I don’t often have quiet afternoons on my own with the chance to have a leisurely few hours doing my own thing, however an opportunity popped up the other week and I seized the chance to take my mum out for lunch. We had heard there was a buzz in Bruntsfield about a new place called Honeycomb & Co and decided to check it out together.
The café has a sunny corner spot on Merchiston Place, which has been totally transformed from the previous ice cream parlour, which I hadn’t been that keen on. It was bright and airy and despite our late arrival for lunch at 4.30ish the place was busy and had a great atmosphere.
Local welcome
Described as a modern eatery the café has taken its inspiration from around the world to create a tailored selection of dishes to delight its customers. Staff are on hand to greet customers as they arrive and settle them at their table. We had a very attentive waiter who looked after us and ensured a swift service, as well as lots of advice on hand to help guide the indecisive.
My mum was quite happy with a tea and carrot cake, which came in an individual muffin style shape, perfectly sized rather than the gigantic wedges of cake served elsewhere around town. I had a savoury head on, but was feeling indecisive as I didn’t have one of my hungry boys on hand to help share various fishes that would allow me to experience more on the menu.
Salad delights
However, they have cleverly sized their dishes to accommodate all levels of appetite and while I had one eye firmly on their Scottish Lamb special, I also wanted to try a portion of salad. Salad dishes come in four different sizes with the smallest option being – ‘tiny’. That definitely had my name on it and I jumped at the chance to try the roasted curried cauliflower, chickpeas, toasted cashew nuts, mango and lime chilli dressing. Cauliflower is one of my favourite vegetables and it’s great to see it making a comeback beyond the comfort dish of cauliflower cheese.
The salad was vibrant in colour with a contrast of crunches from the vegetables, nuts and pickled veg. It was really tasty and built up my taste buds for the lamb dish. I love Lebanese food and so the combination of seared lamb with baba ghanoush, goats cheese served on a homemade flatbread and drizzled with pomegranate and herb molasses dressing was my idea of heaven. And I was not disappointed, the lamb was medium rare and very succulent, while the baba ghanoush had a soft delicate smokiness that was delicious spread directly over the lamb, or wrapped up with a bit of everything in the warm flatbread.
Sweet treat
Still going strong after the lamb, I had just enough room to try out something sweet to finish off the meal with a coffee. I only wanted a small sweet bite and the miso shortbread attracted my attention, a small round biscuit with a side coating of sesame seeds. The miso was subtle in its flavouring and did not detract too much from the traditional taste and was a welcome sweet complement to my cappuccino.
I was really impressed with Honeycomb and wish Ian, Susan and Julie all the best with this new venture. Despite no longer living on the southside of town, I will definitely make a special trip back to try out brunch in the future and hope that at some point a Honeycomb pops up in the north!
Honeycomb & Co
1 Merchiston Place, Edinburgh, EH10 4NP
T: 0131 228 4641
W: www.honeycombandco.com
T: @honeycombandco
I: @honeycombandcocafe