Ice cream. Quite simply, it’s a holiday
essential. And if you’re on the lookout for something more inspired than a
predictable scoop of vanilla this year, there’s no lack of ice cream hotspots
from which to choose – from London to Sydney, and Los Angeles to Tokyo, the
world is full of innovators intent on infusing their cups and cones with
unusual tastes. Go on, treat yourself!
London
London oozes culinary creativity and it isn’t
restricted to formal dining tables. Down a cobblestoned street in Camden, North
London, you’ll find Europe’s first liquid nitrogen ice cream bar, Chin Chin
Laboratorists (chinchinlabs.com).
Magic happens daily at this quaint shop.
Sporting white lab coats and science-class goggles, ice cream makers pour
liquid nitrogen into a mixer where flavoured cream is churned. Beneath the
cover of clouds of white gas, a dense, custard-like ice cream forms
instantaneously. On a par with their inventive techniques are the changing
flavours, which range from cigar-smoked salted caramel to Wimbledon-inspired,
hay-infused strawberry.
California
Whether you’re in Los Angeles, San Francisco or
somewhere in between, a plethora of playful ice cream parlours dot the
California coast in an ode to its endless summer.
At Sprinkles Ice Cream (www.sprinklesicecream.com)
in Beverly Hills, cereal and candy-infused ice creams are generously scooped
into ruby-red velvet waffle cones or sandwiched between freshly baked cupcake
tops. Macarons take the place of cupcakes or traditional cookies in the ice
cream sandwich at another LA favourite, MILK (www.themilkshop.com). This
typically delicate French treat is super-sized and ice cream, in flavours like
Thai ice tea, replaces the conventional light meringue filling.
But when it comes to boundary-pushing tastes,
few Californians can beat San Francisco-based Humphry Slocombe
(humphryslocombe.com), which boasts beet, foie gras and cheese ice cream, among
other imaginative varieties. Their prosciutto ice cream, studded with salted
pig steeped in milk with fennel seeds and black pepper, is a local favourite.
Puerto Rico
The Caribbean is a guarantee of pounding heat
and lingering sun, making it the perfect place to pick up an ice cream-a-day
habit. In Lares, Puerto Rico, a small mountain town in the central west of the
country, family-run parlour Heladería Lares dishes out more than 50
pilgrimage-worthy flavours a day.
Though the famed shop has been around since
1958, its approach to ice cream is anything but antiquated. With a nod to local
culinary traditions, it whips up ice creams in flavours like sweet potato and
cinnamon, rice and beans, rice pudding, corn, and even codfish. The shop is
unassuming, but Heladería Lares’ innovative twist on Latin American cuisine and
local culture make it a must-stop ice cream spot.
Tokyo
Perhaps no other city flips traditional ideas
upside down quite like Tokyo. If beet ice cream blew your mind then consider
squid ink, charcoal, wasabi, cactus and eel flavoured varieties, all of which
find their way into Tokyo’s cartons, cups and cones.
At Ice Cream City in Namja Town, an indoor
theme park in the the Sunshine City shopping complex in Ikebukuro, Toshima,
you’ll find a veritable museum of funky ice cream, not to mention kiosks fitted
with countless soft-serve machines and rooms kitted out with wall-to-wall
freezers, serving every flavour and texture of the stuff imaginable (even, dare
we say it, raw horse meat).
Those with a sweet tooth should visit Nana’s
Green Tea (www.nanaha.com) at Tokyo’s Sky Tree. This popular cafe employs a
contemporary approach to traditional Japanese tastes, serving powdered green
tea ice cream topped with red bean paste, frozen matcha lattes and green tea
parfaits.
Sydney
Imaginative takes on ice cream, gelatos and
popsicles are to be found throughout Sydney’s patisseries, independent parlours
and roving carts from Bondi Beach to the hipster spots of Surry Hills.
At Gelato Messina (www.gelatomessina.com),
home-made, all-natural gelatos take the cake – er, cone. That’s not too
surprising, considering that this Darlinghurst parlour dedicates an entire team
to reconceptualising sweets. The result is a dessert like the Royale w’ Cheese:
a frosted ‘cheeseburger’ made of chocolate crackle gelato on a financier bun
with white chocolate gelato and apricot gelée, compressed cucumber, a white
chocolate slice, and raspberry sauce.
The city’s equivalent of Willy Wonka –
pâtissier Adriano Zumbo (adrianozumbo.com) – has also joined the ranks of
Sydney’s ice cream obsessives. Whether it’s fresh pineapple and ginger ice
cream or ice cream sandwiches coated in popping candy, all of Zumbo’s frozen
treats have lashings of creativity.
