Greyfriars

Dan’s Verdict

I suggested meeting Lunchquest at Greyfriars café, a place that I had noticed had recently opened next door to my regular lunchtime café of choice, the soup heaven that is Union of Genius.

Dan’s all-day breakfast

Greyfriars looked smart from the outside but from a quick look at the menu in the window I could tell it wasn’t going to set Edinburgh’s café scene alight.

All the breakfast staples (available all day) were covered alongside additional standard lunchtime offerings of panini, wraps and a few more substantial items such as sharwama, lasagne and fish and chips.

The service was super friendly – our waitress had overheard my swithering over what to choose and was surprised when I opted for a chicken sharwama with rice rather than the all-day breakfast that I had initially drawn to.

She returned a few moments later to confirm a lack of rice but offered chips instead. This sent me back to my original choice and a few minutes later the all dayer was in front of me.

All the favourites were present and correct: bangers, bacon, beans, black pud, mushrooms, potato scone and toast.

I tend to find the better café breakfasts fall into two categories: the smaller size with a few carefully chosen quality organic ingredients or the bigger hitter leaving no space on the plate.

This fell firmly into the latter – a pretty decent helping. Much like the overall menu, I couldn’t get excited about the food but it did the job of leaving me full for under £8.

This is the kind of place that will do well during the festival due to its central location but I can’t see it attracting too much of following outside of that time unless the sharwama and rice is fantastic. The service was good enough to tempt me back to give it a try at some point in future, though.

Blythe’s Verdict

Over the coming weeks and months, I fear I will be spending diminishing amounts of time in Edinburgh and the environs. I’m hopefully heading off for some fun travels which I will document but will perhaps be of marginal interest to those looking for the latest in where to eat and drink in Edinburgh.

Accordingly, I’m going to hand over the reins to a team of local experts including today’s guest quester Dan. You will be in safe hands as he has regularly contributed to the site down the years.

Dan had spotted the arrival of a new place called Greyfriars just next door to Union of Genius on the former site of Cappadocia. It seemed like a good place to check out.

My wrap

It’s in the same ownership as before, but it’s now aimed at daytime business. Their menu mixes breakfasts with panini, wraps, baked tatties and burgers along with a smattering of Mediterranean dishes such as kofte and a mezze platter. We both slightly struggled as to what to order.

After a false start with the kofte, Dan eventually settled on their full Scottish breakfast while I opted for their falafel wrap and chips.

These were prepped to order and soon with us. Dan’s breakfast looked a hearty feed with a particularly generous portion of mushrooms.

My wrap was pretty good with a nicely toasted casing filled with good falafel and joyfully messy hummus. The chips were fairly standard so unlikely to strongly register on the #chipquest scale.

So overall, Greyfriars looks like a solid, if a little unspectacular, cafe offering hearty dishes for a moderate price. It will likely thrive during the Festival as its location is highly advantageous for soaking up hangovers and quickly filling bellies between shows. Give it a look next time you pass.

Scores
Blythe scores Greyfriars
3.5/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
4/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 14/20

Today’s questers were: Dan, Blythe

We ate: full Scottsh breakfast, hummus falafel wrap

We drank: water

We wore: Cross Brew hat, blue shirt

Total bill: £15.45

Address: 10 Forrest Road, Edinburgh EH1 2QN