amo il gelato, i love you ice cream

So, I've been feeling a bit down in the dumps the past few days.  My mam knows when I'm not feeling good, it's like she can read my mind.  It's quite scary really...but I love that she knows me so well.  She really is my best friend in the world.

Anyway, yesterday she promised me she'd take me to perhaps my most favourite place EVER.  And I mean ever ever ever.    It's even better than my squidgy bed with two duvets, although after a I've visited this place, it usually ends up me lying in said bed, in a sugar induced half-comatose state.

Two words.  Lickety Split.  The number one destination in the North-East of England for ice cream lovers.  Situated on the coast front in the small seaside village of Seaham, about 10 minutes drive from where I live, Lickety Split is the place to be if you're in need of a sugar/feel-good fix in the form of a delicious ice cream sundae!

Growing up with ice cream playing such a huge part of my heritage (my mam's father was from the italian Minchella family, who have an ice cream business in the North-East),  I've had my fair share of gelato.  So much, I think I'm a pretty good judge of what makes an excellent ice cream.

From outside, Lickety Split doesn’t look special, but once inside it’s as if you’ve entered a genuine 1950s diner- think the sort of place which would be fit to be the hangout of the Pink Ladies and T-Birds. Every detail has been considered to offer an authentic experience- from the juke box, to kitsch neon light signs, checkered floor and red leather booths, not forgetting a smattering of vintage posters on each wall.  

My camera was playing up, so I didn't manage to get any decent photos of the interior :( but here are some moutherwateringly delightful shots of the ice cream sundaes!  (I know you'll be tempted to lick the screen, but don't, trust me - you won't be able to taste it and you'll look very strange if someone walks in whilst you're doing it).

Safe to say, my resolution for 'healthy eating' has well and truly been broken.  I think I gained half a stone just from looking at it.

My mam eventually settled on the 'Cherry Lee Lewis' (left), a concoction of chocolate ice cream and morello cherry ice cream, topped with fresh cream and pistachios, and with a filling of warmed sour cherries in syrup.  I created my own sundae (right)- bubblegum ice cream,  Hannah Montana ice cream (pink bubblegum icecream with Smarties) and banana ice cream with fresh cream, fudge chunks, mini-marshmallows and bubblegum syrup.  Safe to say mine probably contained enough E numbers to power a whole classroom full of 5-year olds for a few hours.


We ate every last drop, with my mam even dropping and smashing her sundae glass, trying to get the cherry syrup out of the bottom. CRINGE.

What's the best ice cream you've ever had?

Do you know a place which you think could rival Lickety Split?

xo