccante then adds a scoop of ice cream made from kaymak (clotted cream) topped with a drizzle of honey, olive oil, sumac and a tiny touch of salt. So light and so good.
Lemon & Almond Tart Monte di Grazia Winery (Tramonti, Italy)
I had a lunch and wine tasting at this agriturismo high in the Lattari Mountains above Amalfi – in Tramonti, the region’s most prestigious wine area. Olivia and her parents Alfonso and Anna served traditional dishes using produce from their farm. The star was this torta mandorle e limone made with Amalfi’s famed Sfusato Amalfitano lemons. It was so good I asked for the recipe, so expect to see it on the website soon.
Migliaccio Trattoria del Local (Venice, Italy)
Trattoria del Local, casual sibling to Michelin-starred Local, is one of Venice’s best restaurants in my opinion. It’s warm, inviting and unpretentious with delicious food and drinks. Alongside Venetian classics, there’s often something new to discover – like this semolina-based Neapolitan cake that’s traditional at Carnevale and Easter. The ricotta makes it super light and the candied citrus peel gives it a wonderful zing.
Sbrisolona Trattoria La Torre (Valpolicella, Italy)
This elegant trattoria – in the cellar of a 13th-century church in the heart of Valpolicella wine country – offers classic Veronese dishes, from risotto all’Amarone to bigoli with duck ragù. On my last visit, my favourite dish was the traditional ‘crumbly cake’ that’s also popular in neighbouring Lombardy. On its own sbrisolona can be a touch dry, but here it was layered with a rich pastry cream so each bite was a little crunchy, a little creamy and totally moreish.
Apple Pie Trattoria dai Tomasi (Verona, Italy)
In a rustic trattoria, in a small town just outside Verona, I had this outstanding apple pie – though it sounds better in Italian as torta di mele. The very thin crumbly shell was packed with slices of juicy local apples with just enough custard to hold it all together. The top was nicely browned and, especially when combined with another dessert of amarene-topped gelato – it was heaven!
Sgroppino Vini da Gigio (Venice, Italy)
I had heard that the classic Prosecco cocktail sgroppino was sometimes served as a dessert in the Veneto, but had never come across it that way until this year. I’ve been eating at Vini da Gigio in Cannaregio for years, and this April was delighted to see Sgroppino on the dessert menu. A refreshing ‘adult slushie’ of lemon gelato, Prosecco and vodka, it was the perfect finish to a meal of fresh lagoon seafood.
Gorgonzola Semifreddo with Pear Trattoria Anzolo Raffaele (Venice, Italy)
This pretty Gorgonzola semifreddo topped with pear conserve – halfway between a dessert and a cheese course – is one of the best things I’ve ever eaten. I had it one night at a casual restaurant in residential Dorsoduro. The sweet pear conserve balanced the sharp blue cheese beautifully and the bite of pink peppercorns and crunch of meringue flecks added the final flourish. Definitely one of the best desserts from around the world for 2026.
Tunworth with Date Pudding 111 by Modou (Glasgow, Scotland)
At this small restaurant in Glasgow’s fashionable West End, Senegalese-born Modou Diagne serves a 10-course feast of innovative fare from a tiny open kitchen. It’s a fun way to dine, trying so many different flavour combinations. The most impressive dish of a recent dinner here was this clever cheese course of camembert-style Tunworth (one of Britain’s finest artisanal cheeses) baked on top of a dense date pudding and drizzled with honey.
Carrello dei Formaggi Locanda Aurilia (Padua, Italy)
I love a good cheese trolley – or carrello dei formaggi as the Italians say – and my favourites have always been in Switzerland. This year, though, I found one at an unassuming family trattoria just outside Padua, with a great selection of hard Alpine cheeses, blues of varying sharpness, a few white moulds and some delicious goat cheeses – the kind of trolley that gives the Swiss a real run for their money.
Published 17 Jul 2026
