Leaf and Bean

After a good long walk up Blackford Hill on a glorious sunny Spring day, me and my friend were looking for a place for lunch. We’d come out of Hermitage Braid which comes out into Morningside. I’ve heard somewhere before that there are 52 cafés in the Bruntsfield /​Morningside area, so spoiled for choice is an understatement.
However, there is the tricksty point that I’m now gluten free. I’m not fussy, and able to just have soup or a salad without bread… but when I saw that Leaf and Bean had gluten free pancakes, and then discovered they did gluten free bread too I was pretty impressed and thought it’d be worth trying out.
The first thing I liked about it is the fact it’s like a café from the 90s and early 00s. I don’t mean it’s old and dated. I mean it’s how cafés used to be before a café had to be anything other than a café, with a theme, or a style, or an edge. It’s the sort of place I could bring my grandma for a nice tea and cake, have a nice chat with the staff, stay and read a book, chill out. It’s not trendy or hipster (this is neither a good nor a bad thing), and it’s quite comfy and pleasant.
The menu has a lot of sandwiches, paninis, breakfast items, pancakes. They also, as mentioned, have gluten free bread and pancakes. I went for the gluten free chicken pesto decker sandwich. It was tasty! The type of sandwich I could make at home, with a bit of extra effort, but tasty, filling, good amount of fillings (pesto out a jar). Totally great for a post-​hill-​walk lunch.
The tablet that comes with the hot drinks as complimentary is amazing too!
If I were in the area, I’d certianly come back here for another gluten free sandwich. And I do want to try their pancakes too!

lovely place! very homely, great choice of cake! and artistic presentation of coffees