There are two Ice Cream Union locations but our favourite is the takeaway one in a business park in Bermondsey. The cornflake and coffee flavour is the breakfast ice cream we want to start every day with. But they also do a delicious, creamy pistachio flavour too—nuts are roasted in-house, turned into a paste, and churned all on the same day. So expect an intense nutty flavour and freshness. They’ve also got great vegan options like the blood orange sorbet and coconut chocolate chip.

The takeaway counter in Hackney’s Netil Market is sparse—bar the human-sized 99 Flake on wheels—but it’s serious about ice cream. There’s always only one soft serve flavour at Soft n Swirly. But you can guarantee it’ll deliver. We've been coming here all summer so we should know. One week might bring lemon and basil sorbet with crushed pistachios, another might bring clotted cream with pineapple sauce, and another Uji matcha with toasted buckwheat sprinkles.

Although we’re partial to a 99 from the ice cream van parked outside the gates of Victoria Park, Happy Endings’ pop-up at Pavilion Cafe sways our soft serve loyalty. The intensely creamy signature milk flavour is like that skimmed bit off the top of whole milk, and then some. Swirl it into the changing vegan sorbet—be it tart raspberry for a ripple effect or sweet mango and passion fruit for a Solero-inspired cone.

This place in Soho is from the team behind Italian restaurant Bocca Di Lupo, and everything from their banging sour cherry stracciatella to the rustic deli feel and old school Italian film posters on the walls, marks this as one of the best places to eat gelato in London. The flavours change regularly, but you’re pretty much guaranteed to find something you like, whether it’s a classic like pistachio or something a little different like peanut butter and raspberry.

This takeaway gelato spot in Soho has a double pistachio flavour that’s so moreish we wouldn’t be surprised if it was laced with something stronger than the layer of pistachio cream. Every cone and cup here is topped with an additional baby cone, filled with melted chocolate—you know, in case double pistachio and white chocolate gelato isn’t indulgent enough. Pop in for a post-dinner dessert and just know that once you get a taste of their flavours, you’ll be finding excuses to come back.

Bake Street is best-known as a brilliant brunch spot in between Stoke Newington and Hackney Downs. But during the spring and summer months, alongside its birria tacos and hot chicken sandwiches, you’ll find some inventive soft serve. In classic Bake Street style, flavours change on the regular, but you’ll find combinations like ​​snozzberry and cream, Iranian saffron, and Indian kesar mango sorbet. Our go-to move is getting a tub and heading down to Stoke Newington Common.

It’s your classic love story. Cream meets a freezer, they have beautiful gelato babies. The rest, as they say, is history. That’s what Shakespeare was on about right? This artisan gelateria in Stoke Newington serves some wonderfully creamy gelato. There are plenty of options like white chocolate, hazelnut, and ricotta with caramelised figs, but if the biscokrok is on you shouldn’t hesitate to get it. Plus, the black cherry praline is some of the best vegan gelato we’ve tried.

The soft serve at Bake is fantastic. This old-school bakery in Chinatown serves a wide range of pastries, and they’re also known for the taiyaki–a Japanese fish-shaped waffle situation–which they also happen to use as the cones for their soft serve. You can go for the matcha, vanilla, or a mix of both, but when the cone’s this good, we’d keep it simple with the vanilla. This place has a card minimum of £10 so unless you’re rolling as a group, or prepared to eat multiple, then bring cash.

Unico translates to unique, or one of a kind, and that’s exactly how we’d describe the feeling the creamy pistachio gelato at this ice cream shop gives us. There are a bunch of flavours you won’t find everywhere, like the panna cotta, or the rum chocolate—but when at Unico, you shouldn’t miss the classics. Both the pistachio and hazelnut are thick, rich, taste like actual nuts, and are our favourite things to order.

This little Japanese dessert shop specialises in taiyako - a fish-shaped cake filled with things like peanut butter and Nutella - which they even fill with things like their rose lychee soft serve. It’s all very Instagram-worthy, with menu items like rainbow unicorn and little mermaid fish ice creams. Except these desserts actually taste as good as they look. We love their vanilla soft serve with oreo dust and brown sugar tapioca, but their rose lychee soft serve is a very close second.

Honestly, if National Rail was anything like Milk Train, commuters would be happier people. Sure, this Covent Garden spot has a wall of fake flowers and one too many motivational ice cream catchphrases, but ignore all that. You’re here for their cookies and cream ice cream. This is one of the few places where we’d actually recommend foregoing a cone so you can load up on all of their toppings. Get added mini Oreos with the cookies and cream or live a lesser life.

This family run gelateria and all-round wholesome cafe/restaurant/bed & breakfast in Chiswick has been serving its ice-cream since 1978. You can get delicious sorbets, ice-creams and some top quality banter from owners Maria and Luciano. Walk-ins are welcome, but you can also order for collection, or delivery to certain postcodes in West London. And they have two other stores in Fulham and Kensington.

Oddono’s makes some seriously good gelato. Flavour wise, you can expect everything from chocolate, to coconut, to vodka lemon, plus several sorbet options. Their original shop is in Kensington, but the Stoke Newington spot has the advantage of lots of indoor seating, which is perfect if you’re looking for more of a sit down situation, or if it starts pissing it down the second you’ve ordered, because London. They’re delivering locally from most of their stores.

This Boxpark Shoreditch spot has some mildly insane, sugar attack candy floss toppings on offer, but we prefer to keep things on the simple - and cheaper - side with the classic cone and matcha soft serve. This place also does freakshakes that, frankly, we’re not sure how you eat without a blowtorch and a machete, but they’re potentially worth keeping in mind if you’re a serious sugar fan.

Much like algebra, quantum physics, and Kevin Federline’s wrestling career, we don’t entirely understand Chin Chin Labs in Camden. More specifically, we don’t know how they make their ice cream. We do know that it involves nitrogen, and, you know, science. Regardless, however they do it, it’s excellent. It’s super smooth and although they do now serve some classic flavours like vanilla, you're here for the plenty of interesting options from vegan passionfruit kombucha to burnt butter caramel.

Unlike Chin Chin’s OG joint in Camden, their Soho spot has more of a shiny sit-down feel than a market grab-and-go situation. Their Greek Street outlet also has additional flavours like coffee with olive oil, as well as more ice cream sandwiches and toppings to choose from. We’re big fans of the burnt caramel topped with ‘crack’—a molten chocolate shell—but it’s also worth trying their weekly specials.

It’s a fact that anything you put inside a milk bun becomes roughly ten times more exciting to eat. And the ice cream at this Filipino spot in Kentish Town comes in a number of different flavours like ube (purple yam), milo (chocolate malt), and black buko (black coconut), all of which can be eaten in bilog form. Which is basically a pandesal ice cream sandwich. And we’re into it. They do also serve their ice cream in scoops if you’re more into a classic cone situation.