Mary's Milk Bar

You're standing on the Grassmarket with a cone in hand, watching tourists mill about the cobblestones whilst you're genuinely enjoying what you've just bought. Mary's does that thing where they take ice cream seriously without being annoying about it — interesting flavours that actually work, creamy bases that don't taste like sugared air, and staff who actually know what they're talking about. It's become the sort of place locals actively choose over the chain shops that cluster round the Square, which tells you everything. Sit on those stone steps with the castle looming above or grab a seat inside if the weather's being typically Scottish.