Ice Cream Union doesn’t mess around. “A lot of people make ice-cream, and most say they use amazing ingredients, but that’s not really good enough [to say] it’s artisan,” founder Alex Fubini tells Broadsheet. “What we do is we take it down to the raw ingredient … and minimally process them to make them into ice-cream.”
And he doesn’t just mean the fruits and nuts that flavour the ice-creams – different milks (including jersey from Ivy House and white milk from Estate Dairy) are used for different ice-creams, depending on their flavour profiles; stabilisers are made in-house to keep the ingredients list down. The philosophy even extends to its menu boards – new flavours are laser-engraved onto boards in its Bermondsey production facility. Fubini has spent 20 years making ice-cream differently, constantly tweaking and improving the company’s processes – and now it’s a philosophy that’s extending to his new shop in Soho, a follow-up to the Chelsea space he opened in 2019.
The minimalist parlour opened on Ganton Street this week, and Fubini says he chose its location because it’s pedestrianised. “We have no seating,” he says. “You grab your ice-cream, enjoy it outside. [So] outside the shop should be a really nice environment to eat an ice-cream.”
Inside, the shop looks immediately different to other ice-creameries. An island counter, with metal tubs of ice-cream set into it, dominates the centre of the room; customers can walk right around it, upending the traditional divide between staff on one side of the counter and customers on the other. It’s a design Fubini first opted for in Ice Cream Union’s Chelsea shop. “We thought we need to break the rules,” he says. “The idea is that our staff will take a customer on a sort of journey through, and they can taste whatever they want.”
Visitors can expect 20 ice-creams to be scooping at any one time. Ice Cream Union makes about 100 flavours, which change with the seasons and what ingredients are in their prime. Everything is made in its Bermondsey warehouse. One day visitors might find matcha (a flavour originally developed for Pimlico Chinese restaurant Hunan) and banana split, the next it might be pistachio and a seasonal fruit sorbet. Fubini and his team carefully source ingredients from suppliers like Natoora (owned by his brother) and London Honey Company, juicing fruit and making pastes themselves in-house. It’s an all-encompassing, holistic way of making ice-cream – and one that’s been such a hit it sees Ice Cream Union celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
“I think people have travelled more in the last 20 years, so they have been exposed to much better ice-cream,” Fubini says. “They come back and they demand better ice-cream. When they taste our ice-cream, they see that there’s a slight difference with your standard gelato. There’s just a deeper understanding of it, and people searching out really good quality ice-creams.”
Ice Cream Union Soho
8 Ganton Street, W1F 7QP
Hours:
Mon to Thu 11am–10pm
Fri & Sat 11am–11pm
Sun 11am–10pm
