The Cornish Meadow has a classic, creamy, shaving-foam texture that coats the mouth with a plain, sweet, vanilla taste. They are a secretive breed and don't want to be photographed, let alone written about - something about licensing, rivals and being stitched up by the press in the past. It tastes as though a lot of caramel and milk chocolate chunks have just been tipped into the McDonald's ice cream; the sort of thing drunken flatmates mix together late at night when craving something very sweet and sickly.Tracking down an ice-cream van willing to participate in our tasting proves more difficult. "The key to trying ice cream is 'mouth feel'," explains Beattie, as she thoughtfully licks her ice. "McDonald's ice creams have a fluffier, lighter mouth feel and a more delicate vanilla taste than your average Mr Whippy. They are designed to appeal to absolutely everyone by being so bland as to be inoffensive." As her ice cream drips down its cone, Beattie points out how the mixture has separated, and now looks very watery I dig into my Caramel McFlurry. It is a beautiful dappled summer morning, the perfect day to embark on an exploration into some of the ice cream available to holiday-makers in London, from ice-cream van to Michelin-starred restaurant.

Karen Beattie, of the Ice Cream Alliance Ltd, has agreed to come along as an independent expert. She advises the ICA members on the technical side of the production and sale of ice cream We begin with McDonald's. The nearer we get to a branch, the more people I notice who are tucking into tubs of McFlurry Caramels (99p) I decide to sample that as well as a Cone and Flake (59p). While the feel is all ancient flag-stone floors, oak beams and log fires, the food is more contemporary. Start with toasted brioche with chicken livers and poached egg, go on to crisp belly pork with black pudding, and finish on lavender-infused cr? brul?Email Terry Durack about where you've eaten lately at t.durack independent.co.uk. The daily changing menu is a clever upgrading of British pub standards: old-fashioned pork terrine with apple chutney, beer-battered haddock and chips, and pan-fried scallops with smoked bacon and rocket.Queen's Head Hotel Townhead, Troutbeck, Cumbria, tel: 01539 432 174 This 17th-century coaching inn still regularly hosts Troutbeck's annual mayor-making ceremony, which dates back to Elizabethan times. Beer drinkers head for the downstairs pub, while wine fanciers are well served by the wine wall in the upstairs dining room.

Second helpings: Other right royal pubsKing's Arms Market Square, Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, tel: 01451 830 364 This 500-year-old coaching inn once provided lodging for Charles I These days, it's mainly full of appreciative locals. The daily changing blackboard menu draws on influences from across Europe in dishes such as grilled sardines with feta, spinach and pine nuts, and confit duck with figs.The Earl Spencer 260-262 Merton Road, London SW18, tel: 020 8870 9244 From the same stable as the much awarded Havelock Arms in Hammersmith, The Earl Spencer is no slouch itself, having won the Evening Standard Pub of the Year Award in 2003. *16 The Princess 76 Paul Street, London EC2, tel: 020 7729 9270 Lunch served Sun-Fri; Dinner served Mon-Sat Around £85 for two, including drinks and service. Even if it is, I have been here long enough to know that What This Country Needs is more Princesses.Just don't look at the high score and go there all dressed up to the nines, expecting bowing and scraping and valet parking That's not going to happen. Instead, go for a great kitchen doing desirable food in a cool, lively setting.To add to the fairytale ending, the table is cleared and the bill arrives With no main courses over £15, the pain is minimal And there, left on the table, is a single, forgotten pea So it is a real Princess after all I knew it. A well-crafted hot chocolate pudding (£4.95) is crusty without and molten chocolate lava within, with a nicely boozy sherry and raisin ice cream to the side.I hope its not just because I am Australian that I respond so readily to this democratic mix of gung-ho cooking, serious wine and informal professionalism.