Croma

If you’ve already spotted Croma, on the corner of Lothian Road and Morrison Street, you probably had the same reaction to me: “what’ve they done with the cinema? Replaced it with a pizza place?”

What has actually happened is that Croma has taken over the previous foyer space of the Odeon, with the cinema still safely intact, behind.

Cinema goers now have the opportunity to do the whole “dinner and a movie” thing on the same site, which I imagine will be a winning strategy.

Not content with attracting cinema patrons, they’re open all day, from 8am, serving a range of breakfast options. In our usual quixotic fashion, it was an early morning visit that we paid the place

The space is bright and airy, with a slight multiplex/shopping mall feel that’s neatly offset by the open kitchen, featuring typically impressive looking pizza ovens. I liked it, with the full length windows meaning that it offered great people watching potential.

Once my breakfasting buddies had arrived, it soon became clear that we were in the mood for eggs, today, so while Ayla munched on pre-prepared porridge, Hande ordered a cheese omelette, Patrick eggs royale, and I chose poached eggs with pancetta and mushrooms.

We all had coffee, and although it was made with Costa beans, which are not a strong favourite, it was as well-prepared as I’ve had Costa coffee in a long while.

Dishes were freshly prepared by the chef in the open kitchen. He seemed quite a character. Everything looked rather good when it arrived, with Hande’s omelette of particularly generous size.

My eggs were poached to perfection, which was a joy to behold. The accompaniments and nicely toasted muffin worked together very nicely. Patrick’s looked equally impressive, with a good amount of hollandaise topping. Hande’s omelette was beautifully soft and packed good flavour. I munched the omelette’s little accompanying salad, which was suitably fresh.

So overall, we were really impressed with Croma. The value on offer is excellent, with the omelette coming in at £3 and the poached egg dishes at £4. We’ll be back to try their pizzas, at some point, but next time you’re looking for a good egg breakfast in this part of town, we’d recommend that you visit Croma.

Scores
Blythe scores Croma
4/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 15/20

Today’s questers were: Ayla, Hande, Patrick, Blythe

We ate: cheese omelette, eggs benedict, poached eggs with pancetta and mushroom

We drank: espresso (2), cappuccino, flat white, water

Total bill: £18.30