As Britain experiences its hottest ever summer, the British are trying every trick in the book to beat the heat. And what can work better than a fresh scoop, or tub, of ice-cream to cool your nerves? In capital London, people are even going beyond the tried-and-tested vanilla, strawberry, chocolate and butterscotch and happily gorging on a whole new range of flavours that are, hold your breath, traditionally savoury in taste.
On the shocking platter are baked bean, porridge oats, and even HP sauce flavours. Also on the menu are soy sauce, tomato ketchup, and mayonnaise flavours.
The Ice Cream Project, a temporary concept store in central London, has been serving the weird flavours of ice-creams and sorbets since July 9, and will remain open until August 28.
One Scoop For £3.50, 500ml Tub Costs £10
The store has customers, especially children, queuing up in large numbers.
"We sold out of six weeks' worth of ice cream in four days…,” an employee at the shop told news agency Reuters. She said the project was offering a new twist on "British store cupboard classics".
"There's lots of weird flavours and ...me and my sister were very excited to try lots of them," the report quoted nine-year-old Izzy Konviser as saying.
"I think the weirdest ...is probably ketchup, and baked beans…"
There are testers available for customers to try before they decide which flavour to buy. One scoop of the ice-cream is sold for £3.50 (around Rs 335), while a 500ml tub costs £10, according to local media reports, which also said the wait time for queues could be up to two hours on an average on weekends.