Ice Cream Paradise at Your Door!

London

Ice Cream Union

I'm a gelato lover. Not afraid to admit it. I could eat ice-cream at any time of the day, multiple times a day and could easily make it one of my meals if it wasn't for the fact that I'm not 15 anymore and my waistline would suffer as a result. On the other end, I usually struggle to find proper icecream in London and only have a few brands that truly remind me of the one I can have back in Italy or other parts of Southern Europe. Never mind right now, during the lockdown, where the only things immediately available are the commercial supermarket ice creams.

That was until Hype made me discover the IceCream Union. This independent ice cream Parlour in Bermondsey claims to be bringing the gelato revolution to London. Only the freshest ingredients, a production of more than 50 flavours with a special eye on high-quality ingredients and a transparent (and as direct as possible) supply chain. Best news out of it all, they now deliver in Greater London. Sounds almost to good to be true right? Now the real question is: 'Do they back al those nice propositions with their ice creams?' My answer would be "A-B-S-O-L-U-T-E-L-Y". I kindly received 6 of their flavours to try out and it was possibly one of the best things that happened to me during this quarantine. The flavours included a couple of classics (Pistacchio & Stracciatella), more creative ones (I mean, Dulce De Leche and Banana Split anyone?) and sorbets (Mango & Blood Orange). They also came with some cute cups and their stainless branded spoons. Now the hardest part of them all came. What to try first? I went for the ones I was most curious about first (and that I'd never tried before. The Dulce De Leche is exactly like eating the dessert itself, just in icecream form. Delicious, creamy and full of caramelly goodness. It could get slightly sickly to those who are not superfans of the caramel flavour but I personally loved it. Good on its own as very rich! The Banana Split was a showstopper, to say the list. I'm honestly still wrapping my head around how you can pack so many flavours into one icecream. It tastes like biscuits, banana, vanilla & chocolate. It's the ice cream flavour you didn't know existed and that you will become addicted to once you have tried it (we had to put it at the back of the freezer to avoid eating it all in one go- it was THAT good!). In my opinion, this is perfect served with a few banana slices, melted chocolate poured on top and a bit of crumble mix. I then moved on onto the sorbet to refresh my palate. Sorbets can be challenging as sometimes the colour is just given by artificial colouring and the taste of the fruit is very weak. NOT IN THIS CASE! Both the Blood Orange and the Mango sorbets were packed with a fruity flavour, which really put a highlight on the quality of ingredients The Ice Cream Union must put in their creations. Very light, refreshing and guilt-free (as milk/cream not involved- also suitable for my vegan friends!). Again, these are good on their own but would be just as good with some mixed fruit for extra vitamins! Last but not least, onto the creamy classic goods. Stracciatella was obviously good (even tho I would have expected it if they had nailed something like Banana Split). But the remaining flavour was the one that posed the ultimate challenge. I must admit that Pistacchio is my absolute favourite type of Ice Cream and I'm very choosy when it comes to rating it. Well, needless to say, Ice Cream Union managed to win my heart on this one too. Perfect consistency, right colour (not that fake vivid green some pistacchio's icecream have out there) and the taste that I can only describe as 'perfectly nutty'. Which only means that the quality of their pistacchi is superb. Just sprinkly some crushed nuts on top for extra crunchiness and you are ready to go. Have I managed to make you want a tub of Ice Cream Union yet? 'Cause not sure about you but I'll be spending the rest of my quarantine secretly (yet not so secretly) eating my weight in ice cream!

More Info: Website