I had a quick trip to London on a very rainy and wet Bank Holiday Monday. (Anyone who lives or has ever lived in the UK knows that it nearly always rains on Bank Holiday Mondays, and the one at the end of August is normally wet.) I've been wanting to try the "create your own" Magnum pop-up shop that has been in place most of the summer with hashtag #MagnumLDN. I'm not currently based or working in London at the moment and am finding making a trip to the city to be a difficult in the past couple of months as I've also got to do some travel outside of the country, so a lack of warm and sunny weather was not going to stop me from creating my own ice cream.
I actually arrived at the pop-up shop at 10:35 in the morning, and I had to wait a little while for it to open at 11:30. When I arrived, a man and a child were already waiting for it to open. So, I took my space and waited. Actually, despite the weather, quite a queue formed. I saw what I could see through the windows, including some sculptures of Magnums that were made of crystals and London typography at the back of the shop, which was made out of the wooden sticks.
When the doors finally opened, I was asked to pick three toppings. They had everything: almond pieces, coffee, brownie pieces, coconut shavings, strawberry pearls, silver and black pearls, rose petals, dried raspberries, pistachio, hazel nuts, meringue, sugar-cinnamon, and so much more. I picked the cinnamon-sugar and the silver/black pearls, before being punched in the legs by the tenth time that morning by the impatient and unruly child behind me, and I just blurted out 'strawberry pearls'. I wished I'd had the coconut, but nevermind as the strawberry pearls tasted nice, although I already had the silver/black pearls. Nevermind.
These items were placed into a shaker, and I walked around the counter to where the staff asked me if I wanted chocolate or vanilla ice cream. I opted for vanilla and watched as she opened a Magnum ice cream in its wrapper, but the ice cream had yet to be dipped in chocolate. I then choose to have the vanilla ice cream dipped in dark chocolate. My photographs of this turned out to be blurry.
After the chocolate was dipped, the toppings in the shaker were placed on top of the Magnum. I was then asked which kind of chocolate (dark or white) to have drizzled on top, and I opted for white chocolate.
I was asked one final question about which branded 'Magnum' chocolate button I wanted, and I opted for the milk chocolate over white chocolate, and this was carefully placed on top of the Magnum ice cream with a pair of tweezers.
I was told to wait about a minute before eating the Magnum so that it could be left to dry into the perfect ice cream. I did wait, and I enjoyed my Magnum ice cream in the shop. I would love to visit the pop-up again before it leaves, but I am not sure that I will be able to do so. There's a close-up of my "create your own Magnum" below.
The Magnum ice cream pop-up shop can be visited until the middle of September. It is located in Covent Garden and is next to the entrance to the Royal Opera House. It's open from 11:30 in the morning.
Leave a comment