Motown Desserts, 1st February

Cakes in the window and a glittery sign attracted me to Motown Desserts a very long while ago and one balmy winter’s day I decided to pop in, having walked back from the Annual Clown Service and feeling like I’d walked off some calories. It was bigger inside than I imagined meaning I could sit in the back and ‘take advantage’ of one of their house specials rather than nabbing a piece of cake to take home.

This I regret. I think a piece of cake to take home would have been far more pleasurable than the mess I had. I wasn’t really sure what I fancied – mainly cake and ice cream but they didn’t have that exact combo so instead I had the Cloud Nine. This was lady fingers soaked in coffee with coffee and chocolate ice cream, whipped cream and a wafer. Sounded like a different take on tiramisu. But it was pretty horrible. The lady fingers seemed to have been soaked in warm coffee, and unevenly. Some of them were still rock hard, others had turned to complete mush which was an awful texture in the mouth, especially coupled with being warm. I didn’t expect the ice cream to reach Gelupo standards and it didn’t. It even had slightly chewy bits which I’m not really sure were intentional. I ate about three quarters of it until all that were left were the awful lady fingers and then I got out of there, paying £7 for the privilege.

The one thing I liked about the place was its main feature – a section of glass floor from where you can look down on sacks of coffee beans and records. Otherwise it was a swing and a miss for me. 

La Gelateria, 20th April

On one of my many wanders around central London I passed by a cute little gelateria called La Gelateria. From the doorway I spotted intriguing flavours with stuff like 'rosemary' and 'balsamic vinegar'. My interest piqued, I put it on the list for a sunny day.

And this weekend I deemed sunny enough for ice cream, even though it was only warm when the sun was shining directly on you. So after my umpteenth visit to Wahaca for lunch, I made a beeline for La Gelateria for dessert. 

They had your standard vanilla and chocolate and stracciatella (choc chip) but there were enough of the more unusual flavours to make choosing a bit of a chore. I was in the mood for indulgence though so I eschewed the lighter, fresher sounding flavours like basil and chilli or custard cream with lemon zest and went for the black treacle toffee and the tartufo (chocolate truffle). 

I can't fault my choices. The treacle toffee was rich and cindery. It wasn't just a posh name for caramel, it really had the treacle flavour. The chocolate in the tartufo was very dark and there were crunchy bits of praline I think throughout. Heavenly. My only complaint was that, and this might sound weird, it didn't really seem to melt - I like it when the last few mouthfuls are all slushy and almost like a really thick milkshake.

But you can tell this was a minor thing as I went back the next day! They seem to change their flavours daily so while some of them were the same, both the ice creams I'd chosen Saturday were gone, and the caramelised chestnut, vanilla and rosemary had also been replaced. I wanted to try another one of their unusual flavours and something I could fool myself into thinking was a touch healthier. This I achieved by ordering things which had some gesture at fruit in them - the custard with lemon and the honey, rosemary and orange. I took Stephen with me this time and he had chocolate with sour cherries and dulce de leche.

My favourite of my two was the honey ice cream - the rosemary totally worked in combination with the sweet flavours. I thought the custard wasn't as custardy as I'd have liked and mostly just tasted of lemon. Similarly, Stephen thought the dulce de leche was maybe a little too subtley flavoured but he loved his chocolate and cherry scoop. The other 'crazy combos' on offer today were pannetonne and caramelised fennel seeds which part of me wanted to order but I had to remind myself I don't really like the fennel taste so ordering it simply because it sounded cool was a daft idea.

Gelupo has some competition on its hands for my favourite ice cream parlour!

The Icecreamists, 21st April

I first heard of the Icecreamists when they caused a furore by creating an ice cream using breast milk. Sounded interesting to me so I put them on the List.

The Icecreamists are like an alternative, higher class Ben & Jerry's. They describe themselves as boutique ice cream  and the servers there are dressed slightly alt/goth. Their ethos is to revel in the idea that ice cream is a sinful luxury and that it's an adult's temptation. Side by side with the list of ice creams was a list of 'Vice creams' which included a cocktail dedicated to Steve Jobs (it contained apple vodka - 'app'le - too soon?) and ice cream concoctions such as ice cream sandwiches. I was there for just some straightforward ice cream though.

It's laid out like gelato - huge swirly tubs of it decorated with elements that are contained within the ice cream. They have your expected vanilla and chocolate, even dark chocolate and white chocolate, and then the have the flavours that remind you of Ben & Jerry's. For instance, I had Ferrero Rocher and Popcorn. They also had peanut butter and stimulant ice cream on offer. While I was intrigued by that one, I was afraid it might taste like Red Bull.

I watched as other people's orders were scooped out. It seemed like hard work for the girls behind the counter - the ice cream was definitely not soft serve. So I wouldn't say it's exactly gelato. Nor is it cheap at £4.95 for two small scoops. But I wasn't too surprised at the prices considering it is in the piazza in the heart of one of the most touristy areas - Covent Garden. What I would say is it's delicious. Much better than I thought it would be as I suspected it would be more gimmick than taste.

The Ferrero Rocher was on top and tasted pleasantly chocolatey and praliney. I thought that was all there was to it until I was nicely surprised by pieces of chocolate wafer within. Now it tasted like a proper ferrero rocher! But, I was still very pleased that my popcorn ice cream was on the bottom as I do like to save the best to last and from my first lick I knew I liked this one better. This wasn't just popcorn but toffee popcorn ice cream with toffee pieces and sauce throughout as well as bits of popcorn, including one huge toffee covered piece. Yum. Double yum even. 

Gino gelato, 1st April

This one definitely made it onto my list thanks to Time Out – I think they did a feature on the best ice creams to be had in London and they recommended Gino’s and the peanut butter ice cream.

Those who are about my age or older may find the name of this ice cream parlor quite amusing, reminding me as it does of that not too high quality ice cream in the 90s called Gino Ginelli. I’m happy to report that the name Gino is the only similarity.

We were meeting a friend at Trafalgar Square to go for lunch and for the first time in possibly ever, took the exit from Charing Cross which takes you closest to the Square. As we surfaced, we found ourselves facing Gino Gelato. Even though we were about to go for lunch, we were starving and so we thought we’d mix it up a bit and have our dessert first. They had peanut butter in stock so I had a scoop of that, and Stephen had biscotti. Both were very tasty. They were both smooth and creamy, but the peanut butter had an added texture to it which really made you feel this was a peanut butter ice cream, and not just one flavoured by peanuts. Peanut butter lovers will know what I mean.

They had some other interesting flavours – one being sweet red wine. I didn’t think this would pair all that well with peanut butter so didn’t go for a scoop of it, but my curiosity has been piqued so I will come back to try it soon.

Dri Dri, 29th March

Over the last year or so I have become a massive fan of Gelato – special mention to my friend Jan who has known it is the supreme ice cream all along – and have been trying to get to the many gelaterias on my List. Yesterday the weather was beautiful, so, even though I’d just had pizza and knew I’d be going to Princi later, I thought not having an ice cream would be out of the question. I was trying to complete a couple of the Big Egg Hunt zones, one of which happened to be Sloane Square and I was pretty certain that Dri Dri had an outlet in that area. A quick check on the smartphone confirmed it and I was able to go and sample their wares without detouring too much from my egg-hunting route.

Bearing in mind the aforementioned food, I opted for a small cup. It was only £2.90 which seemed reasonable. I misjudged though – the amount you get is literally the volume of the cup and no more, so I felt like I didn’t have very much. They have about 12 different flavours and I chose crema (custard) and caramello saltado (salted caramel). The latter was fantastic. I find you really can’t go wrong with salted caramel anything. The crema was a let down. The flavour was quite light and refreshing, perhaps a little too light. And then – cardinal sin – I found quite a large ice crystal I had to chomp through! And then – oh horror – another section which was all ice crystal, and not creamy smooth like gelato should be. I finished it all of course, but, like Pizza Pilgrims, it didn’t do enough to oust what I consider to be my favourite gelateria in London – Gelupo – from its position.