Dessert consists of fresh poached peaches and homemade peach ice cream, with or without a classic Melba sauce.

Satisfying as these are, the best ending to a meal at Babbo is saffron pannacotta with poached peaches.

Even the poached peaches with pistachio ice cream were good.

The poached-pear dish served in the winter is changed to poached peach in the summer.

Ellie Erdman, who was sporting a designer jacket in a flattering shade of poached peach, said: "It cost the earth.

The sole disappointment was the rock-hard poached peaches.

Serve these poached peaches in big glasses, with poundcake or cookies.

The sampling included a poached fresh peach stuffed with macaroons soaked in amaretto, and a light cheesecake.

A poached peach came atop a little cake drenched in sabayon, accompanied by figs filled with raspberry and port wine ice cream.

For dessert, look for the fruit tarts of the day, which can be splendid, or the poached peach mired in a dense and concentrated zabaglione.