Defying the weather: ice cream in London

Chin Chin Laboratorists, 49 - 50 Camden Lock Place, NW1 8AF

Tub of ice cream with sauce and one topping: £3.95

Gelupo, 7 Archer St, W1D 7AU

Waffle cones with two scoops: £3

I've called London home for more than five years now, so my expectations for the summer weather are pretty low. I can deal with the stagnant humidity and the near-constant lack of sunshine, if that's what the city demands. However, even with my hard-earned stoicism, this summer has enraged me. I find myself simmering with fury at its dark, cold, rainy skies. Tired of waiting for another brief patch of warm weather, I decided to go and eat ice cream at two of London's finest, hoping to shame the sun into putting its hat on.

After the nitrogen: Chin Chin's creations

We decided to try the liquid nitrogen creations at Chin Chin Laboratorists in Camden. The choice of ice cream is limited to three flavours: chocolate, vanilla and a seasonal special. However, the lack of choice in ice-cream is offset by a good selection of sauces and toppings, and the novelty of watching the ice cream being frozen before your eyes. Watching our ice creams being prepared by a white-coated "scientist", we reflected that this would be a brilliant place to bring children, who would be delighted by the billowing clouds of gas and the scientific paraphernalia. 

Making the ice-cream at Chin Chin

The other selling point for Chin Chin is the comparative lightness of their creations. According to our lab technician, the fast freeze from liquid nitrogen means that less cream is needed in the custard than in ice cream made in a conventional machine. The result exceeded what we might have expected from somewhere that has showmanship and novelty amongst its selling points. Chin Chin have clearly paid attention to their ingredients and as a result, their ice-cream comes out wonderfully smooth and surprisingly creamy. Even better was the salted caramel sauce we had with it: sweet, savoury and so very now. Mr F's rich chocolate sauce was excellent as well but he envied my honeycomb topping and wished he'd chosen the caramelised pretzels for his. 

By contrast, Gelupo is a grown-up, sophisticated gelateria in Soho. Run by the people from Bocca di Lupo, it sells gelato, sorbets and granitas in a range of slightly unusual flavours such as coconut and yoghurt stracciatella. Although outwardly less experimental than Chin Chin, the choices on offer at Gelupo speak of an underlying creativity - conventional flavours are generally off the menu. This is fine if you are passionate about pistachio (me me me) but, if like Mr Fork, you want chocolate, this probably isn't the place for you.

Nuts to Gelupo

As with the ice cream at Chin Chin, gelato is lighter and lower in fat than conventional ice cream so there's no reason not to indulge. However, having just scoffed a big lunch, we opted to share a cone with a scoop each of pistachio and hazelnut gelato. Both were sublime: perfectly soft and rich with the flavour of nuts. I haven't eaten such good gelato in years, not since I tried Rome's finest. 

Chin Chin is worth braving Camden's teenage tourist crowds for, and not just for the nitrogenous novelty. Its ice cream is delicious and the interesting toppings complement the less adventurous flavours well. However, Gelupo is something special and its gelato is truly brilliant. Even if the sun never starts shining, I know where I'll be this summer.

Chin Chin Laboratorists


Gelupo