A recent encounter with bad bread pudding at a good restaurant raised the question: If a good restaurant can’t make it, who can? And so started a weeks-long search for this city’s best bread pudding.

Whether you stand firm on the side of the Euro version of the dessert or whether you like yours swimming in sweet sauce like they serve it in the South, let’s face it: There are good and bad of both varieties. Hand-held, sliceable pudding shouldn’t be so dry that it leaves you begging for a side order of anything with more moisture than croutons. And the spoonable stuff shouldn’t be so soggy that you wonder when they stopped using bread in bread pudding.

A semi-intensive scouring of dessert menus around the island yielded plates of every kind of pudding–some of them good, some of themÖwell, some of them the catalyst for the search. Here are our fave five–by no means a complete list of good pudding, but we made sure to leave out the bad ones.

Southern, with a twist

On the off chance that a visit to Murphy’s Bar and Grill isn’t just for a pint and a go on the shuffleboard, save room for dessert. The pub’s mostly Southern version ($4.25) comes topped with caramel sauce and vanilla gelato. Sure, the gelato is a deviation from the traditional whiskey sauce, but it’s a cool companion to the warm dish that’s rich with nutmeg and raisins and is perfectly moist–you’ll need a spoon, but the chunks of bread surrounded by smooth, sweet custard are still distinguishable. When the gelato melts and forms a pool of creamy vanilla in which the pudding can nest, there’s no reason to lament the absence of a vanilla sauce.

Murphy’s Bar and Grill, 2 Merchant St., bread pudding is only available during dinner hours, Mon.-Sat. 5-10pm, Sun., 5-9pm, 5 531-0422, [gomurphys.com]

European, with a twist

Diamond Head Market and Grill does just about everything right. Add bread pudding to the list. Shelved among the cakes-by-the-slice, the craisin almond and chocolate chip varieties of bread pudding ($3.50) come naked and cold–just like they do in Europe. Resist the urge to nuke the pudding, or to drench it with a sauce. These squares are meant to be left alone. All the richness that is usually saved for the sauce is instead incorporated into the pudding itself creating an almost astonishing blend of rich, sweet, cool and smooth. How does stale bread become something so full-flavored? The craisins provide the old-world touch that dried fruit does in more traditional recipes and the chocolate chip version is a decadent aberration that just might win over the purest of purists.

Diamond Head Market and Grill, 3158 Monsarrat Ave., open daily 7:30am-9pm, 732-0077, [diamonheadmarket.com]

Pure pudding, no surprises

When it comes to tradition, Agnes’ Portuguese Bake Shop is the torchbearer. In a world where malassadas are fluffy and filled, the folks at Agnes’ toe the line with their dense balls of deep-fried dough that could just as well be fresh from a kiosk in the Azores. The same principal applies to the Kailua bakery’s bread pudding ($1.29). More like a dense dessert bar than pudding, the bakery adheres strictly to the bread-custard-fruit code. There’s nothing fancy here. No updated version of the British classic. No sauces (though it does come topped with a crunchy brown sugar and butter layer). Not much height–it comes flatter than embellished American versions. Just good, solid bread, eggs, milk and raisins baked until firm. Slice and eat. No utensils required.

Agnes’ Portuguese Bake Shop, 46 Ho’olai St., Kailua, Tue.-Sat. 6am-6pm, Sun. 6am-2pm, closed Monday, 262-5367, [agnesbakeshop.com].

Puddin’, N’awlins style

Kaka’ako Kitchen’s version ($3.75) is a pudding lover’s bread pudding. More pudding than bread, the extra soft squares come swimming in a thick, warm vanilla bean sauce. Sans fruit or nuts, it’s pure bread and custard that doesn’t even try to hold its shape on a plate. This is Southern-style bowl fare–the ultimate in comfort food. As far as nostalgic eating goes, Kaka’ako’s take on the dessert is the closest to the home-cooked stuff that most people are used to. It’s gloriously unrefined–a heap of spiced, soft bread smothered in sweet vanilla sauce that’s not trying to be something so finciky as a crme anglais.

Kaka’ako Kitchen, Ward Centre, 1200 Ala Moana Blvd., Mon.-Sat. 7am-9pm, Sun. 7am-5pm, 596-7488.

The best of both worlds

Grand Cafe and Bakery is this town’s great bread pudding equalizer. A balanced blend of old-world and new, its gigantic squares–they’re about five inches high–of blueberry bread pudding break a few rules and keep others. The result: a satisfying dish that works for everyone. Like it dense and sturdy, hold the sauce? Grab a fork and dig in. Like it sauce-softened and custardy? Grab a spoon. The restaurant’s version ($4.95) can go both ways. Ask for it plain and you’ll get bread pudding with bite–a toothsome and not-too-sweet but much-larger-than-usual serving of simple, pure flavors. Get it embellished with a smooth crme anglais, fragrant with sweet vanilla and watch it go from classic to Southern comfort.

Grand Cafe and Bakery, 31 N. Pauahi St., Tue.-Fri 7am-1:30pm, Sat. & Sun. 8am-1pm, open for dinner Wed.-Sat. 5:15pm-8pm, closed Monday, 531-0001, [grandcafeandbakery.com].

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