Caffe e Cucina – SADLY NOW CLOSED

I’d heard a number of good things, from a range of sources, about Caffe e Cucina on Morningside Road, so towards the end of a hectic week I headed there for a spot of lunch.

I found the place extremely well-populated and the tables that were not occupied had reserved signs on them. Fortunately my lunching companion for the day, Jonathan, who’d previously joined at nearby Nonna’s Kitchen, had made a booking so I was shown to a corner table.

As you may remember, Jonathan runs the Edinburgh Watch Company, so today he had some very smart timepieces to show off. These included a rather impressive Rolex Daytona, a classic in its field, and a delightful Rolex Yachtmaster 11.

As the name suggests, Caffe e Cucina is an informal-style Italian. The menu covers all the expected bases, with pizza and pasta, a nice selection of seasonal specials, and a lunch menu.

My attention was to the latter from which I chose the baked mushrooms to start then the house pizza, which was topped with mushroom, ham and peppers, to follow. Jonathan chose the calzone which he’d tried before and been very impressed with.

My mushrooms soon arrived accompanied by two slices of good bread to mop up the tomato sauce. It was a lovely eat and not too much in the lava style as sometimes can be the case with dishes in this type.

Jonathan’s meaty calzone was an absolute monster. He shared a generous slice with me and it was very good. My pizza, was light, fresh and an ideal lunchtime portion. It was really good.

We rounded things out with decent espresso and very good tea from Pekoe Tea.

So overall, I was really impressed with Caffe e Cucina. It’s a place with considerable charm, serving dishes of very good quality. As such, it’s one of the better Italian places in the city. It’s well worthy of your attention next time you’re looking for friendly, simple and quite elegant Italian dishes.

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

Today’s questers were: Jonathan, Blythe

We ate: oven baked mushrooms; pizza della casa, calzone

We drank: water, espresso, tea

We wore: watches by the Edinburgh Watch Company; skinny tie

Total bill: £27.40