Elaine's Cuppa Cake

After buying a second hand laptop from my friendly computer man Graeme I walked up to the main road to get my bus.  As usually happens my bus was just leaving the stop.  I was passing what looked like a very nice tearoom so I went in.  I thought I would have something to eat, try my new computer and do some research for my blog.

It was waitress service and offered an all day afternoon tea!  What a wonderful idea, God bless the Duchess of Bedford who invented this marvellous meal. 

Anyway, my tea arrived timeously.  First the waitress put down a tartan table runner on the modern pine table.  Then she placed the knitted tea pot stand and a small pot of tea in a cosy, both were matching and hand knitted.  The cup saucers and plate were all china which is nice when you are drinking tea.  I did notice that the cappuccino’s came in a traditional bowl shaped cup which I approved of.  The two tier cake stand had my choice of sandwiches, a scone with cream and jam, a melting moment and a truffle.  The melting moment reminded me of home economics classes at secondary school years ago, I think it was one of the first things we baked. 

Everything was great, lots of ham in the sandwich and cream on the scone and they were happy to refill my teapot with hot water.  I thought this was a bargain at £4.95 for the lot.

A pregnant couple came in and dumped their many backpacks by the door.  The waitress moved the jacket from the back of their seat over to the old man who owned it.  She then had to help that same old man negotiate the backpacks when he got up to pay for his afternoon tea.  The other customers were a Chinese lady with a little baby in his push chair, and two students behind me that I couldn’t really see.  There were only 5 tables in the cafe.

Elaine’s cuppa cake was decorated in pastel colours, one wall blue, the opposite one purple, and the one behind the counter green.  It sounds really sickly but it was actually very restful.  The window was filled with glass cake stands with delicious looking cakes and tray bakes.  There was a little antique hanging display shelf unit full of tiny decorative tea pots and other teapots in the window.

The only down side I could see was the lack of toilets.  The American man asked for the restroom and he was sent outside.  I didn’t see where he went but as there are a few cafes in a row perhaps they have some sort of arrangement between them that all the customers use the toilets in one of them.

There were other things on the menu such as paninis, sandwiches, soup and coffees, as well as the afternoon tea but I was so impressed by the afternoon tea I forgot to take a note of them.  They do takeaways too and according to their card they will bake cakes for you and do outside catering.

I was quite impressed by this cafe and although it is an area I go only to visit my computer man I will make a point of going in again.

They are open from 8am till 6pm Monday to Friday, 9am - 5pm Saturday and 9.30 – 5pm Sunday.

They can be found at 18 South Clerk Street, EDINBURGH, EH8 9PR and phoned on 0131 629 0646.