Cultured crème fraîche, malt dust, fresh basil and lemon thyme – the ice cream truck of our childhood isn’t a patch on the weird and wonderful soft serves in London right now. If you’ve yet to discover the joy beyond sprinkles (although, there’s definitely some of that in here too), add these to your summer bucket-list and ask yourself just one question: cup or cone…?
…or wafer boat, perhaps.
London’s best soft serves below!
Caramel soft serve: Big Jo
Fans of the weekly changing dinner menu, rejoice – Big Jo now serves its soft serve dessert all day, and every day. Starting with caramel, a drizzle of luxuriously thick salted caramel plus flaky sea salt, boldly deep and delightfully grown-up.
324 Hornsey Rd, Finsbury Park, London N7 7HE
Le Choux soft serve: Le Choux
When Le Choux launches soft serve, you know it will be something magical. Chocolate choux pastry, its filling slightly ‘warm’ and outer impossibly crisp under a swirl of vanilla soft serve, ultra silky and topped with crunchy chocolate feuilletine, creamy chocolate sauce and a chocolate button; all Valrhona and very rich.
332 Ladbroke Grove, London W10 5AH
Mango soft serve: Bake Street
After a one-year hiatus, Bake St’s soft serve is back – brightly coloured mango, super tropical and beautifully balanced with a touch of saffron spice, plus the optional Cadbury Twirl to bring your taste buds back home.
58 Evering Rd, Lower Clapton, London N16 7SR
Raspberry ripple soft serve: Morny Bakehouse
Raspberry and vanilla soft serve, so tangy and sweet and swirled into a plump pillowy doughnut because neither a cup nor cone will bring you just as much joy.
216B Francis Rd, London E10 6PR
Cherry bakewell soft serve: Forza Wine
Come for the drinks, stay for dessert – Forza Wine is a rooftop bar with one soft serve on the menu: condensed milk, sweet raspberry compote, toasted flaked almonds and a fresh raspberry, inspired by cherry bakewell and served with sweeping views of the capital.
August will welcome a new flavour.
The Rooftop, 133A Rye Ln, London SE15 4BQ
Malt soft serve: Happy Endings
The good news? Happy Endings has launched its first-ever pop-up soft serve bar together with the lovely Pavilion Bakery in Victoria Park. The even-better news? There’s a two-flavour twist machine, so you mix any flavour on the menu. The not-so-great news? You may never be able to get your hands on this cup of silky malty soft serve, finished with the crowning glory of malt ‘dust’.
Team Happy Endings, please make the topping a permanent option and give us the happy ending we all need…
Victoria Park, Old Ford Rd, London E9 7DE
Icelandic soft serve: Bears
Jersey milk soft serve blended and topped with blueberries and basil, sweet and slightly minty and adding a lovely crunch to a smooth creamy base.
244 Goldhawk Rd, London W12 9PE or The Pavilion, Brook Grn, London W6 7BL
Chocolate malt soft serve: Towpath
Take a trip down memory lane with Towpath’s malt soft serve, super silky and perfectly paired with a touch of mellow, milky chocolate… This served on a Sunday morning al-fresco and by the canal? Dessert breakfast of dreams.
42 De Beauvoir Cres, London N1 5SB
Korean Mess soft serve: Korean Dinner Party
Testing the boundaries of sweet and savoury and then some, the chefs behind Korean Dinner Party add some serious oomph to their soft serve with spicy Gochujang caramel; salted ultra crisp cornflakes and three Pocky chocolate sticks.
Top Floor, Kingly Court, London W1B 5PW
Custard soft serve: Santa Nata
The Portuguese pastry is reimagined at Santa Nata – custard soft serve, cold yet comfortingly rich and crowned with flakes of feather-light pastry. Very, very clever.
17 Russell St, London WC2B 5HP
Cereal soft serve: Kith
The New York streetwear brand has landed in Selfridges, and lucky for us, the famous in-store dessert café is here too. Choose your cereal (from Reese’s Puffs to Rice Krispies), mix-in (more sweet treats) and extra toppings as far as your wallet, and stomach, stretches. Be warned: the cup is American sized.
Selfridges, 400 Oxford St, London W1A 1AB
Jammie doughnut sundae: Longboys
Vanilla soft serve studded with rainbow sprinkles, fluffy cinnamony brioche dough and dollops of sweet strawberry jam.
Please note: sundaes are at the Seven Dials branch only.
Seven Dials Market, 35 Earlham St, London WC2H 9LD
Coffee soft serve: Rosslyn
Happy Endings vanilla soft serve, infused with 24-hour steeped cold brew (from Origin Coffee Roasters) and finished with a good dusting Mörk cocoa powder.
Rich but refreshing, strong but not bitter, icy but definitely creamy, what a brilliant collab this is.
Multiple locations
Raspberry ripple soft serve: Fallow
Raspberry sauce, lemon thyme and dots of raspberries on cultured crème fraîche, ultra thick, tangy and just the right amount of sour, and studded with more raspberries whose sweetness is only subtle in such a full-bodied base.
Far too beautiful for a takeaway cup and reason alone to visit Fallow for dinner.
2 St James’s Market, St. James’s, London SW1Y 4RP
Soft serve: Milk
Milk is always buzzing, thanks to weekly changing pancakes and aptly named staples (the Convict, a bacon cheese patty between muffins, is a favourite), but the queue gets even longer when the next-door deli brings out soft serves each one more brilliant than the next…
…milky soft serve with palm sugar, sweet juicy Gariguette strawberries, a sprinkle of peppery green Sichuan and a paper-thin buttery cracker that doubles as a delicious edible spoon.
18-20 Bedford Hill, London SW12 9RG
Custard soft serve: Humble Crumble
Iced peaches with warming cinnamon, a buttery satisfyingly chunky shortbread crumble, a generous swirl of refreshingly icy custard soft serve plus finely chopped almonds. A truly special, seasonal special.
Borough Market Kitchens, Winchester Walk, London SE1 9AG or Old Spitalfields Market, 12 Commercial St, London E1 6EW
Strawberry soft serve: Soft ‘n Swirly x Leila’s Shop
Served in a convenient/crunchy wafer boat, a swirl of sweet strawberry soft serve gets cushioned with tangy mascarpone; strawberries at their plumpest and juiciest; a generous handful of crunchy hazelnut praline; all sitting on top of three plump lemony magdalenas, still warm and as fluffy as a cloud.
This was a special at Leila’s Shop, who also happen to make their very-own really-worth-trying soft serve, but you will find more weird and wonderful creations from Soft n Swirly at Rambutan in Borough Market.
Calvert Ave, Bethnal Green, London E2 7JP (Leila’s Shop), 10 Stoney St, London SE1 9AD (Rambutan)
Malt soft serve: Crème
A really big cup of malt soft serve covered in cookie ‘crumbs’, their edges crunchy and inside chewy and studded with milk chocolate chips; perhaps the best thing on the Crème menu.
4 D’Arblay St, London W1F 8DJ
Vanilla soft serve: Naked Dough
Nostalgia strikes again, this time in Camden… Buttery cookie dough, white chocolate chips, vanilla soft serve plus extra rainbow sprinkles, because if you can’t be a total child with your ice cream toppings, then when can you?!
Camden Market Buck Street 192-198 Camden High St, London NW1 8QP
Chocolate affogato: Soft Serve Society
Vanilla soft serve, dense enough to withstand a storm of treats yet so creamy it melts in your mouth, topped with Oreo crumbs, Rice Krispies and a brownie bite; all drenched in hot chocolate and leaving you with a pool of richness to spoon out the bottom.
Everything else, from the Oh! Snap affogato to the weekly specials that are plain (meaning no toppings) yet always spot on the flavour, are just as worthy of adding to your list, which at this point is probably overwhelmingly long and excitingly inspirational in equal parts.
Boxpark, 2-10 Bethnal Green Rd, London E1 6GY or 35 Earlham St, London WC2H 9LD
Birthday cake soft serve: Flavourtown Bakery
Soft serve infused with cake and layered from the bottom-up with saucy strawberry compote, rainbow sprinkles, squidgy funfetti sponge and a glob of bright-pink frosting.
A bucket of b’day cake flavour that would make Milk Bar proud.
771 Fulham Rd., London SW6 5HA or 3 The Quadrant, Richmond TW9 1BP
