Big Kid Ice Cream
Harry Webb builds the vanilla for his new soft-serve counter from organic milk, brown butter and Madagascan vanilla, which makes it a browned-milk-solids custard (Restaurant, 2026).
Why go
Webb started Big Kid in the West Midlands in 2022, brought it to London as an ice cream van, and ended up with a counter at 1 Kingly Street. The company office is still in Wolverhampton. Everything is small batch, and the flavor list is where the work goes: McDonald's fries, wasabi peanut butter, Marmite on toast, olive oil baklava, chocolate cereal milk, ube blueberry muffin. Hot Dinners put it on its July 2026 list of the best ice cream in London and described the churn as all small batch and some it is highly experimental.
In August 2026 the brand opens a second London site, Whippies, on the top floor of Seven Dials Market, which is soft serve and sundaes rather than scoops (Time Out, 2026).
Order this / avoid
- Order: whichever of the experimental scoops is on that week, and take the soft serve if the machine is running, since that base is the most technically interesting thing here. The olive oil baklava and the chocolate cereal milk are the two flavors that read as recipes rather than dares.
- Avoid: the peanut butter wasabi. The Infatuation found it
lacks the creamy texture we look for in an ice cream
and said finishing a whole scoop was a slog. Share the stunt flavors rather than committing to a full portion. Also check the hours before walking over, because the Soho BID directory lists a 5.30pm opening on Monday, Thursday and Friday while the shop's own site says noon.
What locals & experts say
- Rianne Shlebak, The Infatuation (2025): the dissenting review, and the only bylined one found. The peanut butter wasabi
lacks the creamy texture we look for in an ice cream,
and her advice is to share and to come for the novelty rather than the quality.2 - Hot Dinners (2026): listed among the best ice cream in London on 6 July 2026,
think ice cream tasting of McDonald's fries or olive oil baklava,
with the note that the brand haspopped up all over London
and isback in Carnaby, perfectly timed for the summer.
3 - Leonie Cooper, Time Out food and drink editor (2026): calls the Kingly Street shop
Soho's soft serve hole in the wall,
and put the Seven Dials offshoot on the August 2026 openings list.4 - Local rec: from Jeff's own list, filed as his ice cream pick (his note below). Worth reading alongside the Infatuation line above, which takes the opposite view.
Good to know
- Timing: the shop's own site says open every day from noon; the Soho BID directory lists 5.30pm starts on Monday, Thursday and Friday, and closes at 11pm on Friday and Saturday. Check before you go.
- Booking: none, it is a counter.
- Two sites from August 2026: this page is the Kingly Street scoop shop. Whippies, the soft-serve and sundae offshoot, opens 8 August 2026 on the top floor of Seven Dials Market, Earlham Street WC2H 9LX. Different address, different format.
- Is it permanent? Trade press in July 2026 calls the Soho shop permanent, while Hot Dinners the same month describes the brand as "back in Carnaby" for the summer. Check the shop's channels before making a trip for it.
- Dietary: nothing is published. No vegan, dairy-free or allergen statement appears on the site or in any coverage, so ask at the counter.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 3, generally satisfactory, Westminster, inspected 26 March 2026. Hygienic food handling scored 5, cleanliness and condition of structure 10, confidence in management 107.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: "Best ice cream london" REAL.
Verdict
could-visit — Harry Webb started this in the West Midlands in 2022 and got to Soho by way of an ice cream van, and the flavor development is the real work: McDonald's fries, Marmite on toast, olive oil baklava, ube blueberry muffin, all small batch. The base recipe he built for the Seven Dials soft serve, organic milk with brown butter and Madagascan vanilla, says he is browning milk solids for depth rather than only writing funny menu boards. Against that, the one bylined review says the texture does not carry the ideas, and the March 2026 hygiene inspection came back a 3. Worth a stop if you are on Kingly Street, and worth watching, but not a trip.