I’d recently had a recommendation to give National Foods Etc a try, so when I found myself wandering aimlessly around the Southside on a sunny day, it seemed like a good opportunity to act upon it.

Ostensibly a speciality food shop, with a particularly impressive array of gluten and wheat free items, there are a couple of long tables with low seats running up the centre of the space at which people can sit to eat dishes from their cafe menu.

The focus is on soups and salads. I was pretty hungry, so opted for both a bowl of apple and celery soup followed by a sweet potato, chick pea and tomato salad.

The soup was soon with me, delivered by one of the friendly counter team. It proved to be highly accomplished stuff. The apple and celery balanced each other extremely well and it was definitely a first to have been provided with a little dish of cinnamon to bring an additional note of spicing. The accompanying fennel seed bread was excellent, too.

The salad that followed maintained the excellent standard. The tomatoes in particular were absolutely outstanding. It was a hearty dish, with the sweet potato and chick peas giving it real substance. I was entirely delighted with it.

What’s more the espresso to finish, featuring Javascript beans from Beanberry, was exceptionally good, too.

So overall, I thought Natural Foods Etc was absolutely outstanding. All things considered, it was the most impressive lunch I’ve had in 2014, so far. Each element of their food and drink offering was absolute five star excellence. I would urge you to visit soon and visit often.

Scores
Blythe scores Natural Foods Etc
5/5 for food
4/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 17/20

I ate: apple and celery soup; sweet potato, chick pea and tomato salad

I drank: water, espresso

I wore: linen suit

Total bill: £10.05