Born into ice-cream.

For some it may be a dream but for Yaşar it is a lifestyle. His family had been already making ice-cream for 120 years when he was born. With most of the family in ice cream business, he was virtually born into ice cream. As a kid he ate a lot of it (who wouldn’t) but he also took part in every part of the process.

He poured, he tasted, he churned, he stretced and he sold ice cream in the family shops on his summer holidays. While other kids were dreaming simply of ice-cream he dreamed of his own ice cream shop, his own flavours and own formula.

Five generations of ice cream making.

Yaşar’s extended family is one of the oldest and biggest ice-cream makers in the middle east. More than a hundred years ago they started making ice cream with a secret ingredient ‘salep’ in the Turkish town of Marash.

Salep is made from a wild orchid root that grows on the mountains. The starchy and bulbous root of the orchid is collected at a special time of the year and ground into a delicious flour like substance. This ingredient gives the ice cream its one-of-a-kind stretchy consistency and its lovely flavour.

Yaşar’s family business Mado, has been a brand name in ice cream for decades. They produce delicious ice cream with traditional methods and serve it proudly.

Yaşar brought all the know-how of his family together with his creative ideas to found SOHO Creamery.

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Salep makes a comeback after 150 years.

At the beginning of the 19th-century salep (then called saloop), stands were a common sight on the streets of London. Salep arrived in London from the Ottoman Empire, modern day Turkey, and was quickly loved by Londoners due to its warm, sweet, and nutritious properties.

Salep was usually served at night due to the belief that it was the ‘best cure ever’for hangovers and early in the morning for its warming properties.

Salep could be found in coffee houses, tea gardens, and salep stalls around central London especially around Covent Garden and Soho, packed with music halls and small theaters at the time. This has been an inspiration for us to take over the name SOHO Creamery.

Salep disappeared from the streets of London towards the end of the 19th century, as tea and coffee became more commonplace. 150 years later, SOHO Creamery is proud to bring salep back to London, not only as a hot drink but also in ice cream form.

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