Scoop, Covent Garden

Ice cream has always left me a little cold (so to speak). It’s perfectly fine as an accompaniment to something cake-y or pudding-y but not a thing I would usually crave in its solo state. Gelato on the other hand, proper Italian style gelato, is far more exciting. The differences between the two may be small but they're also huge, if you follow me. In gelato the fat content is slightly lower and the churning process is, I believe, slower making for an end product that is somehow smoother and lighter and altogether more melty.

Scoop in Covent Garden sell Italian style gelato in all the familiar Italian flavours – straciatella, bacio, zuppa inglese – and the quality of the ingredients is evident in each mouthful. The gelato is heaped high and drizzled with good things; look at those happy hills of gelato.

I’ve noticed in the past that they made a pine nut flavoured gelato and it was this I had in mind as I ambled up Neal Street – because pine nuts are obviously awesome in any capacity. But, sigh, no pine nut gelato was in evidence on this occasion so after a bit of um-ing and humming I went for my default pairing of hazelnut (nocciola) and coffee (caffe). A small tub costs £2.80 and holds two generous scoops, which was ample for a sunny London afternoon.

The coffee flavour wasn’t overly intense in its coffee-ness but it had nice bitter bite supplied by little dots of coffee bean; the hazelnut, on the other hand, was a step up, being subtle and fruity and tasting almost exactly as I remembered it tasting in Italy. The Guardian Word of Mouth blog recently carried a piece about how things eaten on holiday can rarely be exactly replicated when back home but this hazelnut gelato was transporting stuff and I was instantly connected with memories of munching on a hazelnut gelato brioche sandwich in Sicily while a thread of the sweet stuff ran down my wrist or attacking a cone in Verona in the shadow of the arena.

In short, it was very, very good indeed. But next time, pine nut gelato you will be mine…


Scoop, 40 Shorts Gardens
London WC2H 9AB 020 7240 7086