Muggles and Wizards alike may find themselves thirsty and hungry after fighting Dementors and giant spiders and flying on a Hippogriff.
Luckily for them, the perfect refreshment can be found at The Three Broomsticks, a restaurant in Harry Potter’s Wizarding World found in Universal Studios in Hollywood California.
Butterbeer was first mentioned in the third Harry Potter book, “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” as a butterscotch flavored beer that had a slight alcohol content and would cost two sickles.
However, to us Muggles in Los Angeles, the drink is non-alcoholic and will run eight dollars.
The drink can be frozen or cold and in a plastic cup or a special mug. The mug version will cost an additional eight dollars.
The non-frozen drink is worth the price of admission and parking at Universal. It is only cream soda with a nitro infused butterscotch-flavored whipped cream and its greatness is found in its simplicity. The two flavors work so well together and the whipped cream calms the bite of the carbonation from the soda. It is a must-try-before-you-die kind of drink.
The frozen version, while still good, was a pain. The flavors were there, however, the melted parts and the whipped cream would slide down the mug too fast leaving the frozen bits. That happens with almost every frozen drink so it’s expected, but given the choice, the regular butterbeer is the absolute way to go.
The restaurant carries a menu that is inspired by British pub foods and things that Americans would imagine when they hear “what do you think they ate in the Harry Potter movies?”
Shepard’s pie, fish and chips, English sausage, and chicken and ribs are the main entrees. Muggles can also dabble in deserts such as butterbeer ice cream and sticky toffee pudding bread.
Also found on the menu are two draft beers based on the movies and novels, Hog’s Head Brew and Dragon Scale to take the edge off of the PTSD from a giant Dementor screaming at you as you are trapped in a thrill ride in a dark room.
The shepard’s pie comes with a simple salad and a vinaigrette. The pie features ground beef and vegetables with flambéed mashed potatoes resting on top.
The crusty and stale part of the pie left a lot to be desired. It had little to no flavor and tasted like it had been sitting out for a few hours, however, after getting past that, the mashed potatoes and ground beef was extremely delicious. Even if the portion was small. The side salad was nondescript and could have been confused for a salad made by an overworked McDonald’s grill cook.
The sticky toffee bread pudding is a perfect desert, depending on where you’re from. It tasted as if an American bakery chef was hosting his British friends and wanted to impress them with knowledge of British flavors.
The bread pudding/cupcake/muffin-thing is topped with butterscotch syrup, butterscotch chips, toffee bits, a scoop of vanilla ice cream and features a gooey toffee center.
The whole thing screams “American gluttony.”
And it was delicious.
The atmosphere in the restaurant really immerses people in the world of Harry Potter. While it can be a bit jarring to see children chicken tenders with french fries, it is the closest thing Potterheads will get to drinking a cold one with Harry, Ron and Hermoine.
