The Cheese Lounge in Edinburgh, City of

Welcomed warmly by charming young staff and offered a choice of seats. The cheese lounge has a french/mediterranean bistro vibe to it with tiled walls and smoozy cuban lounge music playing gently in the background. Walk in customers to the shop take priority, so be prepared to wait. We wanted to take advantage of the excellent deal of a cheese board for two with a bottle of house white or red (£20), but were refused a taste of either,albeit most politely. We went for the white, Gran Cerdo which unfortunately wasn't to our taste. They had ice buckets, but no ice, though did offer to keep it in their fridge between glasses. The cheese board was kindly made up of some requested favourites and some new ones to try, all accommodating my cow's milk intolerance, presented with a low-down on each, evidencing where their expertise lies. Some delicious cheeses, though for some odd reason they toasted the lovely crusty bread that accompanied them. We would have preferred the option of plain bread as by the time we were ending our selection the toast was brick hard. The quince was a welcomed sweet addition alongside all the savoury tastes. My husband gave up on the Cerdo wine and requested two different reds. First was delicious but second was served from a very cold fridge, coming colder than the whit, which although have experienced in some lands, disappointingly prevented the rich flavours to come through. Shame. So despite a relaxing ambiance, charming staff and delicious cheeses, we feel the lack of wine knowledge prevented this from being an 'excellent' review.

Went out with a few friends for a mate's birthday and honestly had an absolute blast. They really know their cheese and can really tailor a cheeseboard to your preferences. On top of that, amazing service, genuine laughs with the staff, and would go back in a heartbeat.

I would highly recommend paying the cheese lounge a visit if you like your cheese and wine. An excellent selection of cheese (as you would expect from a cheese specialist), fantastic cold meats, lovely bread and oatcakes and we had a beautiful bottle of white to go along with it all. And the girl servings us was very good indeed, made some great recommendations and couldn't be more helpful. All in all a wonderful afternoon and we'll be back.