Be warned, the following images and descriptions may not suit the eyes of a younger audience, however I will do my best to keep it in good taste.
This is the taster menu for the preview night, there is a much larger menu which offers full descriptions of each cocktail and ice cream flavour. I also got a badge, very cool! In fact I am extremely pleased with the badge.
The ice cream collection 'WikiLicks' contained 'The Vanilla Monologues' (it continues this way), 'Choc and Awe', 'Glastonbury' and 'Cold Sweat'. Other varieties including 'Baby GaGa', the breast milk ice cream that has graced our morning papers for weeks now are also available on the full menu. We will revisit this in a little while.
Cocktails on offer were the 'Toast Mortem', 'Sex Bomb', 'Miss Whiplash' and the 'Molotoffee Cocktail'.
First up was the 'Glastonbury' (roughly £4-£5), a seasonal berry sorbetto with a 'naughty' splash of berry liqueur. The ice cream itself was less gratifying it looked although it was very fruity. The liqueur failed to make a grand entrance unlike it's makers, this is the part where unfortunately I have to say even for ice cream specialists, perhaps more attention is given to style and atmosphere than the ice cream itself. Considering this is a 'premium' ice cream without much of an alcoholic kick, is this really something I couldn't get at another ice cream specialists such as Gelateria Danieli for a third of the price? Even more so when Danieli's rum and raisin has an almighty rum kick to it.
But that kick certainly did make it's presence known in 'The Sex Bomb' (£14.95). It boasts a thick and creamy fior de latte ice cream, a shot of La Fee Absinthe served through an IV drip by a busty blonde in a nurses outfit, and it's blowtorched before being poured over the ice cream. With it are ingredients such as Guarana, Ginko Bilabo and Arginine to create 'a natural viagra'. Banned spirits, viagra, nurses, I could be in heaven! Limited to one per customer so perhaps limbo on this one!
Here is the 'Molotoffee Cocktail' which the nice lady let me photograph for your enjoyment. Unfortunately she didn't let me try it so I can only explain that it is Creme De Banane liqueur mixed with Dulche De Leche ice cream and served with toffee and a meringue. Once more it is blowtorched (the novelty is slowly wearing thin). Here is also what the main ice cream counter looks like. As you can see the ice creams have fantastic names, 'Taking the Pistachio' is my favourite name, and they all look great and thick too.
THE VERDICT:
Being a preview and tasting night without the full blown theatrics of liquid nitrogen and models tarting up the cocktails, it was quite difficult to judge where The Icecreamists fit into my happy thoughts.
To go once is definitly worth it, it is different and it certainly is entertaining. I probably would not consider going again on my own money. The ice cream was nice but not brilliant and the hype of breast milk ice cream and absinthe is probably enough to overlook this point.
It was quite difficult to relax whilst being cramped in to a small space and having people constantly shuffling past. For a sit down place, the music was too loud to interact with anyone, it's not a club environment where constant drinks and pulling a funny face is enough to seem socially engaging.
I still had a good time and glad to have checked absinthe off my list of things to do before I die.
4/10.