(Picture: Deni Kirkova)

The UK’s first vegan free-from ice cream parlour has just opened in London.

Yorica! is based on Wardour Street and serves all sorts, from nut-free peanut butter ice cream to matcha green tea frozen yoghurt and tonnes of different shakes.

All products and toppings are free from wheat, gluten, dairy, lactose, eggs, nuts, GMO and artificial sweeteners – and everything is fully vegan, even their ‘Oreos’.

It’s perfect for people with an allergy or intolerance, or those who fancy a treat they can attempt to convince themselves is ‘healthier’.


The ice cream and froyo base recipe uses rice milk and coconut cream.



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Flavours include beetroot and dark chocolate, pumpkin spice and moringa (tastes like matcha powdered green tea) – plus cookies and cream, chocolate, wowbutter and more.

They currently have 12 flavours but varieties change and grow constantly as the team experiment with the ice cream maker in the basement.

Choose from toppings like 100% vegan ‘Oreos’, called Keetoos, (imported from Canada) fresh raspberries or blueberries, and dried dates or goji berries.

Others include shaved coconut, vegan marshmallows, cacao nibs and bright sprinkles coloured using ingredients like turmeric and red pepper.

You can get your ice cream or froyo in a pot or free-from cone, or in a cute spherical bowl to go, and shakes can be served hot or cold.

The products are free from most of the 14 main allergens, allowing those with more complex dietary requirements to indulge without worry – though some contain soya and soy lecithin.

Yorica! shop manager Monica Jagielo says their all-natural ingredients are chosen from traceable, sustainable sources, making them as ethical and seasonal as possible.

They include rice milk (a replacement for natural dairy milk); seaweed (a natural thickener); vanilla bean paste (full of essential oils and vitamins); crystalline fructose (a nutritive sweetener); xanthan gum (a texture aid), guar gums (with stabilising properties) and natural fructose sugars derived from fruit.

Yorica! opened at the beginning of the month and serves up free-from treats on Sunday to Thursday from 10am to 11pm and Friday/Saturday, 10am to midnight.

Prices range from £2.95 to £5.20.

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Choose from toppings like totally vegan versions of Oreos, called Keetoos (Picture: Deni Kirkova)

Metro taste test Walking into Yorica! I’m greeted with a feel-good psychedelic decor complete with hanging chair and counterculture playlist seemingly from the 1960s . There’s a selfie wall encouraging Instagram posts and an area where kids can hang out and occupy themselves with iPads. The bar itself is a dream for vegans and those with tons of allergies. (Picture: Yorica!) I would assume there’s still a substantial amount of sugar and fat in the ice cream – despite it being natural and free-from, macros are macros. Yorica! is awaiting the final test results from the labs regarding nutritional breakdown of all the products, which will be received in the next two weeks. https://www.instagram.com/p/BCstz02SVz0/?taken-by=deniveganfitness My first choice is a large choc/matcha froyo topped with naughty and nice things like fresh fruit, brownie, vegan mini marshmallows and a Keetoo. This is divine from start to finish. The froyo is soft and creamy and tastes like dairy but without the sour lactose after-taste – perfect. My second is beetroot and dark chocolate ice cream topped with dates, cacao nibs and goji berries. Beetroot is a great source of folic acid and fibre, manganese and potassium while goji berries contain a wide range of phytonutrients like beta-carotene and lycopene. It is a little bitter and unusual thanks to the strong taste of goji with beetroot’s earthiness, not what you’d usually expect from ice cream. It was one I’d definitely order again. The healthiest treat I could assemble still ticked all the boxes (Picture: Deni Kirkova)

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