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<\/p>\nIt’s been a good few years since I’d visited the busy caf\u00e9 at The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, and even longer since I’d worked a few shifts there ‘on loan’ from the caff at The National Portrait Gallery in the winter of 2000. A lifetime ago, it feels like! What do I remember about the place? The food we cooked was always from scratch, soups and salads were creatively crafted (Ottolenghi before Ottolenghi, if you will) and that it was very busy!<\/p>\n
So, what’s changed? Well, now run by Heritage Portfolio’s ‘Caf\u00e9s by HPL’ arm, it’s a little snazzier in its d\u00e9cor, but still very much a please-all kind of place. It attracts out-of-towners checking out the gallery, but most significantly, locals stop by for a little something, whether it’s a coffee and a scone, big bowl of soup, lunch on a well-earned day off from work, or at any time really, a big slice of cake. Eh, more about those cakes in a min.<\/p>\n
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The Silver Fox, baby fox cub and I arrived one gloomy kind of afternoon, but were welcomed with a giant hello by my aunt who was also lunching there, by a totally random but very nice co-incidence! She had already polished off what was reported to be an excellent bowl of soup and had moved on to carry on the ‘five a day’ work with some salad.<\/p>\n
For the savoury action, I chose a sweet potato and red onion tart, and had a very substantial plateful of two of the day’s salads. The favourite was a quinoa,courgette and rocket number, which was sprinkled with sesame, pomegranate seeds and pistachios. I would have liked a little bit more zing on the orange dressing, but that’s just me and doesn’t take away from this being really fun salad-making. I also tried a wintery salad with roast carrots and really sweet caramelised parsnips, which had a flavoursome honey mustard dressing. If you like your salads with pops of flavour -a little toasted pumpkin seed here, a burst of pomegranate, some sumac – you really will love the way they do them here. The chunky tart had a short crumbly savoury pastry which contrasted nicely with that welcome candied sweetness of the orange tatties and red onions.<\/p>\n
For the Fox (Snr) I chose the baked salmon fillet, which was served atop a r\u00f6sti of beetroot. As is his wont, the fishy lunch disappeared within a very short time frame, as did the bright coleslaw with more beetroot and another salad with puy lentil, radish and cherry tomatoes.<\/p>\n
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And as for the bakes. Oh my. There really is a cracking selection available here. It was VERY difficult to choose but three things on the day. The shortbread. The scones. The Fox (again, Snr) chose the luxury chocolate truffle slice, a pretty formidable looking thing . It was a suitably gooey, intense kind of affair, packed with coconut, dressed with freeze-dried berries and very, very chocolatey. I went for the much lighter and perhaps a girlie-er lime, lemongrass and coconut cake. Despite the fact that one half had a slightly better bake, it was a good light cake with the required aromatics and not overly sweet. We also shared a piece of the carrot cake, which had a cream cheese icing and good spices. Baby fox cub satisfied himself with milk this time, but suspect he’ll be into the rest of it before long.<\/p>\n
The caf\u00e9 isn’t a place for trendy presentation, instead just offers a great selection of wholesome foods in generous portions. Notably, I think it’s a really good spot for vegetarians, vegans and coeliacs, featuring ‘real’ fresh food! I think there’s usually even a sweet option for the non-gluten folks.\u00a0\u00a310 will get you a pretty fantastic lunch here, but you can eat well for less. It’s a great one to remember for family time, as there’s a huge walled garden out the back, perfect for letting the little munchkins let off steam and earn their slice of cake!<\/p>\n
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Caf\u00e9 Modern One\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art<\/strong><\/p>\n 73 Belford Road, Edinburgh<\/strong><\/p>\n EH4 3DS<\/strong><\/p>\n