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Best Welsh rarebit in New York

“A jocular name for a dish that contains no rabbit, first recorded in 1725.”

Welsh rarebit

What the real thing tastes like

Welsh rarebit, also spelled Welsh rabbit, is a dish of hot cheese sauce, often including ale, mustard, or Worcestershire sauce, served on toasted bread. The origins of the name are unknown, though the earliest recorded use is 1725 as "Welsh rabbit", a jocular name as the dish contains no rabbit; the earliest documented use of "Welsh rarebit" is in 1781. Though there is no strong evidence that the dish originated in Welsh cuisine, it is sometimes identified with the Welsh dish caws pobi, documented in the 1500s.

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Welsh rarebit is a warming dish of melted cheese sauce—often spiked with ale, mustard, or Worcestershire—poured over thick toasted bread. The name itself is a joke that stuck: the earliest records from 1725 call it 'Welsh rabbit' despite containing no rabbit whatsoever. Though its true origins remain murky, some trace it back to the Welsh caws pobi, a cheese dish documented as far back as the 1500s.

Order it here when it has

  • storied naming history
  • flexible flavor profile
  • documented heritage

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