New ice cream parlour Freggo opens

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THERE'S only one thing you can eat in this kind of heat, and that’s ice cream – lots of it.

In time for the scorching weather, ­Argentine ice cream joint Freggo is opening in Piccadilly, and it’s going to serve fresh treats until the early hours of the morning.

Dreamed up by the people behind steakhouse Gaucho , the place is being billed as a “bar”, not a parlour – it’s decked out with mirrors, booths and a stereo with lounge ­music and rock’n’roll.

“It’s easier for me to bring the ice cream here than go over to Buenos Aires all the time to eat it,” jokes ­Freggo’s operations manager Michael Di Palma, who’s in charge of shipping the stuff over “in very, very cold boats”.

Di Palma gives credit to A­rgentina’s cows for the special flavour of the ­country’s ice cream: “They are raised on grass and ­allowed to roam free all their lives, so you get a really nice thin milk that’s ­almost a blue-ish ­colour. It makes the ice cream lighter.”

Ice cream has been huge in Argentina since waves of Italian immigrants moved there in the 19th ­century.

Di Palma explains: “In ­Argentina, you go out for ice cream in the afternoon, or after a movie. All the ice cream ­parlours are open until 3am and they’re on every corner.”

The most popular flavour is dulce de leche, a type of smoky, ­syrupy boiled milk that is a South American institution. Freggo will serve three types of dulce de leche ice cream, as well as a wine-­flavoured malbec and a berries ­variety, made with the Argentine grapes used to make a ­popular type of red wine.

Other flavours Freggo will scoop out include passion fruit and chocolate with whole roasted almonds. ­Everything’s prepared in the motherland and, as Di Palma promises “there is a lot of love and care that goes into the making of the ice cream”.

The best part is that it’s open till 2am every day ­except Sunday, so you can hit the place after the pub and refuel before ­braving the night buses. Or just ditch the pub ­altogether and get giddy on sugar and caffeine in the plush purple bar. Perfecto!

Freggo, 27-29 Swallow Street, W1B 4QB, 020 7287 9506