We’ve been eating in to our backlog of posts, over the past few days, as I’ve been off on holiday, firstly at a wedding, then in Istanbul. Before both, we made a little stop at Leaf & Bean, a charming little family-friendly cafe in Morningside.
Exterior
We arrived at the lunchtime rush, but the place looked worthy of waiting for a wee while, until a table cleared. I was joined today by Michael and Laura, who most recently quested at The Cholas, so we were a table of three.
Our needs were varied, so we ended up, without any planning, trying a good range of their offerings. I chose soup, with today’s variety being a red pepper and coriander. Mike required a sandwich, so chose their chicken club. Laura, who has gluten-free as a requirement, opted for one of their sweet treats, eventually settling upon their pancakes, from a decent selection.
Soup
The place was abuzz, as you would expect from a lunchtime full house. It’s more a place for coffee and chatter, rather than a spread out, lounge and relax situation. It’s carefully negotiating the fine line between “maximising their space” and feeling just a touch cramped.
The staff members were all wonderfully friendly, and were soon bringing us our items, along with the coffees we’d also ordered. Their coffee was good, without quite hitting heights beyond that.
Sandwich
Presented simply and neatly, we were all pretty happy with our dishes. My soup never verged towards over-sweetness, which was good news. There wasn’t much of the aromatic coriander coming through, but it was still a chunkily satisfying bowl of goodness.
The sandwich hit the spot nicely, and the GF pancakes were given the nod of approval.
Pancakes
We soon settled our bill, then made way for more customers to come and sample the enjoyable fare on offer.
So overall, Leaf & Bean was a lovely wee place. Its confines won’t appeal to all, as its solidly a yummy mummy paradise, but we enjoyed our visit. The fare on offer was homemade, hearty and served our needs, very nicely. The welcome was full of warmth and friendly banter, too, making it a good spot for a Morningside stop.
Scores
Blythe scores Leaf and Bean
3.5/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for service
3/5 for setting
giving an overall 14/20
Today’s questers were: Laura, Michael, Blythe
We ate: red pepper soup, chicken club sandwich, GF pancakes
We drank: espresso, americano (2)
We wore: Blue jeans (2), polartross tie
Total bill: £17.10
