Mary's Milk Bar, Grassmarket, Edinburgh

I had seen many delicious pictures of ice cream from Mary's Milk Bar on Instagram, so I was keen to pop in past for a quick look at what is on offer.

I was pleasantly surprised.  There was a fantastic selection of flavours, and a great offering of non ice cream goodies - all in a teeny tiny wee shop!

The shop itself is decorated in pretty pastels and evokes a fabulous vintage glamour feel due to many of the fixtures and fittings being upcycled classics themselves - think formica tables and ice cream wall lights - which makes you feel is if you have stepped back in time.

I opted to have a two scoop tub, with my flavours of choice being salted caramel and pineapple and chilli!  Alan had a two scoop cone with salted caramel, and honey and lavender.

As it turned out, at the time we were ordering at the counter, Alan thought I had cash, and I thought he had cash - we were penniless!  Unfortunately (for us, not in general), Mary's Milk Bar does not take card, so I had to nip out to the nearest cash machine in order to pay.  Easier said than done.  The two nearest cash machines were being either fixed or refilled so I had to venture a little further for the next one, all whilst knowing that either my ice cream was in risk of melting or being eaten by Alan.  I eventually found one, although it charged me £1.99 for the 'pleasure'.

When I arrived back, my ice cream was intact.  Wehey!

Alan had demolished most of his cone, which I was a bit sad about as I was hoping to try the honey and lavender flavour.  Although, I was keeping by beady eye on his hot chocolate, wishing I had ordered one too.  Both of my flavours were delicious, particularly the pineapple and chilli one - I love trying new flavour combinations and this was certainly not something I had tried in ice cream before.  I thoroughly recommend it.  

At first I did find it a little pricey, with us being charged over £10 for a wee hot chocolate and two ice creams, but I can understand that you are paying for the experience as well as great quality ice creams.  Of course, Edinburgh is generally a little more expensive all round anyway - and after tasting the ice cream and a sneaky sip or two of Alan's hot chocolate, I was more than satisfied that we were getting decent value for money.  The hot chocolate was possibly the highlight for me, it was clearly made with proper chocolate and had the cutest wee spoon with a delicate decorative handle, again adding to the time travelling experience.  There was no way I could have had both an ice cream and a hot chocolate that day though, but I'll bear this in mind for my next visit.  

This is a fantastic wee place, which we will return to upon our next visit to Edinburgh, without a doubt!