MJ and I are walking 31 miles for charity, a week tomorrow. If you pardon the pun, we’re taking this in our stride, as you may remember that we walked double that distance, just a few months ago. However, in the run up to the big day, I am becoming slightly worried that our training regimen has been a little lax, this time round.
Exterior
In a last-ditch bid to get some worthwhile short-distance training in, in the remaining days, I thought I’d take a slightly longer lunchtime walk, today. Accordingly, I set my sights on the Wee Boulangerie, on Clerk Street, following a recommendation from Union of Genius soup maestro, Elaine.
Of course, part of Elaine’s recommendation was to highlight that Union of Genius are now supplying the lunchtime soup. Their soupy empire has really taken off, with Wee Boulangerie now sitting alongside Brew Lab, Printworks, French Press, and Razzo as now stocking wonderful Genius soups.
Savoury selection
I was more than delighted to break my Timberyard and Jamie’s Italian-enforced soup-drought of the last couple of days, with a bowl of particularly tasty chickpea and merguez spiced goodness.
The boulangerie is in a bright little shop, with room for just a couple of tables. The welcome was incredibly friendly, both from the delightful woman behind the counter, and also from the more than obliging regular customer, ahead of me in the queue. She insisted that I get served ahead of her, as she contemplated her choices from the sweet and savoury selection. In return, I suggested that she should try the newly stocked soup, a request she was quick to comply with, once the tempting selection was described to her.
Soup
To go with my soup, I sought advice on what I should try. It was suggested that something called a fougasse would be the way to go. A Provencale version of focaccia, the bread forms the basis for savoury stuffed treat, along somewhat similar lines to a calzone.
That’s a bit of a mangled description, but the bottom line is that they generally have two fougasse options, which today were cheese and jalapeno peppers, or soubressade, which is a type of Algerian/French sausage.
For those who know all about fougasses, and are despairing at my lack of descriptive accuracy, I have but one thing to say to you: why did you not tell me about these wonderful things before now?!
Fougasse!
Seriously, I was blown away by both the delicious bread and the sumptuous filling. The soubressade was soft and richly satisfying, and its oil seeped gently into the bread, making for some incredible mouthfuls of gorgeous delight. I could eat these things every day for the rest of my life, so it’s rather fortunate that the place is a good 40 minute round trip from my office, ensuring that if I do decide to do so, I will be getting a good amount of exercise to offset this lunchtime decadence.
So, it’s safe to say that I was incredibly impressed with the Wee Boulangerie. I have already suggested to my esteemed colleague over at Cake Quest that she should add it to the top of her list, so that their sweet treats can be duly sampled, as well. I’ll certainly be back on many occasions to try further fillings of the fabulous fougasse. I look forward to that with considerable relish.
Scores
Blythe scores Wee Boulangerie
4.5/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for service
3.5/5 for setting
giving an overall 15.5/20
Today’s quester was: Blythe
I ate: chickpea and merguez spiced soup; soubressade fougasse
I drank: nowt
I wore: dashing waistcoat
Total bill: £6.75
Wee Boulangerie
67 Clerk Street
Edinburgh