The One Dish You Need to Eat in Edinburgh: Gelato

(Bloomberg) -- Scotland has never followed logic when it comes to food. The national dish is sheep’s innards, and deep-fried chocolate bars are a thing. The latest unlikely food fixation in its most famous city, Edinburgh: gelato.

Normally enjoyed adjacent to the warm waters of the Mediterranean, the refreshing, denser-than-ice-cream Italian dessert is now a staple to be savored huddled against the North Sea winds that buffet Edinburgh. Yes, Edinburgh — one of Europe’s coldest capital cities, where summer is fleeting at best and an extra layer is always advisable.

One reason the Scottish metropolis is a burgeoning gelato destination is, believe it or not, the weather. While the temperature rarely climbs above 20C (68F) even in July, the combination of heavy rainfall in the nearby Lowlands and summer’s extended daylight hours produces lush pastures and rich dairy products, plus succulent fruit. For gelato makers, that means the raspberry ripple is stocked with the flavor of local soft berries, and the brown butter scoops are silky and caramelized.

“You can almost tell the cows are happier here,” says Rebecca Fuller, founder of the bustling new gelateria Ciccetta’s.

A decade ago, there were one or two gelato parlors in the city; now there’s about a dozen. The latest entrant is industry giant Amorino, which arrived in Edinburgh in mid-July, just in time to entice the hundreds of thousands of visitors for the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Leandro Crolla, the co-owner of Vittoria Group, which brought the global Amorino brand to Scotland, says the company chose Edinburgh because of its high number of international visitors and the growing “foodie locals” community. There are three more Amorinos planned for the city.

More than half of the customers at Amorino’s shop, just off the famed Royal Mile, are tourists, Crolla notes. That’s not accidental: Edinburgh is a compact city with the cultural benefits of a national capital, so boutique food shops tend to snare more passing tourist business than, say, the sprawling metropolis of Birmingham in central England.

In 2024, Edinburgh attracted 5 million overnight visitors, twice as many as the nation’s largest city, Glasgow, according to the latest figures from VisitScotland.

The high volume of tourists ready to spend £5 ($6.70) on a cone hasn’t been lost on Edinburgh’s gelato makers.

“Tourism has gone through the roof,” says Mary Hillard, owner and gelato maker at the 13-year-old Mary’s Milk Bar on the bustling tourist drag of Grassmarket. Tourists make up more than half the clientele, with lines stretching down the block for unconventional scoops like walnut with lovage.

Scotland’s predilection for frozen desserts predates the post-Covid rush of tourists, to the arrival of Italian immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. Within three years, through 1905, the number of ice cream shops in Glasgow more than tripled to about 330. “Scotland has loved ice cream come rain or shine since then,” says Hillard.

These days Scots have developed an affinity for ice cream’s less sugary alternative, gelato, which is typically made with more milk than cream, often uses a shorter list of ingredients and is less processed than commercial ice cream.

Ciccetta’s owner Fuller says that in Scotland, “people’s standards have changed. They don’t want the mass-produced stuff anymore. They want to pay more and get better quality.” Although her Bruntsfield shop isn’t near the main tourist attractions, it still draws crowds even on rainy days.

Honorata Jarocka, associate director at market research firm Mintel, says gelato’s growing popularity across the UK “aligns closely with the Slow Food philosophy, which emphasizes artisanal craftsmanship, local sourcing and natural ingredients.”

Social media has also pumped up Edinburgh’s gelato scene. TikTok videos of the singular flavors at Mary’s Milk Bar, like the fried banana in butter and the licorice caramel, have created a dedicated fan base.

If Mary’s Milk Bar is a relative circuit oldie, the venue that put Edinburgh on the national gelato map is Oscar’s Gelato, in the beachfront neighborhood of Portobello. Earlier this year, head gelato maker Monika Oziablo and her team took home the top prize at the Golden Scoop Awards, after Oscar's was named the 2026 national champion for winning the most competition categories in the UK wide ice cream industry contest.

For Oziablo the premise was simple: Portobello had a beach, a bustling promenade and plenty of visitors, but no gelateria. In 2020 she opened Oscar’s with only a few days training in gelato-making and a limited line of flavors. Now she’s got more than 30 options, including the runaway bestseller, salted pistachio and chilli.

Several Edinburgh venues have barely been around long enough to enter a competition, including Ciccetta’s, Italian for “little, chubby one.”

The Australian-born founder Fuller remembers “coming to Scotland years ago and not finding a Sydney-standard good specialty coffee.” Now, she says, “specialty [coffee] is the standard, and we are seeing the same happening with gelato.”

Fuller says locals have been savoring the gelato in all weather, but during the warmer months she triples production to three tubs of every flavor on hand — usually 10, including deeply flavored pistachio, hazelnut and strawberry. Fuller said the shop sells about 1,000 scoops on a typical day. On sunny days it doubles.

In the future, the number of Ciccetta’s scoops might expand further. Fuller, who says she opened her store to be self-employed, says she might consider more locations: “There is more room to grow.”For those ready to ignore the siren call of haggis rolls and deep-fried Mars bars, here are three terrific Edinburgh gelaterias.

Innovative: Mary’s Milk Bar, Old Town

As the name of this pioneering Edinburgh gelato spot suggests, the signature scoop is milk: It delivers comforting simplicity with the taste of fresh dairy. More adventurous customers can sample one of the nine other flavors that Hillard churns daily and that change seasonally, from buttered sweetcorn to smoked pumpkin seed with cinnamon. 19 Grassmarket; marysmilkbar.com

Local Secret: Joelato, Stockbridge

In one of Edinburgh’s most bougie neighborhoods, Joelato is small and unassuming from the outside. But the roster of flavors is amazing, like the nutty and deeply caramelized brown butter, and pink rhubarb custard and crumble. This summer, Joelato has partnered with the Balmoral Hotel; it also has a shop in bustling St James Quarter. 31 North West Circus Place; hjoelato.co.uk

Late-Night Scoop: Basement Gelato Co, West End

At the well-trafficked intersection of Edinburgh’s Old Town and West End, Basement stays open until 10 p.m. to accommodate the multitude of passersby. The place maximizes local produce: In summer, the ricotta raspberry is milky with an oozy texture, and the sweet berry flavor has a sharpness to cut through the creaminess. If you want something even richer, order the bestselling Isle of Skye sea salt and dulce de leche. 31 Queensferry Street; basementgelatoco.co.uk

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