Just right when the weather is scorching and maybe even more so on the many, many days it's not - we pick out London's best ice-cream and gelato purveyors. Plus - we're telling you who will deliver your ice cream right to your doorstep.
Bears
Where: 244 Goldhawk Road, London W12 9PE and the Pavilion on Brook Green
Bears is an Icelandic-inspired soft serve store where you can expect flavours like lemon curd with marshmallows and biscoff crumbs. Seasonal ice-cream flavours include things like Salted Pumpkin Seed Nougat or Blueberry, Lavender Jam Meringue Swirl or vegan sorbets like Passion fruit & Double Dark Chocolate Freckles. All the soft serves come with a choice of toppings that are dipped, rolled or smashed into the ice-cream.
Delivery: Order via their online shop
Check Instagram for the latest info: @bearsicecream
Blush
Where: Across London (delivery only)
Blush is a new delivery service for Londoners which launched this summer and they say they’re inspired by their travels. So butter pecan comes from a trip to California and saffron and cardamom from Iran. All tubs are made to order.
Delivery: Via their online shop
Check Instagram for the latest info: @blushicecream.
Chin Chin
Where: Camden and Soho
When Chin Chin first opened their first place in a former condom shop (yes, really) in Camden their crazy take on making ice cream with liquid nitrogen may have been pre-Instagram but it was still an almost instant sensation. The thing is that it's not just a party trick, the ice-cream they make here really does taste smoother because there are no ice crystals.
They've also used their USP to devise a clever way of chilling ice-cream down to a level that it can actually be sent by post. Choose from flavours like Burnt Butter Caramel, Tonka Bean or Strawberry Milk.
Delivery: Via their online shop (nationwide)
Check Instagram for the latest info: @chinchinicecream
Le Gelataria
Where: Crouch End, Covent Garden and Stratford
La Gelateria co-founder Antonio has ice-cream in his blood - his grandfather used to make ice cream in a small village in Calabria. And when Antonio and friend and co-founder Stephane decided to launch their own gelateria then first took a year out to travel around Italy for inspiration. It paid off, as their gelato has won multiple awards since opening. Everything is handmade in small batches, daily, on-site.
Here there are interesting flavours that you won't find anywhere else, including porcini chocolate cream, honey rosemary and orange zest and a dairy-free dark chocolate brownie and Kentish cobnut sorbet.
Delivery: Via Deliveroo
Check Instagram for the latest info: @lagelatiera
Gelupo
Where: Delivering nationwide
Jacob Kenedy (of Bocca di Lupo) and Victor Hugo (not the author…) came up with Gelupo in 2010 and opened it right opposite the restaurant. New flavours from the popular Soho store this summer include peanut butter and raspberry, malted milk stracciatella and ricotta sour cherry. Their Soho store is open at the weekends and they deliver to every London postcode.
Delivery: Via their online shop
Check Instagram for the latest info: @gelupogelato
Happy Endings
Where: Available at various locations
Best known for their amazing ice-cream sandwiches, this London company prides itself on top ingredient sourcing including organic chocolate from Original Beans and Jersey and Guernsey cream from The Estate Dairy. You’ll find Happy Endings ice-cream sandwiches across London at places like Yard Sale pizza and Snackbar in Dalston. Flavours include The Naughty One - Miso salt caramel parfait between squidgy slices of chocolate Guinness cake and soy dulce de leche (our favourite).
Delivery: Via their online shop
Check Instagram for the latest info: @happyendingsldn
Ice Cream Union
Where: Bermondsey and Chelsea
After years of supplying the best restaurants around town Ice Cream Union opened their first standalone store (outside of their Bermondsey base) in Chelsea. It’s all about attention to detail from this Bermondsey-based crew - so they might spend hours making their own honeycomb to be crushed up to go into a new summer flavour. Their dulce de leche is particularly moreish.
Delivery: Via Deliveroo from Chelsea and Bermondsey or they also deliver within zones 1 & 2 from their website.
Check Instagram for the latest info: @icecreamunion
Mamasons
Where you’ll find them: Camden and Chinatown.
So-called 'dirty ice-cream' is actually a term of endearment used to describe the homemade ice-cream you'll find on the streets of Manila. Expect to find quite different flavours to what you might be used to - their signature is Ube - a purple hued ice-cream made with Filipino purple yam - but they also serve up a salty queso flavour and a vegan guyabano sorbet.
Delivery: via their online shop
Check Instagram for the latest info: @mamasonsdirtyicecream
Marine Ices
Where: Old Dairy Mews, 61 Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 8AN
One of London’s oldest ice-cream purveyors, Gaetano Mansi brought the joys of Italian gelato to North Londoners when he first opened his ice-cream parlour in Camden way back in 1931. There are 24 flavours available at any one time - ranging from amarena cherry to roasted pistachio and the classic rum and raisin. Fancy an old-school Knickerbocker Glory or a Banana Spit? This is the place for that.
Delivery: Via Deliveroo
Check Instagram for the latest info: @MarineIcesGelato
Midnight Munchies
Where: 332b Camberwell New Rd, London Se5 0RW
This Camberwell business is all about sweet treats - namely cakes - but their ice cream menu is also worth a try including their specials - cornflake ice cream and watermelon sorbet.
Delivery: Via their online shop and UberEats
Check Instagram for the latest info: @midnightmunchiesss
Milk Train
Where: 12 Tavistock St, London WC2E 7PR
Milk Train shot to fame when it pioneered cloud cones in London - you know the ones, where the ice-cream is haloed with candyfloss. Mike and Kylie started out selling shaved Japanese ice and progressed on to these Insta feed delights - they're the millennial pink unicorns of London's ice-cream scene. Oh, and what no-one tells you is they're impossible to eat without getting sticky up to your elbows. Pick your soft serve - vanilla, matcha or hojicha and then add toppings like red bean, rice puffs and - of course - candyfloss.
Delivery: Via their online shop (nationwide)
Check Instagram for the latest info: @milktraincafe
Morelli’s
Where: 20a The Piazza, The Market, London WC2 8RB
Morelli’s opened a year after Marine Ices - in 1932 - on the Kent coast in Broadstairs. Fifteen years ago they landed a concession in Harrods and for the past few years they’ve had their own shop in Covent Garden. Flavours you’ll find here might include cherry meringue or caramel panna cotta. Go all in and get a sundae with a jug of hot chocolate sauce to pour all over your creation.
Check Instagram for the latest info: @morellisgelato
Oddono's
Where: Stoke Newington, South Kensington, Battersea, Hampstead, East Dulwich, Chiswick, Wimbledon
Ultra-smooth Italian Gelato - the original store opened on Bute Street back in 2004. As the name suggests it’s an Italian family behind it - founder Christian Oddono’s grandmother was the gelato-making inspiration behind it. With over 130 flavours on their books, favourites are still the classics - Chocolate, Nocciola (Hazelnut), Bacio (milky chocolate and hazelnut), Pistachio ice cream. heir cookies and cream is amazing and they also do a very good banana sorbet for vegans.
Delivery: Via UberEats
Check Instagram for the latest info: @oddonos_gelati
Romeo and Giuletta
Where: 137 Albion Road, London N16 9JU
Inspired by their time living in Verona, the husband and wife team behind this Stoke Newington spot focus on classic, well made Italian flavours. It’s a lucky dip for their delivery - just choose the size of your tub.
Delivery: Via Deliveroo
Check Instagram for the latest info: @gelateriarg
Ruby Violet
Where: Tufnell Park and King's Cross
Aiming for a very small environmental footprint, North London ice-cream parlour Ruby Violet make small batches of ice cream and vegan sorbets on site in their parlour in Tufnell Park. All the packaging is either recyclable or compostable and they use seasonal fresh fruit, locally sourced where possible. Flavours on offer might include Cucumber and ginger sorbet, Peach and sour cream or - their most popular one - Salted caramel with almond nut brittle.
Check Instagram for the latest info: @rubyvioletices.
Snowflake Gelato
Where: Selfridges, Westfield, Bayswater, South Kensington, Marble Arch, Soho & The O2
Winner of no less than 25 Good Taste Awards, founder Asad and gelato chef Paolo named their ice-cream company Snowflake because all their ice-cream is made by hand, no two batches are the same. Like snowflakes. Raw organic Jersey milk gelato is the order of the day here, served at the perfect no-brain freeze temperature. Flavours include their award-winning blood orange, date and honey and sea salted caramel.
Delivery: Same day delivery through Slerp
Check Instagram for the latest info: @snowflakegelato
Soft Serve Society
Where you'll find them: Boxpark Shoreditch
Taking inspiration from Asia, Soft Serve Society broke Insta with its inky charred coconut soft serve when it first launched. Toppings are a big thing here - cover your cone with honeycomb and popcorn or opt for a sundae like the Oh Snap with vanilla soft serve affogato, salted caramel sauce, gingerbread crumbs, salted caramel bits and waffle or the Cloud 9 which is enveloped in berry candyfloss. They're also big on freak shakes.
Check Instagram for the latest info: @softservesociety.
Tsujiri
Where: Soho - Rupert Street and Newport Court
Chinatown’s Tsujiri has been mainly about the oh-so-instagrammable matcha soft serves. But they do tubs of their matcha, sesame and black sesame ice cream to have at home too.
Delivery: Same day delivery through Slerp
Check Instagram for the latest info: @tsujiri_uk
Udderlicious
Where: Islington and Covent Garden stores open (Wembley currently closed)
Raj and Raj opened their Islington store back in 2013 and there are still queues down Upper Street on hot days. Flavours are voted for by customers and current ones include malt and crushed Maltesers, birthday cake and espresso and chocolate biscotti.
Delivery: Via Deliveroo for Islington and Covent Garden
Check Instagram for the latest info: @udderliciousldn
Yolkin
Where you'll find them: 24 Rupert St, London W1D 6DQ
Founder Sammie's first love was macarons. The ice-cream only came when she wanted to make something with the leftover yolks. Her ice-cream macaron sandwiches popped up on Rupert Street but regularly sold-out leaving fans disappointed, but her new shop on the same street doesn't have that problem. Expect flavours like Rose & Pistachio and milk soft serve with brown sugar boba or black sesame sauce. She's also making ice-cream cakes here too.
Check Instagram for the latest info: @yolkinmacice
Also see
Dominique Ansel - best known for Cronuts, his London cafe also has a seasonal soft-serve, keep an eye out for the watermelon version, an Instagram showstopper.
Bao - their Horlick's ice cream is a thing of wonder (also available on Rice Error).
Creme - This newish dessert spot is only delivering its cookies at the moment, but you can swing by to takeaway their soft serve (be early though as they sell out).
Festok's Lebanese organic ice-cream includes a vegan Meghli made with rice milk and Achta ice cream surrounded by Osmalieh, roasted semolina vermicelli.
Flor in Borough is currently doing takeaway soft serves like chocolate and milk swirl or rhubarb with sesame topped with crushed pistachios.
Fortnum and Mason - The Parlour here features, sundaes and a new range of vegan ice-creams.
Gelatorino: Watch the ice-cream being made in front of you at this Covent Garden shop. New boozy sorbet flavours include beer!
Gelateria 3bis: Rimini gelato company with shops in Notting Hill and Borough Market.
Grom: Slow-food inspired Italian chain has opened in Piccadilly Circus.
Lick: Gelato, waffles, shakes and affogato on sale in this Soho spot
Nardulli: Popular Clapham Common based Italian gelateria - handy if you’re heading to or from the common
Honey & Spice - Freshly churned flavours from their Fitzrovian deli have included mango and lime and strawberry and rose.
Nardulli - There’s always a queue at this Clapham parlour - their cherry gelato and coconut flavours are particularly popular.
Nonna’s make a real effort to use local producers - buy their ice-cream at the Harrigay Local Store, Yardarm, The Blackheath Pantry or the De Beauvoir Deli.
Shake Shack - the concretes at Shake Shack are always worth a recommendation, with each location having a unique concoction
Unico: There are vegan options for everything here. Founder Elena has longstanding ties to the Italian ice-cream industry.
Yorica: London’s first gluten, dairy, egg, nut and peanut free vegan parlour
More food and drink delivered...
And for even more delivery ideas (including shops, coffee, booze, bakeries and more), check out our Staying in section.
Food delivery in London, by area...
North: Islington, Highbury, Stoke Newington | King's Cross, Camden & Clerkenwell
South: Borough, London Bridge, Bermondsey | Clapham, Brixton | Peckham, Camberwell, Dulwich
East: Hackney | Shoreditch and Spitalfields | Walthamstow and Leyton
West: Chelsea, Kensington & Belgravia | White City and Notting Hill
Central: Central London restaurant deliveries
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