Olive Tree Cafe Bistro – SADLY NOW CLOSED

Sometimes the best way to discover new places is by happy accident. Today was a good example of this, as our original plan was to visit Beirut, but upon finding it closed this lunchtime we headed to the Olive Tree Café Bistro just across the road, instead.

Exterior

I was joined today by my friend Arianna, who is a fellow Total Food Geek. Her blog Ari Goes Around documents her food adventures in Edinburgh and beyond. It’s well worth following, particularly for her excellent recipes, some of which she generously contributed to the Action for AT cookbook.

The menu for the Olive Tree is quite eclectic with different dishes to suit a range of requirements across breakfast, lunch, lighter bites and main dishes. There’s a Mediterranean influence and that was reflected in our choices. Arianna chose a Greek salad (sans feta as she’s vegan) while I opted for lentil soup and Turkish borek. We shared a generous portion of mixed olives.

Soup

Dishes soon appeared looking neat and tidy. My soup was very good. It was well-seasoned and warmly spiced. I enjoyed it, muchly. Arianna’s salad looked fresh and crisp. The borek was good, too. The accompanying pitta was fresh, light and a cut above the insipid stuff that’s often served.

We rounded things out with good espresso, which brought to a close what had been a highly enjoyable lunch. For Arianna’s version, pop over to her site and read all about it.

Salad

So overall, I thought the Olive Tree was really rather good. It served us in our hour of need most admirably. I’d be happy to visit again.

Scores
Blythe scores the Olive Tree Café Bistro
3.5/5 for food
3.5/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 14/20

Borek

Today’s questers were: Arianna, Blythe

We ate: Greek salad, lentil soup, olives, borek

We drank: diet cola, water, espresso

We wore: blue cable-knit, www.tieclub.co.uk tie

Total bill: £20.05