Chin Chin Labs! Claimed to be one of the best ice cream shops in London, and it probably is. But unfortunately that isn’t saying much. First, London doesn’t have many ice cream shops. At all. It has a ton of gelato shops. And because Brits don’t seem to know the difference, they aren’t bothered by it! Gelato is not ice cream. Gelato is generally mediocre ice cream. That would be like claiming frozen yogurt is ice cream. It is distinct and some people like it more and others like it less. In Italy, we all know that gelato reigns supreme. Apparently it does in the UK, too. In America, though, we eat the superior dessert called “ice cream”.
Anyway, Chin Chin is an ice cream shop. One of the few there is here. But it’s not just an ice cream shop, it’s the first and only liquid nitrogen ice cream shop in the city. Because this concept is new to London, it seems to be quite a hit. And yes, it’s a cool idea and a fun thing to see once. But after you’ve seen it once, you’re over it and you really just want to get down to eating the ice cream. In NYC, Chicago, and other major cities, these have been around for quite some time.
So what does the fact that it’s a liquid nitrogen shop mean? Simply that the ice cream is all made to order for each individual customer. Liquid nitrogen is -320 F (-195 C) and as such has the ability to freeze foods instantly. It is colorless, tasteless, and odorless. When you make ice cream, it starts off as a liquid and then has to freeze for quite some time. Liquid nitrogen eliminates this waiting period, so that the ice cream can be made from scratch and then frozen on the spot. The entire process takes just a few minutes.
At Chin Chin, they do exactly this. But because they make each customer’s ice cream from scratch, they only offer a few ice creams each day. They have three staples and usually one or two specials. The three staples are: (1) vanilla pod (2) Valrhona chocolate and (3) burnt butter caramel. The specials are always very interesting combinations including things like “ricotta ice cream with cherry swirl” or “pear and walnut crumble” and they also always have one vegan ice cream available.
You can only buy one scoop of ice cream ($4.50). If you want two, you will pay for two individual scoops, which as you can imagine is incredibly expensive. Most ice cream shops operate such that you only pay a little more for each extra scoop (perhaps $1 or so more), but here, you’re paying literally double ($9 – which is outrageous for two scoops). And because of the whole liquid nitrogen theme they have going, it’s quite expensive to begin with. Each scoop of ice cream does, however, come with one topping of your choice included. Toppings include things like truffle chocolate crumbs, bee pollen honeycomb, caramelized pretzels, pistachio & cardamom powder, and a variety of sauces.
If you want something more substantial than just a scoop of ice cream, you can get the scoop in between two cookies (“the cookiewitch“) or two brownie cookies (“the brownwitch“). Or you can get one scoop of ice cream on top of a warm brownie cookie topped with a molten chocolate shell (“the warmie“). Each of these are $5.50.
We got the Valrhona chocolate with truffle chocolate crumbs and the brownwitch with their special ice cream of the day which was the ricotta ice cream with cherry swirl. Results were good, not great, but good ice cream is great for London. The chocolate ice cream is very smooth and because it is Valrhona chocolate, not sweet at all. It’s incredibly chocolately, but will be a problem if you don’t like dark chocolate. Dark chocolate ice cream is not common and this one truly is dark. The truffle crumbs were pretty dry and tasted fine, but didn’t add much other than a nice texture.
The Brownwitch was more disappointing. The brownie-cookie was not good (but then again the UK doesn’t really do the concept of an American cookie well). It was dry, too hard, and lacked a strong chocolate flavor. The ice cream was interesting and good, but not unbelievable.
Overall, the place is not really worth seeking out. It’s expensive because of the concept, the lines are always long because people are enamored with the concept, it’s semi-outdoors, which isn’t ideal for winter, and there aren’t many seats (or a restroom). And it’s cash only.
Website: http://www.chinchinlabs.com/
