Megan gets seriously into artisan gelato in time for the summer.

We’re spoilt for choice when it comes down to dessert in London. Over the last few years, every variation of doughnut has blessed our social media screens from the cronut (croissant doughnut) to the brionut (brioche doughnut).

Restaurants have joined in the sweet soirée too, places like Gloria have their giant lemon meringue pie, while even street food spots like Humble Crumble have their grand, Instagrammable offerings.

Now, there’s a new kid on the block and it’s gunning for the TikTok viral dessert crown. Meet: Badiani’s Gelato Burger.

Walking into the parlour, you don’t get a sense of its history which dates back to a single gelateria in Florence in 1932. The Covent Garden site is bright with bold orange-yellow walls and a clean, modern finish aided by glowing signs of motivational phrases such as ‘be inspired’ — I’m not sure I’d call ice cream inspirational but I admire the efforts of Badiani to tick all of the boxes for a TikTok foodie hotspot.

Past the decor is when you get an inkling of the unique qualities of the store. Forget plain old vanilla, chocolate or strawberry; the ice cream offerings are numerous and creative.

There’s ricotta, mascarpone, salted butter caramel (tasted like biscoff) as well as a pear sorbet which was so flavoursome and refreshing, it must have been 90 percent fruit purée.

The only issue with having so many unique options is making a decision on just one but luckily the servers behind the counter were kind enough to let us do some all-important taste testing before deciding what gelato would form the patty of our ice cream burger. For me: a cream-based gelato with flaked almonds and pistachios; for my partner: the signature Buontalenti with hazelnut and chocolate sauce swirled throughout. 

As with any good burger, it’s got to be accompanied by a relish or sauce that lives up to the standard of its filling. In this case, you’re swapping out classic burger sauce for one of milk chocolate, white chocolate, pistachio, caramel, or hazelnut.

If it came down to just the sauce, I would’ve opted for caramel or white chocolate but Badiani was testing my flavour-pairing skills and it felt like the sensible option to pair my creamy, nutty gelato with the pistachio sauce.

My choice of pistachio was loaded onto both the top and bottom bun before sandwiching an impressive globe-sized scoop of gelato. It was then popped into a waffle-press for the bun to be toasted.

Toasted? Yep, and somehow the ice cream doesn’t end up as just a puddle of cream. Thanks to the gooey, elasticity of the gelato, it maintains some of its consistency which gives the burger a decent texture.

The bun itself would have benefited from a little extra toasting for the perfect bite but I suspect a couple extra seconds in the toaster and I would’ve been having gelato soup.

While the sauce, the ice cream and the bun, all pulled together a fairly decent take on a burger, it was the scoop of gelato that stood out — and you could probably guess that with Badiani being an ice cream shop.

Gigantic scoops of gelato, one labelled ‘the criminal’ (a creamy, vanilla ice cream with caramel, sponge pieces, nuts and chocolate) and another cheesecake, piled high on top of a crispy, hazelnut-crumb wafer cone, was effortlessly perfect.

Although, in my opinion, the uncomplicated bliss of artisanal gelato just can’t be beaten, I wouldn’t be surprised if my For Your Page was filled with oozing gelato and toasted brioche rolls just in time for summer.