St Giles Cathedral Cafe

After a busy morning programme of meetings, I was glad to be freed from the shackles of the office, even although it was a rather chilly and grey day. I toddled up the road towards the Royal Mile, choosing a stop at the St Giles Cathedral Cafe after briefly toying with the idea of visiting Garfunkel’s.

It must have been thirty years since the last time I’d been there, but I very clearly remember two or three visits when I was just a nipper. It was always rather popular with the advocates from the nearby Court of Session and so it proved today.

Although located within the church buildings, the cafe isn’t the smartest and radiates down-at-heel community cafe chic from every pore. It’s quite charming but a little refresh to show it to better advantage is probably overdue.

Their menu looked like the standard ecclesiastical cafe fare, but with a Royal Mile premium on the price. The savoury tart of the day, which came with two salads, looked reasonable value so I opted for that, ordering it at the counter from a friendly woman.

Today’s tart was mushroom, oregano and mozzarella, which sounded pretty promising to me. I opted for a potato and chickpea salad and one that majored on mushrooms and peppers. My plate was then passed to me looking fairly loaded with stuff.

The tart filling was tasty but the pastry wasn’t all it could have been and compared unfavourably with the lovely little quiche I sampled at Dicle. The salads were hearty, fresh and packed with flavour so were rather more successful.

So overall, I was pleased with the St Giles Cathedral Cafe, but it didn’t hit the heights of some of the other cafes of its type, like the Undercroft or The Well. Still, it served me a heartily healthy lunch that ably addressed my lunchtime needs. I’d be happy to visit again.

Scores
Blythe scores St Giles Cathedral Cafe
3.5/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
3/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 13/20

I ate: mushroom, mozzarella and oregano tart, chickpea salad, mushroom and pepper salad

I drank: water

I wore: holy vestments

Total bill: £7.95