For those who do not know, dirty ice cream is ice cream that is sold as street food; most notably, this ice cream is sold on the streets of Manila in the Philippines. It is produced the old-fashioned way using ice, salt, a steel pot, and stirred by hand. Now you do not need to go to the Philippines to enjoy this dirty ice cream. You can visit one of the branches of Mamasons in London: Kentish Town (near Camden) or Chinatown.
I visited the Chinatown branch, which is located on a narrow alleyway behind Leicester Square Station. There are a couple of other ice cream shops here and a few coffee shops. It is a cut-through from Charing Cross Road to Chinatown. I ordered the ube flavour, which is a purple yam from the Philippines, and the black coconut (known as black buko) flavours. I really enjoyed the black coconut flavour. The ube flavour is sweet and tastes a little bit like a sweet potato, but I found it to be a more subtle flavour. Perhaps that is because the coconut and the cone are both stronger flavours. The ice cream was creamy and a very good quality.
Now that we are in autumn and the colder months are approaching quickly, ube hot chocolate is also available as an option. The hot chocolate is made using white hot chocolate, and it has a hint of the ube flavouring and topped with whipped cream. It is a good hot chocolate, but those readers who love white chocolate will appreciate it even more that I did. (I'm not a fan of white chocolate, but I did enjoy this.)
Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream also offer a small range of milkshakes, lattes, and ice cream drinks. They also offer the bilog, which is a Filipino toasted ice cream sandwich. These look a little bit like a doughnut and are filled with ice cream.
Leave a comment