Serendipity 3

Serendipity 3
Entrance to Serendipity 3, in 2007.
Restaurant information
Established	1954
Current owner(s)	Stephen Bruce
Food type	Dessert, ice cream
Street address	225 East 60th Street
City	New York City
State	New York
Postal/ZIP code	10022
Country	United States
Other locations	501 East Camino Real, Boca Raton, Florida 33432
Website	http://www.serendipity3.com/

Serendipity 3, often written Serendipity III, is a restaurant located at 225 East 60th Street, between Second and Third avenues in New York City, founded by Stephen Bruce in 1954. The restaurant has been the scene of several films, including the 2001 romantic comedy Serendipity.

Serendipity was named after the three legendary princes of the island once known as Serendip (now Sri Lanka), from which the 18th century writer Sir Horace Walpole coined serendipity. Serendipity has been popular since the beginning. Marilyn Monroe frequently patronized the restaurant, Andy Warhol was a regular before he was well-known, and First Lady Jackie O was also a frequent guest and once even tried to buy the recipe for the Frrrozen Hot Chocolate for an event she was throwing. Stephen Bruce refused to give her the recipe though he did offer to come and make the frozen drink for her party himself. The recipe can now be found in Sweet Serendipity, a book of recipes and history sold in the general store located inside the restaurant.

In 2004, Serendipity celebrated its fiftieth anniversary by introducing the record-breaking Golden Opulence Sundae, listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most expensive dessert, at $1000. It is made with 5 scoops of the Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream, Madagascar vanilla covered in 23K edible gold leaf, drizzled with the world's most expensive chocolate, Amedei Porcelana, and covered with chunks of Chuao chocolate, which is from cocoa beans harvested by the Caribbean Sea on Venezuela's coast. It is suffused with exotic candied fruits from Paris, gold dragées, truffles and Marzipan Cherries and topped with a tiny glass bowl of Grand Passion Caviar, an exclusive dessert caviar, made of salt-free American Golden caviar, known for its sparkling golden color. It is sweetened and infused with passion fruit, orange, and Armagnac. The sundae is served in a baccarat Harcourt crystal goblet with an 18K gold spoon, a petite mother of pearl spoon, and topped with a gilded sugar flower by Ron Ben-Israel.