Looking into The Dreamery, where you get a first look at that ceiling
What can you tell us about The Dreamery?
It's the last piece in the puzzle of Goodbye Horses in Islington. First came the Day Trip coffee bar. That was followed by the main Goodbye Horses wine bar and restaurant (which we loved). Finally, The Dreamery has opened just in time for Christmas - their ice cream and wine bar. It doesn't hurt that it looks spectacular.
An ice cream bar opening at Christmas?
While such an enterprise might be more associated with summer, they're really setting out their store by opening it in winter. We eat ice cream all year round in restaurants, after all, so there's nothing to stop you propping up a bar with a bespoke scoop or two. Not to mention that it's a wine bar too and you can just pop in for a drink if you fancy. However, we'd say you were missing out on the fun if you didn't have at least one scoop of ice cream.
Although there's no sign outside, The Dreamery is pretty hard to miss.
Where is it?
It's directly across the road from Goodbye Horses, which you'll find on a quiet Islington backstreet close to Essex Road (Essex Road overground is your closest station). The building, small though it is, really stands out because of its primary feature - the incredibly colourful ceiling, constructed of Japanese Unryu rice paper panels, all hand-painted and backlit to stunning effect. When you combine that ceiling with the mirrored walls there's something of an infinity view either side of the bar which is incredibly striking. It's such an impressive design and worth visiting to check that out alone.
What's on offer?
On the ice cream side, there are six scoops on offer at any one time. They'll be changing from time to time, but to start off, the flavours are gingerbread, fig leaf, mint choc chip, lucid coffee, oolong & prune and pear & verjus sorbet. As with the main kitchen, they're all created by chef Jack Coggins.
Of the ones we tried, we'd say the gingerbread and fig leaf options were our favourites. They also have regular changing sauces (butterscotch and apricot when we visited), including a caramel sauce served from a siphon that's a must-try and toppings like the chocolate crunch we had. Expect the Goodbye Horses croissant ice cream to make an appearance too.
Prices for one, two or three scoops are £4/£6/£7.50 and all the flavours we tried were excellent. They also have cardboard cartons for taking away but ideally, you want to enjoy it in that amazing space.
A pairing that works much better than you might imagine.
What about wine?
They've selected a small selection of wines from independent producers that have been designed to work particularly well with the ice cream and it's specifically not centred on dessert wine (a class of Le P'tit Blanc riesling/sylvaner/AUXerrois was a notably good match). Glasses should start at around £7.50 and your best bet is to tell them what you'd fancy as it's the perfect place to try a taste before you have a glass.
Finishing off the pairing.
Overall thoughts
We really enjoyed Goodbye Horses when we visited and we loved this too. If you're in the Islington area, popping down is a must. It's a lovely space, the ice cream is great and there's nothing quite like it in the borough. And if you're coming to Goodbye Horses itself, you should make some time afterwards for a small post-dinner glass/scoop in The Dreamery too. All in all, this is another very impressive opening from the team.
More about The Dreamery
Where is it? 20a Halliford St, London N1 3HD
How to book: Walk-ins only
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @goodbyehorsesldn.
Hot Dinners were guests of The Dreamery. Prices are correct at the time of writing.
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