Happy Bean Cafe

Next door to excellent drinks shop Cornelius, on Easter Road, the Happy Bean Cafe recently opened its doors. I popped in for a visit in between rain showers.

Interior

Serving a simple menu of all-day breakfasts, soup, salads and sandwiches, the first thing that struck me was how very reasonably priced everything was: £1.50 for Artisan Roast espresso; £1.90 for a bowl of soup to sit in. I was intrigued.

Adding to the intrigue was their soup of the day, roast mushroom and haggis. I was sold on that so ordered a bowl. I added a pulled pork panino which came with salad and slaw.

Soup

Both arrived very promptly looking very smart. I started with the soup. It proved absolutely outstanding with a really well-judged balance between the haggis, which brought the expected peppery noted and the creamy mushroom. It was a complete winner so rightly joins the Soupquest exceptionals.

The panino was damn good, too. It was well toasted but wasn’t squished as they often can be. The pork packed excellent sweetly smoky barbecue flavour. The accompanying salad and slaw were very good, too.

Interior

I sampled their coffee with a double espresso to go. It maintained to very good standard I’d experienced throughout my visit.

So overall, I was very impressed by the Happy Bean Cafe. The folks running it are very friendly and they’re doing really good work. Make sure to pop in and check it out next time you’re in these parts.

Panino

Scores
Blythe scores the Happy Bean Cafe
4.5/5 for food
4/5 for presentation
3.5/5 for setting
4/5 for service
giving an overall 16/20

I ate: pulled pork panino; cream of haggis and mushroom soup

I drank: water, espresso

I wore: stripey jacket

Total bill: £6.30

Address: 14 Easter Road, Edinburgh, Midlothian, EH7 5RG