Restaurants

Scoop dreams: the Capital's finest ice creams

Mr Whippy will have to come up with something more exciting than the jingle-jangle of ‘Greensleeves’ to get Londoners queuing for his ice cream. The city is fast acquiring a taste for real dairy ices made from the kind of fresh ingredients you’d find in the fridge at home, flavoured with the sort of gourmet treats that line the shelves of the finest food halls. Off the menu are the palm oil, stabilisers and artificial colourings incorporated into many mass-produced lines; in are organic milk, Sicilian pistachios, even 12-year-old balsamic vinegar.

For a prime example of our brave new below-zero world, visit the David Collins-designed ice cream parlour at Fortnum and Mason. Here for £9 you can feast on sundaes such as ‘the beekeeper’ – scoops of stem ginger with borage honey, macadamia nut brittle, and vanilla bean ice creams, all topped with Fortnum’s own honey and honeycomb chunks. There’s a choice of seven boozy ice cream cocktail sundaes for adults, plus a hot chocolate sauce made using Amedei, one of the finest brands from Tuscany.
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Trad vans face competition from waffle cones...

...and 'ice cream cocktails' at Morelli's

Clapham's tasy Macaron (above and below)

The kiddies’ menu starts at £4 for a two-scoop, two-flavour cornet, and £6 for a knickerbocker glory or banana split. Indulgent? Yes, but with quality dairy ingredients and fresh fruit, it’s the sort of treat parents are happy to fund in moderation; Fortnum and Mason even namechecks the farm that provides milk for the shakes.

Maybe if ice cream had always been like this here, the Brits would not have lagged so far behind other countries – even chilly Sweden – when it comes to per capita consumption. But take a look at the UK’s lowest-common-denominator legal parameters for ice cream manufacture and you can guess why. In order to be described as ice cream, a product only needs to have a minimum of five per cent fat – that’s usually vegetable fat such as palm or coconut oil – plus 7.5 per cent milk solids. If the product is made from milk fat with no type of fat added other than that naturally included in ingredients such as egg, it is entitled to be called ‘dairy ice cream’. You don’t need to understand the terminology to realise we’re not talking about recipes ripped off from Nigel Slater.

It’s not only compromising on ingredients that helps keep ‘economy’ ice creams profitable for the big producers, but the amount of air that is whipped into the mixture. This is why Häagen-Dazs and other American-inspired premium brands were such a lovely shock when first introduced to the UK; they are dense with real dairy products and egg yolk, not puffed up with nothingness. Oh, and in contrast to the ‘Neapolitan’ tubs that varied by colour more than flavour, many US brands seemed to have a kitchen cupboard’s worth of chunky flavourings thrown in (the latest from Ben & Jerry’s is 'Bohemian Raspberry', with fudgey chocolate brownies and raspberry sauce).

Appealingly luxurious as these may be, some people recoil from all that intensity of flavour and texture, preferring the traditionally lighter style of Italy’s gelato, made predominantly with milk and sometimes no cream at all. Not sure which you prefer? Well, you may just have to try a few to find out.

Gelato
Scoop tends to have a queue of customers snaking out the door, especially on Friday lunchtimes. We love the heady amaretto made with ground amaretti biscuits and almond liqueur, and pinolo, made with pine kernels from Pisa. Anyone on a special diet will be knocked out by the dairy-free ices made with rice and berries.At the bustling Morelli’s counter in Harrods, Gino Soldan presides over an ever-changing range of superb ices, some of which, such as the beautifully balanced honey and rosemary flavour, are inspired by customers’ requests for bespoke ice creams. Chocolate is always the best seller but for something different try the stunning rose and white chocolate, or Gino’s own favourite, the mango mojito ice cream cocktail (£10.50).

Oddono’s has a counter in Selfridges and a wagon on Oxford Street, plus its own South Ken outlet. Though inspired by an Italian nonna, the company produces a gorgeous cookies-and-cream flavour that gives a saucy wink to Oreos. Back in the mother country, the ricotta variety has a creamy taste quite different to vanilla, and the terrific hazelnut features crunchy whole toasted nuts.

Richmond’s Italian outpost Gelateria Danieli now has a foothold on Oxford Street too, with a kiosk on the pavement between John Lewis and House of Fraser. We particularly recommend its rum and raisin, which has a great boozy kick and toothsome whole fruit.

After a hot day at Camden Market, a gelato from Marine Ices undoubtedly does taste like the best in the world. You’ll also find their ice creams on sale at Regent’s Park and Kenwood, where the caterers try to support local producers.

At the bottom of Hampstead Heath, Marine Ices faces tough competition from Caffè Deli Paradiso. Tartufo, Sicilian lemon, and zuppa inglese are just some of the delicious flavours we’ve enjoyed here.

In Chelsea, glass-walled Gelateria Valerie has a similar bella, bella mood and flavours that evoke the tourist trail in Rome: Ferrero Rocher, amarena cherry, rum baba and mascarpone. They can also be found at Spitalfields.

If you’re on a quest for the best Italian ice cream in London, however, look out for products from Alba Gold. It supplies famous restaurant names who want you to think they can make ice cream this good, but distributes under its own brand too. You’ll find the little tubs in delis such as Tavola and Trinity Stores.

Best of British
At Hope & Greenwood the organic ice cream aims to corner the nostalgia market, coming in school-dinner flavours such as apple-and-blackberry crumble.

For Clapham pâtisserie Macaron ice creams such as bitter chocolate and caramel, and seed-studded passionfruit sorbet, are made locally by an artisanal producer, and sold in waffle cones to enjoy at the outdoor tables or on the common.

Those who holiday in Cornwall should have fond impressions of the Roskilly’s brand, which is certified organic. Its gooseberry and raspberry yoghurt ices have an appealing tartness. You’ll find them in Harvey Nichols Foodmarket.

September Organics’ excellent brown bread and elderflower ice creams can be found in health and gourmet stores such as Hand Made Food and Earth Natural Foods. At Mortimer and Bennett, Dan Mortimer favours ices from Alder Carr Farm in Suffolk, in countryside flavours such as damson, and stem ginger and rhubarb.

Also based in Suffolk is Criterion Ices, though the company was born of Italian parentage in a Sydenham ice cream parlour in the 1920s. You can find the entire range at Whole Foods Market. Vintage marmalade conceals a bitter orange kick amid its rich double cream ice cream, while the cinnamon and honey variety is pleasingly subtle.

Minghella’s, from the Isle of Wight, has Italian heritage but uses milk and cream from the island. Flavours such as strawberry and balsamic vinegar, and ‘Chilli Chilli Chocolate’ are sold by the scoop at south-east Asian deli-café See. In Japanese stores around town, keep an eye out for tubs of their black sesame and matcha (green tea) ice creams.

When out in London’s parks, it’s worth forgoing the sweet foam of the kiosks and heading into the café-restaurants to see what can be bought by the takeaway tub. Inn The Park offers the Jude’s brand: we particularly like the heady vanilla, and butterscotch with crunchy toffee pieces.

It would be great to see parks and other outdoor spaces offering more quality-orientated options such as the Green Iscream trike which stands six days a week on Islington Green – the ices are all made at home by co-founder Judith Boardman using organic ingredients. While ice cream van operators may not be keen to downsize their vehicles to tricycles, this new venture does provide a thought-provoking new take on the vans’ oft-used slogan ‘freshly made for you’.

Top of the chocs
Green & Black’s
The newest flavours in this reliable range are white chocolate with raspberry swirls (good for a supper party) and vanilla with choc sauce.
www.greenandblacks.com

Gü
This gelato-style range includes a pleasingly chewy chocolate with fudgey chocolate sauce swirls.
www.gupuds.com

La Maison du Chocolat
Skip the ice cream and opt instead for dark chocolate sorbet. The dark chocolate and lemon variety is fab.
45-46 Piccadilly, W1 (020 7287 8500).

Neuhaus
One of Belgium’s best chocolatiers has opened in Duke of York Square. Their chocolate ice is deliciously dark and clean-tasting.
71 Duke of York Square, SW3 (020 7730 9208).

Paul A Young
Heaven in a cup: 70 per cent dark chocolate ice cream swirled with sea-salted caramel and topped with molten chocolate that hardens like Ice Magic for grown-ups. Young’s white chocolate and rose masala ice cream is also superb.
35 Camden Passage, N1 (020 7424 5750).

William Curley
The dark chocolate ice cream, made with Valrhona’s Manjari couverture is the best, though there’s an interesting choice of Japanese flavours too.
10 Paved Court, Richmond, TW9 (020 8332 3002).

Where to buy
Caffè Deli Paradiso
109 Highgate West Hill, N6 (020 8340 7818).
Earth Natural Foods
200 Kentish Town Rd, NW5 (020 7482 2211).
Fortnum and Mason
181 Piccadilly, W1 (020 7734 8040).
Gelateria Danieli
16 Brewers Lane, Richmond, TW9 (020 8439 9807).
Gelateria Valerie
Duke of York Square, SW3 (020 7730 7978).
Hand Made Food
40 Tranquil Vale, SE3 (020 8297 9966).
Harvey Nichols Foodmarket
109 Knightsbridge, SW1 (020 7235 5250).
Hope & Greenwood
20 North Cross Rd, SE22 (020 8613 1777).
Inn The Park
St James’s Park, SW1 (020 7451 9999).
Macaron
22 The Pavement, SW4 (020 7498 2636).
Marine Ices
8 Haverstock Hill, NW3 (020 7482 9003).
Morelli’s
Harrods ground floor, 87-135 Brompton Rd, SW1 (020 7893 8959).
Mortimer and Bennett
33 Turnham Green Terrace, W4 (020 8995 4145).
Oddono’s
14 Bute St, SW7 (020 7052 0732).
Scoop
40 Shorts Gardens, WC2 (020 7240 7086).
See
4D Praed St, W2 (020 7724 7358).
Tavola
155 Westbourne Grove, W11 (020 7229 0571).
Trinity Stores
5 & 6 Balham Station Rd, SW12 (020 8673 3773).
Whole Foods Market
63-97 Kensington High St, W8 (020 7368 4500).