Even the door handle of South Street Coffee & Ice Cream Shop, in Isleworth, looks good enough to eat.
Carved by Katherine Groves, the wooden ice cream cone hints at the treats in store, but also at the unique relationship between the eatery and local craftspeople and artists.
As well as being scattered around the interior, their wares are on sale at the cafe's companion gallery around the corner in Lower Square, beside the factory where its weird and wonderful ice cream flavours are whipped up.
Each day, visitors to the craft shop can see a different local artist at work while perusing the unique gifts, available at a fraction of what you'd pay at a trendy craft fair. In return for a free space to create and display their goods, the craftspeople man the counter of the shop, which is open Tuesday to Friday, between 9.30am and 5pm.
Today, I find Sheila Langley finishing off a pair of patterned knitted mittens, which she says will sell for around £7 - a bargain when you consider the time and love she's invested in them.
Sheila's daughter Jenny Langley also sells her handmade jewellery in the shop, alongside the handiwork of just over a dozen local craftspeople, ranging from bags and cushions to a rocking horse and aromatherapy balms.
This symbiotic relationship typifies the way the community has taken the cafe to its heart, and vice versa, since it popped up in South Street some two years ago.
Mother and son duo Rowan and Tom Joyce, together with recently appointed general manager Janine Cording, know all their customers so well it's a wonder they find time to bake and freeze their tempting range of home made cakes and ice creams in between all the friendly gossip.
"I think we all benefit each other. When we needed furniture for the gallery, we put out a shout and lots of people donated tables and chairs, which was lovely," says Janine.
The free Wifi, comfy sofas, art and knitting classes, along with a book club and mother and baby groups, are all part of the charm. But it's the coffee and food which prove the real draw.
Tempting as the cornucopia of baked delights lovingly made on-site by Rowan undoubtedly are, Tom's frozen concoctions have become the star attraction, drawing in punters even as the mercury dips below zero outside.
The biggest sellers are salted caramel for the adults and blue banana among youngsters.
"We get children queuing out the door for blue banana and when we run out they have been known to burst into tears," says Janine.
If this makes it sound like some sort of crack for kids, parents will be relieved to know the artisan gelato contains just eight per cent fat - much less than traditional ice cream, which often has up to 20 per cent.
Having donned my hair and beard net I join Tom in his factory to see the magic in action. On the menu today are ginger and white chocolate, and raspberry and black pepper - not your typical high street flavours, but positively conventional when compared with past concoctions like beetroot and eggnog.
Tom was halfway through a degree in German and philosophy when he decided to quit to work in the cafe and make ice cream full-time.
"I've got a stake in the company and managerial responsibilities so I don't regret my decision, but I sometimes wonder what I'd be doing if I'd finished the degree," he says.
He currently works just one day a week in the factory, which opened last autumn, and the rest in the cafe. But with demand from commercial clients growing rapidly he could soon be spending much more of his time at the controls of the ice cream machine.
The 22-year-old already makes flavours to order for Isleworth gastropub the Royal Oak, in Worton Road, like beetroot and apple sorbet, and Drambuie ice cream to complement its upcoming Burns Night menu.
He's recently branched out into supplying local Thai restaurants, with flavours including Thai basil coconut and sticky rice, which is also on sale at the cafe.
After measuring out the base ingredients - all of which are natural, including a seaweed-based emulsifier as an alternative to eggs - he relies on sight and taste to adjust the flavour.
"My mum's a really good cook and I think I've picked up her understanding of flavours. But coming up with new varieties is a bit of a collaborative process because we'll adjust the quantities based on the feedback from our regular customers," he says.
"The salted caramel is one of our most popular flavours but it took a while to find the correct ratio. People kept asking for more salt so we obliged and now I use three teaspoons to two litres of milk, which seems to be the magic formula."
He's not wrong. When I try a spoonful, the salty kick perfectly marries the smooth caramel hit. It's my favourite of the flavours I sample, which also include sticky rice and Malteser.
Given Tom's adventurous flavour combinations, you'd imagine there have been a fair few disasters in the past but Janine insists not.
"The only real failures have been down to the texture, not flavour. For Halloween Tom made ice cream using Haribo sweets and marshmallow, but they became very hard and chewy when frozen, so it didn't really work," she tells me.
Now it's your turn to create the latest iced concoction by entering the cafe's competition to come up with a spring flavour.
Entries are already flooding in, says Janine, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, like radish flavour and frankfurter and ketchup.
If you think you can do better, and let's face it you probably can do better than those two, just pick up an entry form from the cafe before the judge's decision is announced on February 14.
