Blue Moon Cafe – SADLY NOW CLOSED

It was one of those four seasons days in Edinburgh, today. It was gloriously sunny, icy cold, and helluva windy as I gently ankled down towards Broughton Street to meet regular quester Jane (we’ve previously lunched at Urban Angel and Café Marlayne, amongst other places). On my way, I ran in to a windswept MJ, on her way to attend to important university business, as befits her status as Edinburgh’s first doctor of stories.

Greeting Jane only a few strides later, we headed down the road towards the Blue Moon Café, a fixture of the district for as long as I can remember. Upon entering, we headed for the back room of the place, to make sure were far away from the cold blast of the wind.

Our friendly and attentive waiter quickly brought menus and took our drinks order. Jane had professed her adoration for their macaroni cheese to me previously, so it was no surprise that she opted for that, to follow her soup from their daily choice of two. What was rather good was that this dish, along with the chicken and leek pie I opted for, came in two sizes, with both of us opting for the smaller lunchtime portion.

Our soups quickly arrived, and both looked very tasty, and were served with warm soft bread. As Jane savoured the aroma of hers, I took in the deep red look of my tomato, stilton and spinach. We’ve start with the positives: the soup had a rare depth of flavour, proving richly satisfying. On the downside, the stilton didn’t really come through as a distinct flavour. But overall, the combination of ingredients created a really good bowl of soup.

I had a little taste of Jane’s and I was even more impressed, as it was full of pea sweetness, with the saltiness of the parmesan again bringing a rich depth to the soup. Jane said it could have used just a little more parmesan, but it was a very good soup.

Mains were high quality, too. My pie was just grand. The pieces of chicken in the filling were soft, tender, and perfectly cooked, with the leeks similarly well treated. The simple salad to accompany was good, although the fries weren’t up to much. Jane was delighted with her macaroni cheese, proclaiming it to be as good as ever.

So overall, we were provided with warmly comforting dishes when that was exactly what we required. In the unlikely event of me having a hangover at work in the future, come lunchtime my thoughts might just turn to a bowl of their lovely soup followed by some home-style treat to follow. If your needs are for something similar, in your hour of need, I think you’ll be very nicely served by the Blue Moon Café.

Scores

Blythe scores the Blue Moon Cafe:
4/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for service
3/5 for setting
giving an overall 14.5/20

Jane scores the Blue Moon Cafe:
4.5/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for service
3/5 for setting
giving an overall 14.5/20

Today’s questers were: Jane, Blythe

We ate: tomato, spinach and stilton soup, pea, parmesan and rocket soup, macaroni cheese, chicken and leek pie

We drank: sparkly water

We wore: black and white hooped top, pink and black flowery tie

Total bill: c.£20