The Scoop on the Anya Hindmarch Ice Cream Project

Very few people can truthfully say they’ve craved sage and onion or beef stock ice cream. Yet that hasn’t stopped Anya Hindmarch from creating it as part of the iconic Ice Cream Project. Every year, there’s a queue that snakes through the Anya village on Pont Street. Londoners patiently wait, noses pressed against a window lined with colourful ice cream tubs, emblazoned with beloved but unlikely British brands. After SPHERE previewed the flavours, we don't doubt that the crowds will return this year. 

So, how do you choose flavours that intrigue and excite in equal measure? The formula, it seems, is simple: food, of all varieties, that were found in the Hindmarch household when Anya was growing up. Nothing is off the proverbial table, no matter how unappealing it may sound. After all, as the Anya Hindmarch team reminded us, the brand collaborates with the finest British artisans in Devon, each of whom works to make even the most surprising combinations palatable.

We headed to the Anya Hindmarch Village to try this year’s offering and give our readers a sneak peek into the five flavours worth sampling.

Jacob's Mini Cheddars

Cheesy ice cream is certainly unconventional, but when you really think about it, Mini Cheddars have a lovely buttery biscuit base that lends itself very nicely to this type of sweet treat. Overall, it’s mellow, with a slight tang enhanced by the tiny fragments of Mini Cheddars churned in.

PAXO Sage & Onion Stuffing

This feels straight out of a Friends Thanksgiving episode – this time instead of a Shepherd’s Pie and Trifle mash-up, it’s stuffing ice cream. Undoubtedly savoury and very oniony, this one takes the crown as one of our unexpected favourites. Easily something you could see popping up on the more experimental menus in East London.

KiKoMan Soy Sauce

Jumping from most unexpected to least, we next tried a scoop of the soy sauce – a recurring flavour held over from last year due to popular demand. Made using toasted sesame seeds laced with naturally brewed soy sauce, it’s of course, really umami and has an almost caramel layer to it. Move over miso, soy sauce may just be the new dessert hero ingredient.

Green Giant Sweetcorn

I don’t know whether it’s flashbacks of school dinners haunting me, but the Green Giant Sweetcorn flavour was my least favourite of the day. Yes, it has a sweet and juicy feel to it, but the blended sweet corn gave me visions of cold sweet corn soup – enough reason to leave it at the back of the freezer.

Aunt Bessie’s Yorkshire Pudding

In a properly retro twist, this blends golden syrup cream with chunks of Yorkshire pudding. Billed as a “comforting classic”, it definitely conjures visions of roast dinners, while tasting distinctly like pancakes. Nothing will ever beat a piping hot Yorkshire, with hot oil still clinging to the sides, though.

The much-loved Ice Cream Project Blind Tasting Tea at the Anya Cafe will also be returning for its third year. Here you can try all 15 flavours, guess the flavours as you go, alongside your very own tasting scorecard. 

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