This review appears in May’s Bite Magazine, and can be found online here
Having lived in Edinburgh for over 20 years, I’d say I’m pretty familiar with this ol’ burgh. Strangely, though, one part of the city that I rarely find myself in, is the one which tourists often get to know better than others: the Old Town. It’s convenient to dismiss the area’s shops as purveyors of tartan tat, tablet, and not much else, but on Blackfriars Street (literally metres off the Royal Mile) is the Edinburgh Larder, and it’s well worth a visit.
This wee 20-seater licensed café-cum-deli wears its ‘locally-sourced’ credentials on its sleeve. I wasn’t expecting everything to have its provenance quite so readily known, but the staff will cheerily talk through the ingredients that they sell and cook with in their open kitchen. For example, the chicken for sandwiches and pies is from Gartmorn farm, the hams, salamis, chorizo are from Peelham Farm in the borders (they’ve even adopted their own pig as part of the farm’s adopt a Tamworth scheme), artisanal bread is from Au Gourmand and fine cheeses are sourced from all over Scotland.
They also sell a selection of homemade pickles and jams which are used on sandwiches if you’re eating in, or can be bought in jars to take home. ‘My mum’s raspberry jam’ is wonderfully fruity and is great on any of the huge selection of Scottish oatcakes for sale. I met the team at one of last summer’s food festivals and tried ‘Johnny’s elderflower cordial’, the flowers for which had been picked from branches along the water of Leith. Talk about cutting down on food miles!
Along with the sarnies, frittata, stews and salads, you’ll also find a couple of soups available everyday. On my recent visit I tried a tangy gordal olive with sun-dried tomato tapenade, and a moreish pâté with hot-smoked salmon, dill and cream cheese. On top of the counter lay the day’s tempting baked treats – freshly-baked scones, brownies and fat meringues.
If you’re taking a wander around the Old Town, I’d recommend stopping by for a bite to eat, a coffee or locally-produced beer. Alternatively you can grab some goodies to take home for later. There will be extended opening hours during the summer months -see website for updates.
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