Our friend Zara, practising sceptic and curmudgeon, is the
barometer, mostly set at gloomy, by which we gauge the success of a night, or
day, out. In other words can we free her from the shackles of doom that often
cloud her judgement.
Today, we give the Roseleaf Bar and Café, situated prettily
in the Port of Leith, a chance to shine. It’s Saturday lunchtime and with no
prior reservation we learn later that we were fortunate to find a space.
The Roseleaf has garnered many glittering reviews since
opening in July 2007 and falls just short of five stars on Facebook and
TripAdvisor
Settling in we order some fresh fruit juices - had it been
later in the day we may have chosen some of their Pot-Tails (cocktails in
teapots). ‘The Coconut Crunch’ juice, which combined pineapple, coconut water
and apple was a hit. The menu described one of this drink’s health benefits as
‘great for soothing nausea’ – an ideal choice for our companion who often
complains of feeling sickly.
The bar, which is open all daily from 10am until 1am, has a few drinkers sampling the venue’s extensive range of beers.
It has eclectic decor with sturdy, old fashioned furniture and
objects that they describe on their website as ‘random treasure which continues
to blossom with new curiosities that we find along the way’.
An assortment of vintage hats hang on the wall stands which
visitors can choose to wear during their stay. A group at the table next to us
wear some of them and we question whether we have stumbled into a bygone era.
Below the hanging hats are art work from artists and
photographers who are free to use the bar as a temporary gallery.
We order some brunch from menus folded into the middle of
dated editions of National Geographic magazines, and a friendly staff member kindly
helps me to choose between two vegetarian dishes.
We look at some of the photographs on display from Javier
Ternero, of Seville, who has captured stunning portraits of people and
landscapes from around the globe from the Andes in South America, Segovia in
Spain and even a few from Edinburgh.
 |
| 'On The Road' photograph by Javier Ternero as displayed at The Roseleaf. Credit: www.facebook.com/Roseleaf.Bar.Cafe. |
These are interspersed with oil paintings by the Scottish
painter, Charly Murray, who has drawn attractive scenes of Edinburgh and
various pieces whilst on his travels.
When the food arrives, Zara and all three of her guests,
each believe that their meal was the top choice on the menu and everyone can’t
be right.
Zara’s recommended ‘The Roseleafer’ vegetarian breakfast and
was most impressed with her ‘award winning vegetarian haggis’. The kitchen
source produce from local suppliers and cook everything from scratch. Beans,
roasted tomatoes, their home-made tattie scone and bread, a flat cap mushroom,
wilted spinach and eggs accompanied it. Zara greedily mopped it all up.
I enjoyed the pleasant flavour of their spicy risotto dish
called the ‘Rice and Spice’. Its gallimaufry of ingredients included rice,
mixed beans and herbs with a fried egg, sliced avocado and tortilla crisps
placed carefully on top.
Brunch was both tasty and affordable - with everyone in our
group spending less than £15 for a main course and drink. The quirky décor,
thoughtful touches and friendly staff provide much of the venue’s charm. Zara
left with flickerings of joy on her lips. Not a bad result given that those
gorgeous sounding Pot-tails will need to be sampled at a later date.
The SCAMPI Test 26/30
Service: 5
Cooking: 4
Atmosphere: 5
Music: 3
Price: 5
Inspiration: 4
To find out more information visit their website at www.roseleaf.co.uk.
Propritors are my neighbours, a nicer caring neighbour you couldn't wish for and I'm certain their caring persona will carry over to this busness, called in once and found the anbiounce of the premises great. Wish them every sucess Frank Ferri
ReplyDeleteThe Roseleaf is BRILLIANT! We loved it and stopped in almost every day we were in town!
ReplyDelete