It is my birthday today, so what better way to celebrate than to combine a trip to the seaside with a visit to an award-winning ice cream maker. That meant it was the turn of Mancini's in Ayr.
We set off in time for lunch on what turned out to be an unseasonally cold, wet and blustery day. This is the West of Scotland so a brief reality check confirmed that this is optimum ice-cream weather. Luckily when we arrived we were able to park right outside, something that never fails to surprise us having lived in London for so long.
On entering we found our way to the only available table where I was surprised that the man on the neighbouring table said Hallo as if he knew us.
We opted for the 3 course meal when we discovered we could have ice-cream for our dessert course!
After a while I realised the man who had said Hallo was the owner, Philip Mancini who had joined his elderly mother who had popped in for lunch. She was greeted warmly by local customers who recognised her and commented that she must have come to ensure that the quality was being maintained!
The first two courses: minestrone and pizza were incredibly tasty prompting us to discuss how they had managed to inject so much flavour into our pizza's.
It is no surprise that we both chose a plain vanilla ice for dessert which proved to be very tasty: creamy with a lovely aftertaste.
There was quite a buzz in the café for a cold and blustery lunchtime and this establishment has shot to the top of my list of places worthy of return visits especially as the prices are so incredibly keen.
