London’s Best Gourmet Ice Creams To Cool You Down
The hottest new must-have accessory for London is distinctly on the cool side – Ice cream. It’s always been an essential feature of London summers, but mainly acquired from tourist spots on Oxford Street and vans taking advantage of heat-stricken locals by charging £4 for a 99. And with this heat wave proving itself permanent, there’s no better time than to tell everyone the best spots.
Instagram is now full of swirling, colourful mountains of whip. Gone are the days when the only choice was which syrup you wanted on top of vanilla; once London’s restlessly creative culinary minds start sinking their teeth into an idea, a host of weird and wonderful flavours inevitably pops up.
Bake Street, the North London cafe, has been experimenting with soft serve for years, while spots like Jenki have taken things up a notch. On the gelato side, Koya and Chunks Provisions take their ice cream extremely seriously; meanwhile, Ria’s has pushed its chips all in, with their soft serve hero. Cooling down has never been this gourmet.
Chunk Provisions
Chunk, for lack of better words, is gorgeous. A gelato shop in Leyton, it’s got classic flavours alongside some more experimental cheffy stuff like black sesame and soy or Earl Grey.
Where: Arch 151 Tilbury Rd, London E10 6RE
Website: www.chunkprovisions.slerp.com
JENKI
London’s matcha specialists have entered soft serve season. Available across JENKI’s London bars, the new Matcha Soft Serve blends rich Jersey dairy ice cream with the brand’s signature ceremonial-grade matcha for a smooth, intensely earthy swirl. You can customise it with strawberry and elderflower coulis, mango and lime coulis, or an extra shot of matcha if you really want to lean into the green.
Where: across london
Website: www.jenki.co.uk
The Real Fruit Ice Cream Co.
The Real Fruit Ice Cream Co. pops up all over London in the summer months and makes their ice cream from, you guessed it, real fruit. It’s a healthier soft serve, naturally sweetened and probably the most refreshing of the bunch.
Where: pop-ups around London
Website: www.therealfruiticecreamco.com
Khao Bird
Khao Bird, after opening just last year, is now parent to an already famous ice cream dish different to any other one present on this list. This deep-fried boa with Bermondsey ice cream (either cinnamon or coconut chocolate chip) is served warm and gone in minutes. Sugary, although light and the perfect way to end one of my favourite meals in Soho.
Where: 24 Brewer Street, Soho, London
Website: www.khaobird.com
Koya
While you may have already heard of Koya by way of their infamous udon, did you also know that they have some highly innovative ice creams on the menu? Roasted green tea with azuki beans, vegan chocolate sorbet with puffed rice and nutty kinako with sweet kuromitsu syrup with a creamy texture made for the Gods. Plus, cold udon.
Where: multiple locations
Website: www.koya.co.uk
Ria’s
Ria’s, in all its deep dish pizza glory, is another soft serving ice cream spot. Their vanilla soft serve, already perfect as is, comes with add-ons. Currently, you can chuck on a deep-fried Mars bar or a shot of Amero digestif, or olive oil and sea salt, or butterscotch sauce… or all of the above.
Where: notting hill & soho
Website: www.rias.soho
Kith
Kith on Regent’s Street is turning our favourite cereals into swirls with everything from Cinnamon Toast Crunch to Frosted Flakes with cookies and sprinkles to top. This one’s for a real cheat day.
Where: 314 Regent St., London W1B 3BL, United Kingdom
Website: www.uk.kith.com
British Patagonia
British Patagonia is a bit of a show-off, can’t lie, but that’s not without good reason. Perfect, fluffy swirled cones with Tiramisu or croissant cones. It’s a visual masterpiece.
Where: 178 Upper St, London N1 1RG
Website:
The Creamery
Ice cream gets a luxury makeover at The Creamery at Coworth Park. The new artisan ice cream cart serves small-batch ice creams and sorbets made on site by executive chef Adam Smith, with flavours ranging from roasted pistachio and lemon meringue pie to more adventurous combinations like black truffle with Jersey Gold milk and vanilla, and goat’s cheese with fig and balsamic. Set beside the Rose Lawn Bar, it’s a delicious excuse for a countryside day trip this summer.
Where: Blacknest Road, Sunningdale, Ascot, SL5 7SE
Rambutan
This Sri Lankan spot in Borough is one of London’s absolute gems, and its ice cream is worth the trip by itself. They like to mix it up depending on what’s in season, and right now they’ve got two showstopping flavours – alphonso mango with kithul, and lemongrass and lime.
Where: 10 Stoney St, London SE1 9AD
Website: rambutanlondon.com
Bake Street
This Stoke Newington cafe knows how to keep its customers cool this summer, offering a range of inventive artisanal soft serve flavours. Expect purple lychee, butterscotch, guava and blueberry, roasted banana, and kesar mango.
where: 58 Evering Rd, Lower Clapton, London N16 7SR
