One of my main gripes with London is the lack of 24 hour dining. Every time I travel abroad I marvel at the possibility of walking into a restaurant past midnight to enjoy a leisurely meal. In Seoul I joined other revellers for Korean pancakes and soju after leaving a club at 4am. In Paris, feeling peckish once the sun came up, I had croque-monsieur and a Bloody Mary in a cafe in the 5th arrondissement.
London just doesn’t have this perk, regardless of how many 24 hour licences have been introduced in a bid to catch some of the neighbouring countries’ café culture. That is, unless you count late night kebab shops and salt beef bagel eateries, not to mention over-priced delivery services that deliver posh microwave meals alongside cigarettes and alcohol should the munchies strike.
The concept behind Midnite Cookies is simple enough; they cater to the sweet-toothed by delivering a variety of cookies, brownies, milkshakes and ice creams from 7pm till 1am every night - “because it’s never too late for cookies” is their tagline. Sugar cravings that arise throughout the night can be sated thanks to farmhouse rum and raisin ice cream, banana milkshakes, or for the more health conscious, fresh fruit salads.
In April, the young couple behind this venture decided to expand their business and open a fully-fledged shop complete with seating area in Covent Garden. Being located in theatreland and right opposite the Lyceum means a steady flow of hard-working actors as well as students from the nearby LSE have been pouring in throughout the day for much needed sugar fixes.
The cookies, priced at £1.40, are the main draw of course. Flavours vary, however the peanut butter cookies - made with Reese’s peanut buttercups as opposed to standard peanut butter – are a firm favourite, along with double chocolate which is the cookie of choice amongst women.