Our Favourite Sweet Treats in London

If you’ve got a sweet tooth like us, London offers an overwhelming array of desserts and sweet treats options to satisfy any craving. Having eaten our way through the city’s offerings over many years, we’ve narrowed down the list of best spots to get a sugar fix. From artisanal ice cream to fluffy pancakes, inventive doughnuts to creamy milkshakes, the diversity of dessert choices across the capital is incredible.

While places in London come and go all the time, a few tried and true vendors have become longtime favourites we just can’t resist. Their signature treats keep us coming back time and time again. Some achieve the perfect balance of flavour and texture while others go all out with mix-ins and toppings.

This article highlights some of the best London street food vendors serving up delightful sweets and desserts. Join us for a mini tour of our go-to spots to satisfy your cravings on your next visit to London.

Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream

With Camilla’s Filipino roots, Mamasons caught our eye when they first popped up in Kentish Town back in 2017. Since then, they’ve expanded to 2 further locations in Chinatown and Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush serving up authentic “Dirty Ice Cream”, the nickname given to the ice cream sold by vendors on the streets of Manila, as well as various baked goodies.

Their most iconic sweet treat is the Halo Halo, a milkshake-cum-trifle layered with coconut, red bean, evaporated milk, flan, wafers and ice cream. They offer a range of exotic ice cream flavours include Milo, a malted chocolate drink, Black Buko, which translates to black coconut and Ube, a purple yam native to south east Asia with a mild and sweet flavour.

Some of our favourites from their menu are the Bilog, a Filipino ice cream sandwich which is lightly toasted and then dusted with powdered sugar, and the Ube brownie. Don’t be put off by the deep purple colour, this brownie is sweet and moist with a rich chocolatey flavour and packed full of white chocolate chips.

Mamasons Dirty Ice Cream – Kentish Town, Chinatown and Westfield London

Gelupo

Sticking with ice cream and just a stone’s throw away from Mamasons is Gelupo in Soho. There’s a plethora of ice cream shops in the area but this cute parlour serves up arguably the best gelato and sorbets in London. Everything is made fresh daily and so the menu is constant rotation. There are regular classics you can always find such as pistachio or stracciatella but if you’re lucky you may come across some more experimental offerings like white chocolate and lavender or the festive special speculoos, a shortcrust biscuit spiced with cinammon, anise and ginger.

You’ll regularly find queues snaking out Gelupo’s door, especially during the summer months, so be prepared for a short wait. There are counters and stools dotted around the space as well as some booths in the back to enjoy your order. They also recently acquired an alcohol license if you fancy an spritz or negroni to compliment your ice cream.

Gelupo – 7 Archer Street, London W1D 7AU

Blondie’s Kitchen

Blondie’s Kitchen burst onto the scene in 2016, starting out as a market stall and quickly becoming the UK’s first and only milk and cookie bar with their flagship location in the iconic Selfridge’s on Oxford street. They serve up American style cookies which have crisp edges, soft centres and a variety of delicious fillings from biscoff to kinder bars.

These are hands down our favourite cookies in the city and we regularly find ourselves stopping by whenever we’re in the area. They also provide a range of bake at home cookies as well as giant celebration cookies which Camilla treated me to for my 30th birthday earlier this year.

Blondie’s Kitchen – Oxford Street and Covent Garden

Bread Ahead

Though Bread Ahead offer a stellar array of breads and pastries as well their various cooking schools, their great reputation was founded upon their amazing doughnuts. Their original home in Borough Market was founded in 2013 but has quickly grown into a small empire including bakeries in Chelsea, South Kensington and even Jeddah and Dubai.

Queues can be painfully long on the weekends and doughnuts can sell out quickly so we’d recommend planning ahead. We’ve found the most joy in popping by in the week due to shorter queues and a greater selection. These doughnuts are big, messy and absolutely stuffed. They’re available with the classic fillings you’d expect like jam and custard but also with some more modern options like salted caramel and honeycomb or blackcurrant and mascarpone.

Our personal favourite is the seasonal hot cross bun doughnut only available around easter time and are filled with vanilla custard and a hot cross bun spice mix before being topped with raisins, candied orange peel and the classic baked cross

Bread Ahead – Various locations

Where The Pancakes Are

Although less ubiquitous than ice cream parlours or bakeries, there are still a few spots to consider when looking for the best pancakes in London. You might be tempted by My Old Dutch in Holborn and Chelsea or Polo Bar, the 24 hour café in Liverpool street. However, our seal of approval goes to Where The Pancakes Area with locations in London Bridge, Fitzrovia and Battersea.

Their eclectic menu draws on a range on influences including classic American diner-style pancakes and the lesser known Dutch babies, a large baked pancake with fillings in the centre that are a nod to founder Patricia Trijbits’ upbringing in the Netherlands. You’ll find staples like bacon and maple syrup alongside more creative offerings like pineapple and coconut and even pastrami and sauerkraut if you’re after something savoury. Don’t sleep on their coffee menu eithe, the Spanish latte, made L.A. style with condensed milk, is a perfect partner to your pancakes.

Where the Pancakes Are – London Bridge, Fitzrovia and Battersea

Kith Treats

Streetwear designer Ronnie Fieg’s boutique Kith opened it’s doors in Manhattan in 2011 and added NYC’s first cereal bar, Kith Treats, in 2015. We’ve had a love affair with New York since our first visit in 2017 so when we heard that London was getting it’s own Kith Treats location in 2019 we could barely contain our excitement.

Operating on the first floor of the department store institution that is Selfridge’s, Kith Treats serves up cereal based desserts with a streetwear twist. You can grab a simple bowl of cereal if that’s what you’re craving but the stars of the show are the milkshakes and ice cream swirls. They’re available with a range of toppings and mix-ins that combine US and UK classics in a variety of inventive ways. The Fiegster by Kith’s founder combines Frosties, Rice Kripsies with mini marshmallows and Oreos for example whereas the Yellow Drop created by Selfridge’s themselves honours their iconic yellow branding with Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and Reese’s Pieces.

If you’re not feeling any of the signature creations you’re also free to create your own by choosing from 10 different cereals and 12 mix-ins.

Wrapping Up

Our taste buds have been entertained for years by London’s incredible range of sweet treats. We hope this guide was helpful in showcasing a few long-time favourites that cater to a range of different sugar cravings. There are still so many indulgent desserts to be discovered across London’s neighbourhoods and part of the fun is letting your curiosity take the lead – poke your head into a cozy bakery or follow the scent of chocolate.

Some of our best food discoveries have come from chance encounters with passionate vendors crafting delightful sweets. Let us know what about any sugar-filled discoveries you make so we can add them to our must-try list.