CHIN CHIN is an innovative experimental dessert brand, launched in London’s Camden Market, as Europe’s first liquid nitro parlour in 2010. Boasting celebrity customers that include Angelina Jolie, Jude Law, Tim Burton and Mila Kunis, they’ve been hailed by The Observer as ‘The future of ice-cream’ and The Times voted them ‘Best Ice Cream Parlour in England’. A decade on, and they now have two additional sites – CHIN CHIN Dessert Club in Soho (opened 2017) and the 1950’s inspired dessert kiosk, CHIN CHIN Dessert Bar in Dinerama, Shoreditch (opened in 2019). 2020 marks the 10th anniversary of the brand.
We caught up with the founders for the latest in our ‘My London’ series.
Favourite neighbourhood:
Marylebone, we’ve lived here for the best part of 15 years and remember when the anchor store on the high street was a Dixons, its a bit more luxe now and has a great mix of indie shops Daunt Books, The Ginger Pig, La Fromagerie are all lauded and rightly so but we get equal satisfaction by wandering around the Arab supermarkets on the outskirts of Marylebone to buy Kunefe, fat pomegranates and big bunches of herbs.
Favourite place for brunch:
We love cooking, but hate making breakfast and so when I want to be served a spread Fischer’s is a Corbin & King masterclass in servility, it nails silver service at breakfast with all the trappings as its meant to be, good value with just the right seasoning of stuffiness.
Best coffee in London:
Omotesando Koffee on Newman Street, we appreciate dedication to detail and the Japanese do that so well. The Coffee is extra delicious with a little Kashi, a square custardy canelé.
Favourite gallery or museum:
Its got to be the Barbican, the brutalist beauty with big open spaces consistently inclusive and forward thinking exhibitions and importantly it has a great gift shop and the Wallace Collection is overlooked its got a large collection of Old Masters and some real bling bling sevres gaudiness that we cant get enough of.
Tell us a secret:
We are both lactose intolerant
Favourite place to shop
Liberty is our favourite, a big mock tudor department store constructed from the timbers of two old ships its proper London isn’t it, Burlington Arcade ( mostly window shopping!), Mons cheeses, in Borough Market- they have their own caves in France to age their cheeses and drive it down when its ready. Natoora for fruit & veg,Party Party in Dalston for cake equipment, Pierre Marcolini for chocolates, Rye crackers from the Scandinavian Kitchen, Macari’s for guitar pedals, The Indian Spice shop on Drummond street for Mangoes and Curry mixes,Kitchen provisions at Coal Drops Yard for a kitchen geekout; we consume and take in everything the city has to offer
Favourite place to find inspiration:
For Chin Chin inspiration trips we look outside of London and regularly visit Paris, making sure we always hit up Cedric Grolet’s pastry shop at Le Meurice, Sadaharu Aoki in galleries Lafayette, and stock up with the best chocolate at Jean Paul Hevin. But really inspiration can strike anywhere, a band’s flyer in Camden, a book cover at the ICA or a scene from a John Hughes film might lead to a new sundae or cake.
Best London destination for a date:
For our date days we’d do something like a long stroll along the Southbank and a nice meal somewhere buzzy like Sabor, open spaces like Hampstead Heath are great for first dates, nothing too formal and no movies – what is the point of staring at a screen for a few hours rather than chatting nonsense and laughing together.
Favourite park:
Regents Park on a hot day in July when the Rose Garden is in full bloom drinking an over-extracted iced americano on a bench with bees buzzing and the faint sound of test cricket on a tinny radio being played in the distance, perfect day.
Favourite food market:
Ridley Road in Dalston, its a real cross section of life in London; not in a sterile new development or an over curated ‘Premium lifestyle’ space, its London Life at its most authentic, warts and all, plus 5 plantain for a pound.
Your sanctuary in the city:
Swimming pools, 30 minutes in the water offers us a bit of respite, a cup of tea and a chocolate plum in the silence of Paul Roethe & Sons on Marylebone Lane, after the lunchtime rush mind you.
What inspires you?
Creating new and interesting things to delight our customers is the driving force behind Chin Chin, what we do is totally frivolous we know that and we are grateful to do it for a living. The truth about any decent food place is they like feeding people first and are a business second and we are no different.
This season I’m loving:
Summer, the thing is in Winter as ice creamers you feel a bit like washed up Rockstars, lots of bills and no hit singles, but hot sticky nights in Soho when the store is packed and the music is right and there’s a good vibe, it’s like a scene from that 80s Tom Cruise film Cocktail.
