Top 10 Best Ice Cream Brands in Barking and Dagenham

Frozen Desserts in an East London Borough

Ice cream is one of those products where the gap between the ordinary and the excellent is enormous, yet most people rarely experience the upper end. Barking and Dagenham is a good place to close that gap. The borough's communities have brought their own frozen dessert traditions, and the result is a scene where Italian gelato, South Asian kulfi and falooda, Turkish dondurma, Caribbean soursop sorbet and West African frozen treats all coexist alongside modern craft ice cream.

Warm weekends see steady trade at parlours around Barking town centre, along Heathway and near the borough's parks, particularly Barking Park, Central Park and Parsloes Park. Several local producers also supply restaurants, caterers and independent shops across East London, meaning the borough exports rather more frozen dessert than its profile suggests.

What Makes Ice Cream Genuinely Good

Three technical factors dominate quality. The first is overrun, meaning the volume of air whipped into the mixture. Cheap ice cream can be well over half air, which is why a large tub feels weightless and melts to very little. Premium ice cream and gelato contain far less air, producing a denser, more intensely flavoured product.

The second is fat and dairy quality. Real cream and whole milk carry flavour and create a smooth mouthfeel that vegetable fat substitutes cannot match. The third is flavouring: real fruit purée, actual vanilla pods, properly roasted nuts and genuine chocolate taste entirely different from synthetic equivalents. A useful test is colour, since real pistachio is a dull khaki green rather than bright emerald.

Gelato differs from traditional ice cream by containing less fat, less air and being served slightly warmer, which is why it tastes more vividly of its flavouring. Sorbet contains no dairy at all and depends entirely on fruit quality.

Ten Ice Cream Brands to Try in Barking and Dagenham

Riverside Gelateria is widely considered the borough's best gelato producer, making small batches daily using traditional Italian methods. Their pistachio, hazelnut and seasonal fruit sorbets are genuinely excellent, and the low overrun is immediately noticeable in the density of each scoop.

Barking Creamery produces craft dairy ice cream with British cream, offering both classic flavours and inventive seasonal specials. Their salted caramel and burnt honey varieties have developed a strong local following.

Dagenham Kulfi House specialises in South Asian frozen desserts, including pistachio, mango and malai kulfi, plus falooda served with vermicelli and rose syrup. The kulfi has the correct dense, slightly chewy texture that comes from properly reduced milk.

Thames Sorbet Company focuses entirely on dairy-free fruit sorbets and granitas, using high fruit percentages. Their alphonso mango and blackcurrant sorbets are intense and clean-tasting, and they supply several local restaurants.

Becontree Scoop Shop is a family-run neighbourhood parlour offering a broad range of well-made flavours at accessible prices, plus knickerbocker glories and sundaes that keep children returning throughout the summer.

Chadwell Plant Based Ice Cream produces entirely vegan frozen desserts using oat, coconut and cashew bases. The coconut-based chocolate and the oat-based vanilla are notably close in texture to dairy versions, which remains technically difficult to achieve.

Eastbrook Turkish Ice Cream makes dondurma in the traditional stretchy style, thickened with salep and mastic, giving it a distinctive chewy texture and slow melt. It is a genuinely different eating experience.

Goresbrook Caribbean Frozen Treats offers soursop, guinep, tamarind and rum-raisin flavours alongside frozen fruit ices, bringing authentic Caribbean flavours that are hard to find elsewhere in the capital.

Castle Green Artisan Ices works with unusual savoury-leaning and herbal flavours, including olive oil, basil, cardamom and black sesame, appealing to more adventurous palates and to restaurants seeking distinctive desserts.

Roding Valley Soft Serve completes the list operating high-quality soft-serve and Mr Whippy-style service from vans and kiosks around the borough's parks, with a notably better dairy base than the sector average.

Trends in the Frozen Dessert Market

Plant-based frozen desserts have improved beyond recognition. Early versions were icy and thin, but modern oat, cashew and coconut bases combined with better stabiliser systems now produce genuinely creamy results, and demand continues to rise for both dietary and environmental reasons.

Reduced sugar and higher protein formulations have found a substantial market, though quality varies considerably and the best examples still rely on good ingredients rather than clever chemistry. Meanwhile, interest in authentic regional traditions is growing, with customers actively seeking kulfi, dondurma and Sicilian-style granita rather than defaulting to familiar flavours.

Sustainability is influencing packaging, with more producers moving to recyclable tubs and paper-based cones. There is also a clear shift towards local, small-batch production, as customers increasingly prefer buying from a producer who makes the product on site.

Buying and Storing Tips

Judge a parlour by its pistachio and its vanilla, since both expose shortcuts immediately. Ask what the base is made from, and note that good operators answer readily. Look for gelato stored in covered pozzetti wells rather than piled into decorative mounds, which indicates temperature discipline rather than display priority.

At home, keep tubs at the back of the freezer rather than in the door, where temperature fluctuates and causes ice crystals. Let premium ice cream stand for a few minutes before serving, as it is denser and served colder than mass-market products. Press cling film onto the surface of an opened tub to prevent freezer burn.

Final Thoughts

Barking and Dagenham rewards anyone willing to explore its frozen dessert scene properly. The borough's cultural diversity has produced a range of traditions and techniques that few areas of London can match, from dense Italian gelato to authentic kulfi and genuinely good plant-based options. Seek out the small producers, ask what goes into the base, and the difference will speak for itself.