Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Icecreamists

Whoa momma. Remember the blizzards London has seen in the last two winters? I wonder if they were really made of ice cream seeing the craze that has exploded in this city. The Big Smoke could now rival Italy with some seriously good ice cream or gelato, owing to the success of institutions such as Gelupo, Scoop and Chin Chin Laboratrists. And then someone comes along and pushes everything to the next level.

The Icecreamists opens officially this week on Maiden Lane, Covent Garden and boy do they do it with every flourish and extravagance. The melange of bright fuchsia, gun metal, gothic black, and references to S&M in their brand is an immediate sensory playground.




From the playful quotes that adorn the walls from luminaries who’ve dabbled in the creamy delight, the erotic names of their items, to their awesome mission statement of “To Liberate the World from Ordinary Ice Cream”, I dig their strong, wild and hedonistic brand. And this doesn’t get lost in the ice cream itself.
As part of their preview invitation, their tasting menu consisted of a helping of ice cream followed by an ice cream cocktail.



Now a Malaysian can’t really turn down the offer of a Chilli, Ginger and Lemongrass ice cream. It was actually spicy with proper chilli flecks! Yowza! It immediately inspired a need for Pad Thai. Adored the consistency which was a cross between a sorbet and an ice cream.

We were also surprised that the Choc and Awe, in it's divine dark decadence, made of 70% Ecuadorian Dark Chocolate, had no cream in it. After those two, the equally rich and vanilla-flecked Vanilla Monologues almost tasted meek. 


And those sensational flavours were just the warm up. The headliners in this scoop are by far the cocktails. Amongst the most flamboyant is the Molotoffee Cocktail, which is a banoffee baked alaska, flambed at the table and finished off with some rum spray. Uh huh, uh huh!



The baked alaska was egg white perfection and definitely very boozy. By the time we got to the ice cream it felt like we had drowned in a toffee river. 


And this seductive, velvet red temptress was the berry dominatrix of the Icecreamists' erotic world. Miss Whiplash not only had a lasting effect, I even felt slightly tipsy after. Smooth and glossy, it's almost a sorbet made from berries soaked in vanilla vodka. Whoopah!


Lastly, the Toast Mortem was a pool of molten chocolate gelato with Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur) and hazelnut bits, served with toasted panettone. This decadence clearly doesn't end. Two slices of panettone wasn't enough to soak up all that chocolate! I really enjoyed the subtle peanut note in that. 


Making an impact on the London dessert scene would be an understatement. The Icecreamists have done a Lady Gaga, strutting their stuff on the cream catwalk with ludicrous abandon, heady frivolity and pure fun. Indeed their Baby Gaga flavour is reportedly made of real breast milk. I LOVE IT! These are premium products, and with serious prices: £2 something for an ice cream scoop and just under £15 per ice cream cocktail. I promise this is a memorable trip though. Viva la diva.

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