The weather in the has been sweltering this week, with temperatures creeping up to the mid and late 20s. It's the perfect weather for ice cream and, in my opinion, there's little that can beat a good vanilla ice cream. However, being from New Zealand, plenty of the brands here are unfamiliar to me, so I headed out on a bright 24C day to scour some shops and see what I could find.

Originally, I wanted to get a few supermarket own brands from Tesco, Sainsburys, Aldi and Waitrose, but I had forgotten that as soon as the weather gets above 20C in London everyone collectively loses their minds. The shelves in Aldi were entirely empty, and Tesco and Sainsbury's didn't appear to have any of their own brands stocked either. Sweating from walking between so many shops, I settled on Waitrose, Wall's, and Carte D'Or.

It wasn't a perfect split, but after half an hour in the blazing sun, I was more than ready to sit and try some ice cream.

Luckily for me, I had some help to taste test them from my friends, who were more than happy to take a lunch break and help me decide which was best.

Walls Soft Scoop Vanilla £2.85

I really wasn't looking forward to this one - as the cheapest and most artificial looking of the bunch, I didn't have high hopes.

However, I was pleasantly surprised. The texture was great, nice and smooth and although it wasn't proper vanilla (artificial flavouring) it tasted delicious.

The butter yellow colour was pleasing and I loved it. My friends however, didn't agree. Beth said it "tasted like nothing" and "reminded me of Blackpool", while Tom agreed it was very much "giving seaside".

Overall I give Wall's an 8/10.

Waitrose Duchy Organic Vanilla Ice Cream £3

This was the one I thought I would like the most - I am a sucker for the finer things in life, and this seemed very fancy, so I had high hopes. But these hopes were shattered on the first taste. It was really weak, without much vanilla kick to it at all - there were no flecks of vanilla bean as I would expect in a fancier brand of ice cream. The texture was odd, too; much more ice than it was cream. Beth agreed with me, saying: "It reminds me of eating raw cake mix and not in a good way" but the boys both loved this one.

Tom said: "It's buttery and the vanilla is a lot more subtle even though it's just extract," and Sam agreed, saying "it doesn't taste like sugar it just tastes like ice cream."

Overall, I'd give Waitrose a 3/10.

Carte D'Or Madagascan £3.90

This was the midway point between Walls and Waitrose for me. It did have actual vanilla in it, rather than extract unlike the other two. The texture was good too - a buttery, creamy richness that rolled over my tongue. With that said however, the taste was average. Beth loved this one, although Sam and Tom both agreed that it was a little overly sweet with an "artificial fluffiness".

I would give Carte D'Or a 5/10.