I do my best not to prejudge places, but I also don’t see much value in going somewhere if I have it in my head that it’s not going to be to my liking. Given my experience of Glass & Thompson’s poor quality coffee coupled with Cake Quest’s damning verdict on her visit, I didn’t really have the place on my scope for a lunchtime visit.
Exterior
However, I found myself wandering around the New Town, today, and much in need of a sit down, so when I got to the top of Dundas Street and spotted this café rather sparsely populated I thought I’d put the pre-conceived ideas to one side and give it a whirl.
Sitting on a long pew towards the rear of their café space, I contemplated their menu. It’s rather a hotchpotch of different things, but I was pleasantly surprised to see it so #veginburgh friendly, with a really good range of vegetarian dishes. I ordered their pate platter, which today swapped in some smoked salmon pate, as they’d run out of the usual mushroom variety, to go alongside spinach pate and hummus.
Salad
The efficient counter man was soon delivering things, with a nicely leafy side salad accompanying the pate and bread. Having shared the photo with a few people, there have been comments alluding to its lack of appeal, but I thought the vibrant green of the spinach was quite eye-catching. An extra slice or two or bread wouldn’t have gone amiss, but this was the only quibble with what was a really very good dish.
Both the hummus and the smoked salmon pate were brimming with flavour and while the spinach was an entirely more subtle (though not in its bold colour) affair, it was of similarly good quality. I was really pleased with it.
Pate platter and bread
So overall, Glass & Thompson confounded expectations and provided me with a very tasty lunch. It has weaknesses on the coffee and cake front, for sure, but for a menu of slightly unconventional lunchtime choices I’d be happy to point you in the direction of the place.
Scores
Blythe scores Glass & Thompson
4/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for service
3.5/5 for setting
giving an overall 14/20
I ate: pate platter (spinach pate, smoked salmon pate, hummus), bread, salad
I drank: water
I wore: tweed
Total bill: £7.45
