Oliphant's Ice Cream and Bakery

Oliphant's Ice Cream and Bakery trades from Unit 28 in the Lower Courtyard of the Market Building, under the glass roof at the centre of the Covent Garden Piazza. It is the London shop of Oliphant and Pomeroy, an artisan producer of ice cream, pastries and chocolate based in the Buckinghamshire countryside, and it serves pastries, coffee and handmade ice cream to the crowds moving through the market.

The company makes its products at Three Bridge Mill in Twyford, drawing on the surrounding countryside for ingredients, and describes itself as part of a good food movement that favours simple good taste over gimmicks. Its cinnamon buns have won a Great Taste Award, and the pastries are made with exceptionally fine flour and Normandy butter, giving a flaky, sugary outside and a soft, buttery middle rippled with organic cinnamon. A second cafe trades at Bicester Village in Oxfordshire, and the buns can now be ordered online for delivery across the UK, arriving ready to bake at home in twelve minutes.

Ice cream in Covent Garden Market, with buns on the side

The ice cream is English-style and churned by hand, scooped into cones and cups and finished with the branded wafer. The bakery counter carries the classic cinnamon bun along with chocolate and salted caramel buns, butter pecan buns, and plain, almond and pistachio croissants, with a vegan almond croissant among the options. Craft coffee is served hot or iced, and the combination of a warm bun and a scoop of ice cream is the order most people settle on.

What to expect on a visit

Expect a small counter in the busiest part of the Piazza, so there is usually a queue at weekends and on sunny afternoons. It opens daily from 9.30am, closing at 7pm on Mondays, 6.30pm from Tuesday to Friday and on Sundays, and 7.30pm on Saturdays. It is one of several bakeries in Covent Garden, and for Swedish cardamom buns baked on the premises, Bageriet on Rose Street is a short walk west of the market.